**** With her cd titled Miroirs Elsa Dreisig immediately positions herself at the forefront of young soprano singers. She has an interesting starting point for the cd's theme: arias about the image in the mirror. Though we shouldn't take it too literally, it yields a beautiful collection of well-known and lesser-known arias, arranged in duos around four opera characters besides Juliette and Thaïs: Manon, Juliette, Rosina and Salomé.
In her introduction to the cd, Elsa Dreisig explains how she came up with the idea: as a child she found it strange that the voice was not visible … Meanwhile she realizes that an image is not always real, but the voice is, a difference between being and seeming. On the other hand, the mirror helps the voice to be known, so the confrontation is useful when singing. So on the cd she examines the image of two characters by two composers and each aria becomes an interpretation that is confronted with the other character.
Her first "mirror" is of course the famous aria of Juliette admiring herself in the mirror with the jewels she has just received from her supposed and deceitful beloved. As a confrontation follows the merciless image of Massenet's Thaïs, who looks in the mirror. From these arias onwards we hear a singer who has a beautiful soprano voice: with body and very agile in the demanding arias. Her pianissimo is perfect. Listen to the aria of Manon by Massenet Adieu notre petite table. She can sing icily high (Pardonne Roméo) in the aria from the unknown opera version of Roméo et Juliette by Daniel Steibelt (1765-1823). But the voice remains "voice" and does not become thin. With the two Rosinas (the one by Rossini and the one by Mozart) she places a moving Porgi amor next to a contrasting playful Una voce poco fa. In the two Salome arias she proves that she easily switches from a dreamy Salomé from the romantic repertoire to the expressivity of the harsh Strauss language. Also in the Strauss Salomé she impresses with her flexibility and vocal steadiness and applies a controlled vibrato that contributes to the authenticity of the Salomé image. She sings the aria in French: a conscious choice to sing in the language of her birth country. She is also not deterred by contemporary repertoire. She is currently singing in Berlin the creation of the opera Violetter Schnee by Beat Furrer. The Montpellier orchestra accompanies stylishly and with precision. In conductor Michael Schønwandt Dreisig finds a half fellow countryman, since her mother is Danish (and also an opera singer).
This trendy singer - ensemble member of the Staatsoper Berlin, the house of Daniel Barenboim – won among others the Operalia prize, a competition initiated by Placido Domingo. With this debut cd she proves herself immediately as a fascinating artistic personality.
- WHAT: Miroir(s). Opera Arias
- WHO: Elsa Dreisig (soprano), Orchestre National de Montpellier Occitanie conducted by Michael Schønwandt
- RELEASE: Erato 0190295634131[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z00Ymwcl10[/embed]