A debut album from the new darling of the opera world: Aigul Akhmetshina , the young mezzo soprano from Bashkortostan. While training with the Royal Opera House’s Jette Parker Artists Programme in London, Akhmetshina has performed the role of Carmen in Peter Brooks’ condensed version of Bizet’s opera and later understudied the titular role in the main house while performing the supporting role of Mércèdes. In 2018, in true “A Star is Born” style, she found herself stepping into the main role for three performances.
She gained much publicity, not just because she scored such a triumph but because she was a twenty-one-year-old. Akhmetshina’s career rocketed. She started sensibly with lighter Rossini and a selection of smaller roles, including Lola, Maddalena, Olga, Fenena.
But now Carmen is her calling card – and in the last year Akhmetshina has led new productions of the opera at the Met, Covent Garden and Glyndebourne. So her solo album is timely and starts with the obvious – Carmen’s Habanera, Seguidilla and Card Scene. There is much to show why audiences are so excited by her.
The voice is an astounding instrument: rich of tone, knitted perfectly between registers, colored evenly from top to bottom unless she decides to vary its hue, and capable of impressively precise coloratura. It is a Rolls Royce of mezzos – opulent and luxurious. And this is sometimes a problem.
Everything cruises along with such perfection that the surface gloss can lead to a l.