Sat February 20 2010 - Opera Warhorses
Fink, Valayre and Aceto in San Diego Opera’s Exceptional “Nabucco”

The role of Abigaille is one of the most treacherous in Italian opera, with extraordinary cadenzas that descend into the chest voice and then leap into the top of the soprano range . French soprano Sylvie Valayre is one of the few sopranos in history to make Abigaille a signature role.

Valayre has become a specialist in this role as well as that of Lady Macbeth (see my review of her Lady at  Power Verdi: Stoyanov, Valayre Mesmerizing in Berlin Staatsoper “Macbeth” – April 24, 2009.)

[Below: Abigaille (Sylvie Valayre), discovering that she is the illegitimate daughter of a slave, determines to lead a coup to seize the Assyrian throne; edited image, based on a Cory Weaver photograph, courtesy of the San Diego Opera.]

 

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