<<  -- 3 --  Maria Nockin    A RARE TREAT

Bulgarian opera star Veselina Vasileva was a charming Pamina who looked like a fairy-tale princess and sang with silvery tones. Tamino was portrayed by Vale Rideout, a fine singing actor who has free and easy top notes.

The role of the Queen of the Night is particularly hard to cast because of its unusually high tessitura and tricky coloratura. Svetlana Trifonova, a principal soloist with the Mariinsky Theater of St Petersburg, Russia, showed that the role fits her talents well. She sang its taxing runs with iridescent waves of radiant sound. Another part that demands an unusual voice is that of Sarastro. This character has to sing some of the lowest notes ever required and Viacheslav Pochapsky of the Bolshoi Opera sang them with powerful dark tones.

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