Nicole Car HEROINES

Stunning young Australian soprano Nicole Car is one of the brightest stars in international opera. In September 2018 she will make her debut at New York's Metropolitan Opera opposite Vittorio Grigolo and Michael Fabiano, and November sees her debut at Bayerische Staatsoper.

This follows hard on the heels of a Helpmann Award-winning performance as Violetta in Opera Australia's production of Verdi's La traviata earlier in the year. Nicole's star status was confirmed by the huge success of her debut solo album, The Kiss, which reached #1 on the charts and was nominated for Best Classical Album at the 2016 ARIA Awards.

In April 2018, Nicole joined the ACO, one of Australia's most daring and exciting ensembles, for a series of unique live performances featuring arias sung by some of music's most iconic female characters – including Mozart's Dido and Verdi's Desdemona. The album also showcases the artistry of the orchestra, featuring Mozart's Symphony No. 27  as well as a gorgeous performance of Beethoven's Romance for Violin and Orchestra No . 2 from Satu Vänskä, the ACO's Principal Violin.

Heroines is a brilliant recording of these extraordinary concerts, capturing one of the world's most beautiful voices blending perfectly with one of the world's great orchestras.

"Here we present Nicole Car, a singer at the top of her game, to portray these heroines: courageous Queen Dido, wrathful Deidamia, the doomed Desdemona. These are characters who face the very depths of human expression – joy and hope, grief and despair – with resilience and strength. Do not underestimate these women; they are resolute in their conviction, and their voices demand to be heard" (Richard Tognetti)

Nicole Car / Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra / Andrea Molino THE KISS

This is a timely release from ABC Classics. The Australian soprano Nicole Car made her Royal Opera debut last autumn, as a touching Micaëla before starring as Tatyana. Both roles feature on this cannily programmed disc – a mixture of well-loved classics and a few specialities. Essentially a calling card, it demonstrates Car’s ability in rarer Russian and Czech repertoire, the extract from Smetana’s The Kiss lending the disc its title.

She begins the disc boldly, with Marguerite’s Jewel Song – just the sort of repertoire one associates with her compatriot Dame Joan Sutherland, but Car’s is a lighter instrument. She possesses a lovely lyric soprano, not a glamorous sound, but full of dewy freshness, nowhere more so than in Mimì’s aria, where the voice has a rosy bloom. Her Mimì is very much the ‘girl next door’ and she ends with a charming final line. Micaëla has a similar innocence. Her Thaïs shows promise, although the raw final note on the optional high D on ‘éternellement’ should have been retaken.

While the role of Leonora in Il trovatore would seem on the heavy side for Car at present, she is aided in ‘Tacea la notte placida’ by conductor Andrea Molino, who takes the aria quite swiftly. The cabaletta sparkles. Car discovers darker colours in Amelia’s ‘Come in quest’ora bruna’ from Simon Boccanegra, although it’s a bit of a trudge, the seabirds wheeling rather deliberately along Genoa’s coastline.

Tatyana’s Letter Scene is packed with emotion and meaning in something approaching a signature role. Among the rarities, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Servilia is a delight, although it’s a shame the aria from Tchaikovsky’s The Oprichnik is relegated to the download version of the album only. (Gramophone)