Singers to Watch
Posted Aug 6th, 2011 at 10:00 amThose of you who have taken my classes know that I am always on the lookout for new and exciting talent.
Atalla Ayan, a young 26 y.o tenor from Brazil, has my attention via you tube and other buzz on the internet from critics I respect. While this video is from a 2008 performance of La Boheme in his native Brazil, Ayan made his Met debut earlier this year as Gastone in La Traviata and is scheduled to sing Rodolfo this summer at the prestigious Glyndebourne Festival. From the video, he reveals a beautiful lyric voice, ideally suited to the Puccini role, and a hint of greatness to come. See what you think:
With a name like Pretty Yende, she is half way to opera fame if her name is telling the truth. And is it ever! She is an absolutely beautiful South African Zulu who hangs out at La Scala these days, earning well deserved accolades in small roles. She was a big winner at the 2011 Operalia Competition in Moscow. She is 25 years old, greatly talented and a singer who will sound AND look great in HD. Here she sings Rusalka’s Song to the Moon.
Rene Barbera, tenor, hails from San Antonio, Texas. He just swept the prizes at the 2011 Operalia Placido Domingo World Opera Competition in Moscow Operalia is Placido Domingo’s prestigious competition and it almost guarantees success and door openings at opera houses world wide for its winners. Barbera was a 2008 graduate of the Merola Program in San Francisco, and when I heard him there, I was impressed; but his recent offerings (which I watched live on the internet) from Operalia were simply stupendous. Move over Juan Diego Florez! Here is one of his winning offerings from the competition: