Midsummer Night - Kate Royal's New Album

On stage (if you are lucky enough to see her perform), soprano Kate Royal has the look of a Bond girl and the grace of a princess, with a rich voice melting in your ear like dark chocolate. Attending her recital last year at Berkeley was an event of lifetime to me.

Since event of lifetime doesn't happen every day, I am more than happy to find that her new album just came out lately. Better yet, she's singing the arias of 20th century English operas (something rarely recorded). Usually I don't like 20th century English operas (I prefer the more melodramatic Italian ones), but Ms Royal's performance of Stravinsky's "The Rake's Progress" in her previous album convince me to reconsider. So now I am more than happy to try new things and broaden my horizon.

Still, I am eagerly waiting for her Strauss album, but I know for that I have to be patient. No soprano before a certain age can really sing Strauss's last four songs and Ms Royal definitely hasn't reached that age yet. Right now, she's just too young and too beautiful!

P.S. I don't know who did the promotion at EMI. Her last album's promotion photos were bad enough, the new ones are even worse. For heaven's sake, do they really think making her look like Keira Knightly will sell the CD?

P.P.S Just finished listening to this CD. It's wonderful, even better than Ms Royal's debut. One thing is for sure, Ms Royal has graduated from the "rising star" status to be a true star now. Her singing sometimes reminds me the great German soprano Elizabeth Schwarzkopf. (Yes, I know, another unbelievably beautiful soprano.)