TRACKLISTING

1. Puccini Quando m’en vo’
(La Bohème)
2. Gounod Je veux vivre dans ce rêve
(from Roméo et Juliette)
3. Menotti What a Curse for a Woman is a Timid Man
(The Old Maid and the Thief)
4. Gounod Dieu! Quel frisson court dans mes veines
(Roméo et Juliette)
5. Puccini O mio babbino caro
(Gianni Schicchi)
6. Delibes Les Filles de Cadix
7. Gershwin Summertime
(Porgy and Bess)
8. Tippett How can I cherish my man in such days
(A Child of our Time)
9. Berlioz Les belles fleurs…Entre l’amour et le devoir
(Benvenuto Cellini)
10. Charpentier Depuis le jour où je me suis donnée
(Louise)
11. Bellini Eccomi in lieta vesta
(from I Capuleti e I Montecchi)
12. Puccini Chi il Bel Sogno
(from La Rondine)
13. Donizetti Quel guardo il cavaliere / Son anchi’lo la virtu magica
(Don Pasquale)

RECORDING INFORMATION

DEBUT ALBUM FROM EXCITING NEW SOPRANO SIGNING

"Liquid gold; the real thing"
The Times, London

Stunning Winner of the 'BBC Cardiff Singer Of The World’ Competition

"Faultlessly gleaming…Whatever this soprano choses to sing her voice makes wonderful music with it"
The Financial Times, London

28 year old American soprano Nicole Cabell came to the attention of the opera world overnight when, in June 2005, she won what has become the most important competition for young opera singers and was crowned BBC Cardiff Singer Of The World. The competition jury included legendary singers Dame Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne and the win placed Nicole Cabell in a distinguished line of Cardiff prize-winners that includes Karita Mattila, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Bryn Terfel.

"Nicole’s voice is luscious and round with terrific ring in the top register…It’s a voice that wraps itself around you…I personally look forward to hearing that special sound many, many times."
Marilyn Horne, legendary American mezzo-soprano

Californian Nicole Cabell is of African-American, caucasian and Korean heritage - "My ethnicity is very important to me. I’m grateful to have grown up in an environment in which it was totally welcomed and accepted."

After discovering her vocal talent Nicole abandoned an ambition to write novels and started singing training in the United States and later in Italy. She was then invited to join the vocal programme at the Lyric Opera of Chicago where she further developed her stage experience. It was there that Nicole first met her mentor and collaborator on this album, the music director of the Lyric Opera, Sir Andrew Davis.

Nicole Cabell’s debut album with the London Philharmonic Orchestra includes arias and songs in Italian, French and English; operatic favourites as well as less well-known music (such as the arias by Menotti and Tippet) which she made her own in the BBC competition.

The flirtatious Musetta in Puccini’s La Bohème has become a ‘calling card’ role and her much loved ‘Walz Song’ ‘Quando me’n vo’ was a natural choice to start the album. In April 2007 Nicole Cabell will sing the role alongside Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon in concert performances in Munich (which will be recorded for CD release by Deutsche Grammophon). Puccini is also represented on her debut album by the sublime ‘O mio babbino caro’ from Gianni Schicchi and Doretta’s heavenly aria of young love from La Rondine ‘Chi bel sogno…’.

Nicole’s thrilling performance of the coloratura showpiece aria from Berlioz’ Benvenuto Cellini was one of the highlights of the Cardiff competition and it’s included on the album along with other French favourites from Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Charpentier’s Louise and Delibes’ French vision of Spain in his popular song ‘Les Filles de Cadix’.

The bel canto operas of Donizetti and Bellini reveal another facet of this hugely gifted young singer - an ability to sculp lines of aching lyrical beauty. The album includes the capricious aria from Donizetti’s Don Pasquale as well as Bellini’s ravishing entrance aria for the heroine of his ‘Romeo & Juliet’ opera I Capuletti e I Montecchi.

Nicole Cabell regards singing in English as an important aspect of her artistic identity so the album includes her gorgeous performance of Gershwin’s ‘Summertime’ from Porgy & Bess (which she also sings on the recent Decca complete recording) as well as the rapturous aria from Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Old Maid & The Thief and the deep humanity of the selection from Sir Michael Tippett’s oratorio A Child Of Our Time.

Since her competition victory Nicole Cabell has made a successful debut at the BBC Proms, followed by 'auspicious' (The Times) debut for London’s Royal Opera, Covent Garden. High profile engagements are now coming from the world's leading opera houses, making it clear that the overnight success in Cardiff was built on solid talent which promises to take Nicole Cabell to the top of the operatic world - on stage and on record.