Elsa Dreisig evokes bel canto lyricism in forlorn cavatina

Bellini: I CAPULETI E I MONTECCHI - Oh quante volte, 2023
THE SONGBIRD: Elsa Dreisig seems to be everywhere of late as one of the top lyric sopranos of her generation with leading roles in major operatic centers and premium recording contracts. She was born in Paris in 1991, the daughter of the Danish opera singer Inge Dreisig and the French singer, conductor, and director Gilles Ramade. She sang in the children's choirs of the opera houses in Liege and Lyon, then studied at the Conservatoire de Paris and at the University of Music in Leipzig. In 2015, Dreisig joined the opera studio in Berlin, leading to a permanent engagement, appearing as Gretel, Pamina, Violetta, Euridice, and Dircé. She was a top winner in several prominent competitions (Neue Stimmen, Queen Sonja Competition, and Operalia). She has performed in the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Paris, Zürich, London, Salzburg, Hamburg in a variety of roles including Bellini's Elvira, Salome (in French), Thais, Manon, Musetta, Zerlina, Donna Elvira, and Fiordiligi. In the past months she sang both operatic takes on Shakespeare's Juliet by Gounod and Bellini.
THE MUSIC: The best known aria from Bellini's operatic version of the Romeo and Juliet story, written for Venice in 1830, is Giulietta's gorgeous cavatina "Oh! quante volte." It introduces the young girl as she is pining for Romeo. It's a serene scene of suspended, dreamy bel canto lyricism that many light lyric and lyric-coloratura sopranos are drawn to and their girlish tone is a good fit for the young, romantic Juliet.