Quite a magical evening last night

JEK

Senior Insider
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Lucky you. One of the last great female opera singers.

We have seen her live twice during the pandemic in distanced affairs. Hope to see her again in September for the Kennedy Center 50th. A McLean neighbor too!
 
Lucky you. One of the last great female opera singers.

Very lucky indeed! Renée has been and remains one of the greatest "ambassadors" for opera.

I wouldn't be so pessimistic about the future of female opera singers though.

Joyce DiDonato, Elina Garanca, Christine Goerke, Anna Netrebko, and Sondra Radvanovsky come quickly to mind for women who are in the generation immediately following Renée’s, still very active in opera productions, and are "great opera singers".

Angel Blue, Lise Davidsen, Aïda Garifulina, Isabel Leonard, Kate Lindsey, Angela Meade, Kristīne Opolais, Lisette Oropesa, Ailyn Pérez, Anita Rachvelishvili, Nadine Sierra, Pretty Yende and Sonya Yoncheva are among the women in the next generation whose operatic career may eventually fit that description.

Here is a soothing duet from two on the first list, and from two on the second list, and yet again from Renée and another great of her generation, Susan Graham.

Those who are not opera fans may recognize this duet from here, which is what inspired another soprano from the second list, shown here singing the duet with her country's "First Lady of Song", to take up opera.

There are and will be other great sopranos. When we will see another who can attain widespread popularity similar is a different matter. This has becomes particularly difficult for opera singers as their peak years typically begin in their 30's... old age in popular culture... how opera adapts and what this could mean for singing "greatness" would be the topic for another Tl;dr post...
 
Wolf Trap Opera allows those of us in the DMV an opportunity to see the emergence of the next generation as they train.

Here is a soothing duet featuring Kate Lindsey (in a "pants role"), a Virginia native, who is one of the two female alumnae mentioned in that from WTO and who is in the list of the younger group above (she'd be at or close to the top if I rank ordered...). Christine Goerke, the other female in the WTO description is in the first of the two lists!

WTO's recent Aria Jukebox featuring some of this summer's artists is stil viewable for those interested. I was lucky that someone alerted me to this yearly event last year... Watching it, one comes quickly to the conclusion that we won't be lacking greet singers... getting the opportunity to be heard is the challenge...
 
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