Disk of 2022

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The soprano Nadine Sierra – the “Made for the Opera” album – the opera and its stars, March 21st-23rd and 25th, 2022

I. arias from the "Romeo and Juliet" opera by Charles Gounod

II. the "Lucia di Lammermoor" opera by Gaetano Donizetti - sequences from the mad scene

III. the "La Traviata" opera by Giuseppe Verdi - Violetta's scene and aria in act 1

IV. arias from"Lucia di Lammermoor" by Gaetano Donizetti and "Traviata" by Giuseppe Verdi.

The soprano Nadine Sierra's second solo album has been officially released on the 4th of March this year. Four years before, the Portuguese soprano was releasing her first solo album, on which occasion she signed an exclusivity contract with the Deutsche Grammophon & Decca Gold concern. "Nadine Sierra's childhood intuition - that she was born to sing opera - proved to be correct in all respects and it's reflected in the title of her second solo album for Deutsche Grammophon." - reports the review of the "Made for the opera" disc - "Făcută pentru operă".

Recorded with help from the Italian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Capella Cracoviensis, conducted by Riccardo Frizza, the album reflectsnot only Nadine Sierra's mastery of the bel canto technique and a rich range of vocal colors, but also the soprano's knowledge of the psychology of the characters she interprets, like: Violetta Valery, Lucia di Lammermoor or Juliet; heroines destroyed by the social conventions of those times and the impossibility of choosing their own destiny. This holds a personal meaning for the Portuguese soprano whose grandmother, endowed with a formidable voice, had been prevented by her family from pursuing an opera career. Her wings were cut and, like most women from her environment and generation, she became a respectable housewife and nothing more. Today, Nadine Sierra is thanking her mom who had given her all the support she needed when she embarked on her artistic journey. This album also owes a lot to three inspirational women from the life of the Portuguese soprano: Teresa Stratas and Renata Scotto, the stars of the first production that Nadine Sierra saw at the age of ten -La bohème, directed by the famous Franco Zeffirelli - a videotape that her mother had borrowed from the local library in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Marilyn Horne, who became her mentor a few years down the road. "What I learned from these exceptional women", Nadine Sierra recalls, "is that I had to have everything that was necessary - dedication, hardships, sacrifice, perseverance, patience, and pure devotion - to be made for the opera".