Would you believe it’s Millo’s London debut?
mainThirty years ago, when she was the hot soprano at the Met and destined for greater things, I wrote a Sunday Times magazine feature about Aprile Millo, and much enjoyed doing so.
And then?
Aprile went on to enjoy a good career in the US and Europe, but nothing happened in the UK.
Until now.
This week (I just heard) she made her London debut with two recitals at the London Bel Canto Festival at off-piste Cadogan Hall.
Sorry I missed her.
I heard she is singing at her local church in NYC for her soul. Cannot say it for sure though.
Waiting for her own review of the recital to show up in her blog. Meanwhile, in the video below she swears she is re-enacting Imogene in the final scene of “Il Pirata” (you know, Callas, Hamburg 1959). Ludicrous.
https://youtu.be/GlLbZ-NECD0
It is a shame they announced this recital so recently and then gave it little publicity. When I looked at tickets, the hall was 90% empty and that was even after a sudden reduction in prices.
Was the gossip that Pavarotti asked her to be removed from a ROH Ballo, which forced them to pay her off?
I was fairly certain that Ms Millo sang with the Philharmonia in London in the early 1990s when I was responsible for planning the orchestra’s UK work. I am grateful to the Philharmonia Chorus website for seeming to confirm that, indeed, she was the soprano soloist for a Verdi Requiem at the Royal Festival Hall in July 1991. Scroll down to July here: https://www.philharmoniachorus.co.uk/events?year=1991
Thank you, Andrew Bennett, for this clarification. I recall Miss Millo sang not with the soloists listed on the Philharmonia site, but mezzo Olga Borodina, tenor Roberto Alagna and bass Gregg Baker, with Lorin Maazel.
That might have been on a later occasion. I was with the Philharmonia up to 1993 and, during that time, Maazel did not conduct a Verdi Requiem.
I went last night, she was extraordinary.the voice is in great shape, lustrous and gorgeous, ruby rich. She was deliciously theatrical and fearless. I heard her in San Francisco in the 90s and I was delighted to hear her again sounding so good. Very moving and moments of truly sublime singing. You: missed a treat!
I have a bridge to sell. Call me.
Love the coat!
Not quite nothing in the UK, she did some fabulous performances in Ernani for WNO
She sang at the ROH as long ago as June 2001 in the Richard Tucker Gala. La mamma morta if memory serves me right.