Beauty of Cimmeries The Beauty of Opera, dark sounds and words.

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. It's impossible to know whether Diana Damrau was born great, but on the evidence of her latest Virgin Classics disc of Mozart concert and opera arias, she has — without question — achieved greatness; surely few contemporary lyric coloraturas could handle this program, which ranges from the sprightly to the sublime, with Damrau's firm technical command, unaffected mastery of characterization and beauty of tone ... More, please. Thus was the response of the magazine of New Yorks Metropolitan Opera Guild, Opera News, to German soprano Diana Damraus last Virgin Classics recital, Donna. In less effusive, though no less positive mode, the BBC Music Magazines critic stated that I cant remember when I last enjoyed a Mozart recital of this kind so much. Among the accolades for Damraus first Virgin Classics recital, Arie di bravura by Salieri, Mozart and Righini was the highly prestiigious Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik.After two Virgin Classics recitals of 18th-century repertoire, this new collection moves forward to the 19th and 20th centuries, with repertoire ranging from Nicolai and Rossini to Stravinsky and Bernstein, from comedy to tragedy and covering four languages: German, Italian, French and English. It includes Zerbinettas marathon coloaratura aria from Ariadne auf Naxos, one of the operas which spearheaded Damraus international careerDamraus status as an interpreter rather than as a mere virtuoso was further confirmed in the Guardians review of a song recital she gave at Londons Wigmore Hall in November 2008: The German soprano Diana Damrau has become a cult figure of late. It is easy to see why. She is very much a diva, with all the intimations of greatness and excess the word implies. Her artistry is phenomenal yet paradoxical: you could perhaps describe her as the Meryl Streep of classical music, since she achieves a sense of total immersion in her material without ever quite letting you forget the powers of technique, intelligence and calculation that inform her singing.