Category: - Contralto Corner

Reader Feature: Daniel Rodriguez suggests Alice Habellion

1/11/2013

The latest Reader Feature here at the Contralto Corner is from long-term contributer Daniel Rodriguez. He brought to my attention the French contralto Alice Habellion.

Alice Habellion is a contralto with a uniquely rich and dark timbre which suffuses the whole voice, including the middle and upper registers. Her lower register is powerful and strong, worthy of a contralto profondo. We can expect great things of this young woman as her voice matures.

Check out her pages and the video below. The times of her arias and duets are listed below the video.

Many thanks again to Daniel for this fabulous suggestion!

Part 1
Aria 1: 6:06
Duet 1: 13:36
Aria 2: 39:16
Tutti 1: 45:36

Part 2
Aria 3: 55:14
Duet 2: 1:00:56
Aria 4: 1:10:51
Aria 5: 1:29:55
Duet 3: 1:34:13

Reader Feature: Daniel Rodriguez suggests Bernadette Manca di Nissa

30/8/2013

Today's contralto, Bernadette Manca di Nissa, has been suggested by Daniel Rodriguez, who previously suggested Wiebke Lehmkhul. I just want to say a big thank you to Daniel for his continued support!

The warm, powerful, yet always beautiful voice of the Italian contralto Bernadette Manca di Nissa is something that, once heard, can never be forgotten. She excels in all genres, from the religious music of Pergolesi, through Mozart to the powerful role of Tancredi and the comic Mrs. Quickly. She has now retired from the stage, but continues teaching.

Check out her pages, and the video below.

Reader Feature: Daniel Rodriguez suggests Wiebke Lehmkhul

11/7/2013

Our latest "Reader Feature" here at the Contralto Corner comes courtesy of Daniel Rodriguez. He has suggested the German contralto Wiebke Lehmkhul.

The serene, velvety voice of German contralto Wiebke Lehmkhul is the perfect vehicle for the music of the Oratorio. The great religious works are full of meaning and pathos in her hands. Yet she also excels in the operatic world, with convincing performances that speak with honesty and integrity.

Check our her profile, and her performance of Hasse's Benedictus below.

Carolina Rocha Suggests Contralto Louise Homer

2/6/2013

Hello everybody!

Carolina Rocha, from Chile, has suggested the wonderful American Contralto Louise Homer. Homer started her career as a vaudeville entertainer in New England, before becoming a very successful Opera Singer. She created the roles of the witch in Engelbert Humperdinck's Königskinder and the title role in Horatio Parker's Mona, and sang with such esteemed voices as Enrico Caruso and Ernestine Schumann-Heink. She was also the aunt of acclaimed American Composer Samuel Barber.

You can hear her singing "Divinités du Styx," [Italian] From Gluck's Alceste in the video below.

Jean Wakefield Suggests Contralto Maura Moreira

30/5/2013

Hello again! The wonders in our little Corner of the world just keep on coming!

Jean Wakefield, a regular contributer here at the Contralto Corner, has sent through another suggestion for a contralto for you all to listen to: Brazilian contralto Maura Moreira. You can hear her singing the famous aria of Dalila, "Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix".

Thanks again to Jean for her continued support!

Emanuel Gigante Suggests Hungarian Contralto Dalma Krajnyak

29/5/2013

Emanuel Gigante has discovered a new contralto, fresh on the scene, who looks like a new star in the making: Hungarian Dalma Krajnyak.

Dalma studied at the Music Department of the University of Szeged on the Bachelor Academic Programme of Performance-Classical Vocal Studies. In the final year of her BA, she had already decided to continue her studies abroad and to this end she spent a semester as a granted student of the Erasmus Exchange Programme in Venice, Italy, where she studied at the Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello.

This is Emanuel's fourth suggestion for the Contralto Corner, his other three can be seen here.

I caught up with him to ask him a couple of questions about his interest in the contralto voice:

SMSI: What do you like most about the contralto voice?

EG: What i love about the contralto voice is well described in Gautier's poem. It´s something about the subliminal sensuality and earthly authority: a Woman with a superb low voice is always a wonder - like Lauren Bacall for instance.

SMSI: What is your favourite contralto aria?

EG: My fav aria or lied depends on my mood: It can be Kathleen Ferrier's version of the Kindertotenlieder, or Sara Mingardo in Vivaldi's Stabat Mater, or maybe Sonia Prina singing "Per Lacerarlo" or "Vedro con mio Diletto". I also like Delphine Galou singing "Con palmi ed allor" and Ewa Podles's version of "Sudó il Guerriero" or the role of Erda. Marie-Nicole Lemieux is fantastic in the roles of Orlando and Miss Quickly, and I like pretty much everything Nathalie Stutzmann has recorded!

SMSI: Thank you Emanuel for your continued support, and for answering these questions.

You can watch Dalma Krajnyak performing "Di tanti palpiti" in the video below.

Emanuel Gigante Suggests Three New Contraltos

18/5/2013

It's time for another Reader Feature! Emanuel Gigante, from Portugal, has suggested three contraltos for the Contralto Corner. He is a big fan of the contralto voice, owning CD's by many of the singers on the site.

The three singers he has suggested are German contralto Ulrike Zech, American contralto Ellen Rabiner, and a second German contralto Marion Eckstein. Please check out there pages.

And thank you once again to Emanuel for his suggestions. Why not follow him on Twitter: @EmanuelGigante

Jean Wakefield suggests "In Memoriam Aeternam" from Vivaldi's Beatus Vir.

13/2/2013

Well, this is a first for the Contralto Corner: a piece scored for not one, but three contraltos! It comes from the work called Beatus Vir, specifically from the version (RV 795) composed for the women of the Ospedale della Pietà, a home for abandoned children where Vivaldi worked from 1703 to 1715 and from 1723 to 1740. The Pietà ensemble was all female, with women taking all the singing roles, including tenor and bass! There are records of an Anna dal Basso (the ladies were not known by surnames, but by the voice type or instrument they played) who by all accounts could sing well below C3.

The particular piece in the video below, which was forwarded to me by Jean Wakefield, who also made previous suggestions of ladies to be included in the Contralto Corner, is called "In Memoria Aeterna". Richard Vendome - Artistic Director of the Vivaldi's Women project, which recreated the choir of the Pietà with women singing all parts from Soprano to Bass - suggested that the lowest of the three contralto parts, which had a much lower tessitura than the other two, was "possibly written for Ambrosina", a contralto with "a voice like thunder, just like a tenor".

In the video below, the lowest part is performed by Welsh contralto Hilary Summers with the other parts being take by contraltos Nathalie Stutzmann and Alexandra Gibson. The piece is in the key of C minor, with Summers' first entry coming on a solid G3. She stays below the stave for the majority of the work, and hits both F#3 and F3 natural! In fact, as they are at "Baroque pitch", Summers is starting on a F3 and hits an E3!. Excellent stuff.

Jean Wakefield suggests more contraltos

27/1/2013

Hello everybody! I hope the New Year is being kind to you all.

Jean Wakefield, a veteran contributor to the Contralto Corner, has suggested four more contraltos for us all to listen to. Many thanks Jean for your continued interest and support!

The first in the list is Sigrid Onegin, a Franco-Germanic contralto born in Sweden. She lived from 1889 to 1943, singing at the Met, Covent Garden and Bayreuth, in roles such as Orfeo, Eboli, Erda and Amneris. She also created the role of Dyrad in Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos. She sings Eboli's "O Don Fatale" from Verdi's Don Carloin the video below.

The next contralto is the great Armenian Lili Chookisian, the key contralto at the Met in the 60's, 70's and early 80's. She died in April last year, but her great performances have stayed with us. Like Ewa Podles, she was capable of both cavernous chest tone and a ringing C6. In the video below, she sings the fearsome aria "Re Dell'Abisso" from Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera.

The Welsh contralto Hillary Summers is another dramatic contralto, like Chookasian and Podles, with a fierce chest register. Her she performs "Peccator Videbit" from Vivaldi's Beatus vir, the version for the Ospedale della Pietà, RV 795, which he wrote for a very low-voiced female singer. Summers handles the F3 and E3 with ease.

Swiss contralto Ursula Ferri is another "assoluta" contralto with a very wide range. In a previous post, we heard her hit a C3, and in this clip, Gaea's scene from Richard Strauss' Daphne, she sings a plethora of Eb3's on stage. Go Ursula!

Ola Sletvold suggests Aafje Heynis for the Contralto Corner

8/11/2011

The Contralto Corner has benifited from the interest of its readers on more than one occasion. Thanks to you, this page is now THE place to find information on those amazing women who sing in the contralto fach.

Once again, we have a suggestion from or readers. Ola Sletvold, who has already suggested two other contraltos, has pointed me in the direction of yet another fabulous singer.

Aafje Heynes is a Dutch contralto, who focused manily in the concert and oratorio areas of performance, with a key interest in Mahler. Indeed, her perfromance of Mahler's Second Symphony is regarded as a classic.

Below is a video of her performing one of my favourite contralto pieces, the haunting Dank, sei dir Herr attributed to G. F. handel.

Enjoy!

Uploaded by andigrim007.