Sabina Puértolas rallies for an ebullient regiment song

THE SONGBIRD: Sabina Puértolas was born in Zaragoza, Spain in 1973. She trained at the Pamplona Conservatoire, and then in Italy at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena and the Teatro Regio's Accademia Verdiana in Busseto, where Carlo Bergonzi was her teacher. She won the Zarzuela prize at Operalia in 2003. Puértolas made her professional debut in 2001 as Oscar at La Scala in Milan. She appeared at the Royal Opera House first in 2013 as Lisette and Despina, and then in 2018 she stepped in to perform Gilda with only one day's notice and three hours of rehearsal. Other engagements have included Contessa di Folleville in Barcelona, Fiorilla in Toulouse, Rodelinda in Madrid, Rosina in Seattle, and Gilda in Santiago.
THE MUSIC: Donizetti is an Italian composer through and through, yet "La fille du régiment" (or the Daughter of the Regiment) falls in the national stylistic cracks as it was composed for the Opera-Comique and premiered there in 1840. Donizetti lived in Paris for two years and wrote "Fille" while there -- his first opera written to a French text. Despite a weak premiere and some negative reviews, the opera became a world-wide hit and a favorite of star coloratura sopranos who want to have fun. When we are first introduced to the title character Marie, an orphan who was adopted by a military regiment, she sings their ebullient regimental song.