Angela Gheorghiu is the star of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Operatic Gala in which the Romanian soprano sings a selection of lovely songs and arias interspersed with some wonderful pieces of symphonic music. The London Philharmonic is led by Gergely Madaras.
The programme features arias such as Puccini’s Un bel di, vedremo from Madame Butterfly and Boito’s L’altra notte in fondo al mare from Mefistofele, as well as pieces of music like Tchaikovsky’s Polonaise from Eugene Onegin and Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor.
Angela Gheorghiu – described by the New York Sun as “The most glamorous and gifted opera singer of our time” – has been delighting audiences since she debuted at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 1952. That was the year in which she also made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and at the Vienna State Opera. In 1994 Angela Gheorghiu made her first appearance as Violetta in Verdi’s La traviata – a performance for which the BBC cleared its schedules in order to broadcast the opera live, the first time this had taken place in television and operatic history.
According to The Sunday Times, she is “…. the most instantly recognisable and interesting soprano voice of our time, a liquid instrument of great lyrical beauty with gleaming ‘spun gold’ high notes, but a dark, vibrant contralto range ….”. Ms Gheorghiu has appeared in opera houses and concert halls the world over during her career, her next performance being the role of Mimi in Puccini’s La bohème at the Royal Opera House in January 2024.
© Benjamin Ealovega
Conductor Gergely Madaras, currently Music Director of Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, was formerly Music Director of the Orchestre Dijon Bourgogne, and Chief Conductor of the Savaria Symphony Orchestra in his native Hungary, having held both positions for 6 years. He has appeared with many of the major symphony orchestras in Europe, as well as with the BBC Symphony and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. Future plans include appearances with the the City of Birmingham Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Hungarian State Opera, Oslo Philharmonic and Gürzenich Orchestra Köln.
Gergely Madaras leads Angela Gheorghiu and the London Philharmonic in an Operatic Gala on Saturday, 2nd December at the Southbank Centre. Tickets and information on forthcoming events at the LPO may be obtained on the LPO website.