# Best currently active italian bel canto sopranos?



## 997gt3r (Feb 24, 2019)

same content as title


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Sarah Coburn is quite wonderful with huge high notes. Angela Meade, 3 times her size is mostly good, but her trill is the same as her vibrato. Her voice is big enough to handle Norma. To be honest, the shadows of Callas, Sutherland, Sills and Caballe are very long.


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Are there any currently active Italian bel canto sopranos?


----------



## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Sondra Radvanovsky and her 3 Queens was nothing short of spectacular!
Diana Damrau is attempting _Maria Stuarda_ next season at the Met. This will be interesting. She is a very committed actress but if she can pull off the bel canto sound we will have found another true winner.
(or were you only referring to sopranos who are Italians?)


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Italians. Italians. (Can't y'all read???)

:kiss:


----------



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Woodduck said:


> Italians. Italians. (Can't y'all read???)
> 
> :kiss:


Does the thread title mean best Italian nationality bel canto sopranos?

Or does it mean best sopranos who sing Italian bel canto (assuming there are other styles of bel canto such as French)?

Perhaps if they left the word "italian" out of the title it would have been clearer?


----------



## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> Italians. Italians. (Can't y'all read???)
> 
> :kiss:


Well darlin', in that case Kathleen Battle is probably the only American born bel canto soprano I know of who is still singing occasionally today in recitals and such.
She did a stint a year or two ago at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia.:angel:


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I assume "bel canto sopranos" refers to singers of the "bel canto" repertoire, i.e., early-19th-century Italian opera. If it means anything else it's too broad a subject for a simple question. Specifying "Italian" narrows the possible answers even further.

So is there an answer to the question? I don't know of anyone myself.


----------



## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Rosa Feola who we recently had a thread about is the best Italian soprano singing the bel canto repertoire today. Patrizia Ciofi is still singing, I think. I can't think of any others off the top of my head that are worth mentioning, although I am sure there will be many appearing in theatres in Italy.

The best soprano singing today for Italian bel canto rep is Lisette Oropesa in my opinion. She's a total class act and manages to deliver a Lucia that can make one cry.

N.


----------



## betterthanfine (Oct 17, 2017)

The Conte said:


> The best soprano singing today for Italian bel canto rep is Lisette Oropesa in my opinion. She's a total class act and manages to deliver a Lucia that can make one cry.


I heard her in Rigoletto in Amsterdam, and Les Huguenots in Paris. Brought the house down on both occasions.


----------



## 997gt3r (Feb 24, 2019)

Yeah her lucia was amazing! I heard it on operavision!


----------



## 997gt3r (Feb 24, 2019)

I just really love Rosa's work, I'm looking for the same kind of voice with that amazing diction that she has!


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

The Conte said:


> The best soprano singing today for Italian bel canto rep is Lisette Oropesa in my opinion. She's a total class act and manages to deliver a Lucia that can make one cry.


Thanks. This has to be the right answer to the OP's question:


----------



## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Is there some particular reason why we can only name Italian sopranos who sing bel canto? There are many good sopranos today who fit the bill but their nationalities don't say Italian.


----------



## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

The Conte said:


> The best soprano singing today for Italian bel canto rep is Lisette Oropesa in my opinion. She's a total class act and manages to deliver a Lucia that can make one cry.
> 
> N.


Too bad she's not Italian. Doesn't fit the list anymore than my Kathleen Battle does.


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

nina foresti said:


> Too bad she's not Italian. Doesn't fit the list anymore than my Kathleen Battle does.


What's her nationality? Oropesa sounds sort of Italian, though Lisette sounds French. Is she a mongrel?


----------



## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> What's her nationality? Oropesa sounds sort of Italian, though Lisette sounds French. Is she a mongrel?


American ... same thing :lol:

BTW, what is the opinion about Pretty Yende?


----------



## 997gt3r (Feb 24, 2019)

nina foresti said:


> Is there some particular reason why we can only name Italian sopranos who sing bel canto? There are many good sopranos today who fit the bill but their nationalities don't say Italian.


So basically for brevity I really a big fan of rosa but then someone tainted my enjoyment of her work. Idk if that person exists on the forum.


----------



## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Becca said:


> American ... same thing :lol:


According to Wikipedia and a propos of nothing, she is also a vegan and avid runner/marathoner.



> In 2014, she co-contributed to Running, Eating, Thinking: A Vegan Anthology[4] by Martin Rowe, where she talked about her weight loss journey and how she now follows a plant-based diet.


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

GregMitchell said:


> According to Wikipedia and a propos of nothing, she is also a vegan and avid runner/marathoner.


Divas aren't what they used to be.


----------



## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> Divas aren't what they used to be.


There is a place within Daughter of the Regiment where it is traditional for the soprano to speak about her (the character's) frustrations ... Yende does it in Xhosa. And that, I am sure, ain't what it used to be!


----------



## 997gt3r (Feb 24, 2019)

Woodduck said:


> Divas aren't what they used to be.


what do you mean?


----------



## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> What's her nationality? Oropesa sounds sort of Italian, though Lisette sounds French. Is she a mongrel?


Cubannnnnnnnnnn


----------



## marceliotstein (Feb 23, 2019)

I hope it's okay for me to do what everybody else here is doing and repurpose the word "Italian" in the question to mean "notable sopranos signing Italian bel canto". Because that's the more interesting question. And I'll echo the others here who mention Pretty Yende, since I was privileged to see her debut at the Met this year as Marie in "La Fille du Regiment", rebooting the character with a distinctly South African accent. Wonderful performance, very surprising to see at the Met. And yes, I know "La Fille du Regiment" is French not Italian, but Donizetti is Italian, so I think it counts!


----------

