The best 20 year-old Verdi soprano you’ve ever heard?

The best 20 year-old Verdi soprano you’ve ever heard?

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norman lebrecht

June 24, 2014

Benedetta Torre is 20 and sounds like the finished article. She’s singing at the Voci Verdiane di Busseto, at the composer’s birthplace.

benedetta torre2

 

 

 

Comments

  • Elvira Silverman says:

    Beautiful …what about the intonation!

  • Herbert Glass says:

    On the basis of this brief, lightweight example: altogether exquisite, including intonation, dynamics, fioritura, and that darkish, somewhat veiled sound is seductive. But to call her a “finished” Verdian requires examples of later, heftier Verdi.

    Perhaps one should just be grateful and not worry (as I do) how long a vocal life is allotted to a 20-year-old Verdian?

  • MarieTherese says:

    Just because one CAN doesn’t mean one SHOULD, and 20 if far too young to be attempting this type of rep. If you listen carefully, there are problems with darkening and intonation, all of which are perfectly natural at her age.
    Encouraging this isn’t wise and I hope that this student takes the time and studies with a teacher who will nurture and train rather than push and exploit.
    Hope to hear more from Benedetta in a few years.

  • Theodore McGuiver says:

    Slow down, slow down. Two words: Alexia Cousin…

  • Jill Davies says:

    I do actually feel sorry for this girl – she should be back with her teacher, carefully preparing herself for a long career and not jeopardising her voice at her tender age

  • Phena Hackett says:

    She sounds good. But to say that she is the finished product of a Verdi soprano is going too far. She’s just twenty. The squilo is not fully there, and more lirico is needed to fulfill the lirico spinto sound needed to be a Verdi soprano. There’s no such thing as a finished singer at age twenty. Period.

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