Sonya Yoncheva - atop the operatic world now!
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| Posted on March 13, 2017 at 17:10:37 | ||
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Posts: 26434
Location: SF Bay Area Joined: February 17, 2004 Contributor Since: February 6, 2012 |
It must be true - the NY Times says so! (Unless it's some of their FAKE NEWS - LOL!) So anyway, since I'd never heard her sing, I sampled some tracks from her newly released Handel album from last month. They were certainly good enough for me to proceed with the 24/96 (two-channel) download from Acoustic Sounds - and Wow! This is my kind of voice: so effortlessly produced (no strain at all) and controlled, with the PERFECT amount of vibrato, and so affecting! And she does a fair amount of attacking key notes from just below the actual pitch (a practice for which singers used to be reprimanded - the same tired critics were always quick to label this "scooping", but that charge should actually have been reserved to describe the lack of technique whereby the notes were thoughtlessly produced in a lazy manner, without consideration as to how the center of each pitch would be produced or approached). But the intelligent way in which Yoncheva uses this technique, enhancing the particular emotion attached to a dramatic or heart-rending word, is a feature of her singing I just love! As with all Handel opera (and aria) recordings these days, the collaborating orchestra is a HIP group, and the usual HIP cognitive dissonance applies: Yoncheva sings with a beautifully produced vibrato, while the strings in the orchestra are straight-jacketed into a skinny little range which doesn't match the voice at all. According to the Times, Yoncheva is singing roles such as Tatiana, Desdemona, and Violetta - along with her Handel and Purcell! Right now, I'd guess she's in her prime (at the age of 35), and such primes don't often extend very long in my experience as a listener. So you've got to hear her now, while she has all her goods intact. BTW, if you live in the NYC area, she's scheduled to be signing autographs at the Met Opera Shop on Wednesday (March 15). That might even be worth a trudge through your expected mountains of snow to get there! ;-) 
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| Or maybe singers are conductor groupies! [nt] ;-), posted on March 14, 2017 at 12:03:48 | |
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Posts: 26434
Location: SF Bay Area Joined: February 17, 2004 Contributor Since: February 6, 2012 |
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