Liv Redpath sings a fervent, fearless Lucia

THE SONGBIRD: Liv Redpath was born in Minnesota. She graduated from Harvard University and The Juilliard School and participated in the young artist program at LA Opera. Redpath was a prize winner at the 2019 Operalia competition and the Tenor Viñas International Contest in Barcelona. Her career has swiftly taken flight with major bookings at top opera houses, festivals, and concert venues in the U.S. and internationally in a range of works. Operatic roles have included Susanna, Zerbinetta, Gretel, Sophie, Hero, La Fee, Lakme, Olympia, Ophelie, Crobyle, Adele, Tytania, Queen of Shemykah, Woglinde, Cunegonde, Lucia, and Marguerite de Valois. She made her debut at The Met in 2023 as Oscar, and returned later that year as Pamina. She will be singing Zerlina and Sophie in Santa Fe this summer.
THE MUSIC: Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" has become one of the quintessential operas for a coloratura soprano -- it's one of the most widely produced bel canto operas in the world and the title character is a benchmark role for this voice type. Donizetti composed it in 1835, which was a peak of his artistic and popular success -- Rossini had recently retired, Bellini had just died, and Verdi had not yet had his first premiere ("Oberto" in 1837). Based on Walter Scott's novel, the opera premiered in Naples. The plot in a nutshell: after being tricked into marrying a man she doesn't love, and lied to that her true love has betrayed her, Lucia loses her mind and murders the groom on her wedding night. The mentally unstable young woman appears in a bloodied gown and sings a long, complex, and haunting "mad scene" mixing delusion and grief that is a musically and dramatically innovative tour-de-force of bel canto vocalism and gripping tragedy. The primary section of the mad scene culminates in a long cadenza with a flute (and occasionally the glass harmonica). Apparently that wasn't enough warbling for one diva, so Donizetti succumbs the era's operatic conventions and gives Lucia even more to sing: a traditional cabaletta "Spargi d'amaro pianto."

[@adrianday3118]

I hear something in her sound that reminds me of Emma Matthews.
BRAVA 👏🏻

[@adrianday3118]

I hear something in her sound that reminds me of Emma Matthews.
BRAVA 👏🏻