POLISH SOPRANO ALEKSANDRA KURZAK BEST OF 2020

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Album Artwork (1)In a perfect world of Opera, roles that demand not only the youthful looks but the fresh sound of a young woman – Tatyana, Liu, Micaela, Cio Cio San, Adriana Lecouvreur, the Trovatore’s Leonora, Nedda, Rusalka, Halka, must ideally be assigned to singers that look and sound the part.

Here to satisfy that wish is Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak, who in her Sony Classical release of operatic arias titled Desire delivers a gorgeous lyric sound, pinpoint accuracy in all the coloratura passages, intensity, and the sort of respectfulness for the written note that includes observing repeats and executing what’s written rather than what comes to the singer’s whim.

Add to that flawless diction in Italian, French, and Ms. Kurzak’s native Polish and its linguistic relatives: Czech and Russian, and one must quickly conclude that this artist has come into her own with a complete artistic-vocal equipment.

After a random listening through the album’s selections that began for us with a magnificent Letter Scene from Eugene Onegin we kept on the lookout for any moments in which the Verismo demands of Vissi d’arte or Nedda’s scene from I Pagliacci or even some of the declamatory passages in the lower range a singer encounters in Verdi could prove much too demanding for what is essentially Ms. Kurzak’s mid-weight lyric voice.

No problem! She sails through untaxed by even the most demanding moments in Leonora’s Tacea la notte and the last act D’amor sull’ ali rosee. She even caps Elena’s aria from I vespri siciliani with a terrific high E. (https://youtu.be/ExAhRILG9oo)

It is quite remarkable that Aleksandra Kurzak’s artistic journey has taken her from the Mozartian soubrettes Fach to the leading lady roles that she now sings all over the world. In this quarantined reality in which we now live this album already sits in my Best of 2020 list along with our fervent hope that soon Aleksandra Kurzak will be seen and heard on operatic stages this side of the pond.

TRAILER: https://youtu.be/zGxbbPKDYfo

Rafael de Acha

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”