Alice Coote and Joyce DiDonato are my two favorite mezzo-sopranos (how lucky we Handel junkies are to live in a time of Handel revival, with so many great mezzo-sopranos singing the trouser roles). Interestingly, I noticed both because of their great performances in Handel's Alcina (with DiDonato singing Alcina and Coote singing Ruggiero in a totally different production). I once jokingly thought if I would ever see them in the same Alcina production. Well, that hasn't happened yet, but I was more than happy to discover that they did perform one opera together, that is Massenet's Cendrillon (with Coote singing Prince Charming and DiDonato singing Cinderella). And their youtube videos are all very fun to watch.
P.S. Two performances of Coote and DiDonato singing of "Cara Speme" below. Each sang to their own strength and each gave a wonderful performance.
P.S. Two performances of Coote and DiDonato singing of "Cara Speme" below. Each sang to their own strength and each gave a wonderful performance.
Here is Coote's recent Met performance of Cara Speme. Coote dark timbre makes her a perfect mezzo-soprano for Mahler's work. Her BBC Prom performance totally changed my thinking about Mahler's vocal work.
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