Linda Esther Gray News
British opera singer
- soprano
- United Kingdom
- opera singer, pedagogue
Last update
2024-04-25
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2021-08-31 07:21:45
Against the odds: a fine musical performance triumphs over unseasonal weather and an unsympathetic sound system in ENO's venture south of the river
[…] soon for Romaniw, she deserves a fully staged vehicle. As it was, she gave us a fully rounded dramatic and musical performance. Romaniw's Tosca was charming and young; jealous and diva-ish yes, but also vulnerable and you certainly felt her steeling herself to square up to Wood's Scarpia. Puccini: Tosca - David Junghoon Kim, Simon Shibambu - ENO at South Facing Festival (Photo Lloyd Winters) I have vivid memories of Linda Esther Gray singing Tosca at the Coliseum and using her native Scots accent, which brought a wonderfully demotic touch to such phrases as 'How much'. Romaniw used standard received, which I think made the character seem a touch grand and perhaps slightly less human. However, she was mesmerising in a beautifully controlled and finely sung 'Vissi d'arte'. This was a performance which not only captured the variety of Tosca's emotions, but could be finely controlled […]
2020-03-07 10:47:53
Musical peaks: Beethoven's Fidelio at Covent Garden with Lise Davidsen and Jonas Kauffmann
[…] Georg Zeppenfeld as Rocco, Simon Neal as Don Pizzaro and Egils Silins as Don Fernando. My first exposure to Beethoven's Fidelio was at Scottish Opera in the 1970s with Helga Dernesch (still singing as a soprano) and the great Charles Craig, in a production by Peter Ebert that might be described as intelligently traditional. At Covent Garden in 1981 it was again the casting which made its mark, Jon Vickers as Florestan and Linda Esther Gray as Leonore in a revival of a production which dated back to 1961! Since then, productions have veered towards the conceptual rather than the straightforward narrative. This reflects a basic problem with Beethoven's final version of his opera, it exists very much in two parts and the music for Act Two pushes the piece towards the transcendent mythic, leaving behind the idea of rescue opera and singspiel/opera comique. Most directors choose either to […]
2019-11-03 00:51:00
Wagner - Tristan und Isolde - Reginald Goodall
Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883)Linda Esther Gray, John MitchinsonAnne Wilkens, Gwynne Howell, Joll PhillipThe Chorus of Welsh National OperaThe Orchestra of Welsh National Operadir:Reginald GoodallDECCA (1995) 443 682-2 DDD 4CDs[flac & cue; cover, inlays, booklet & discs scans]The Tristan und Isolde by Reginald Goodall when it appeared on CD for the first time soon and inexplicably disappeared from the market and DECCA did not reissue it. It wasn’t until 2011 (I think) that Arkik Music reissued it under license and then disappeared again from circulation and second hand copies that could be found online had exorbitant prices.Earlier this year, Universal Australia, in its task of reprinting many titles from the opera catalogue out or print, edited it at a low-price but without booklet.During these years all those who were not lucky enough to have it, had to settle for mp3 formats or itunes because as far as I know (and believe […]
2019-01-02 07:46:54
Memories of the Ring
[…] a theatrical moment. When Donald McIntyre's Wotan went to see Erda, he walked downstage and the platform tilted back so McIntyre was walking up hill. When he came to the edge of the platform he was now lying down, his head perilously close to the proscenium, far below in the innards of the hydraulics was Erda. Sheer magic.Sir Colin Davis conducted, Brünnhilde was Gwyneth Jones with Alberto Remedios as Siegfried, Donald McIntrye as Wotan, Linda Esther Gray as Sieglinde, Richard Cassilly as Siegmund, Anne Evans as Gutrune. A terrific cast. Gray's performance gave hints of her future as a Wagner soprano, and I treasure having been able to hear her in action. The Valkyries were crow-like creatures, with the opening of Act Three of Die Walküre taking place perched high on the steeply raked platform, again a striking image.I remember the interaction between Jones and Remedios in Siegfried, their childlike […]
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