Kritiken
Leeds Lieder Festival Closing Recital
Mai 2022
mit Joseph Middleton
The German soprano Nikola Hillebrand is praised for her bright, shining voice with a noble timbre, her lightness and sophisticated technique, and her heart-touching, charming presentation and her nuanced design.
Still at the beginning of her career, she has already sung at many leading opera and concert halls including Bavarian State Opera, the Glyndebourne Festival and the Wiener Musikverein.
In autumn 2020 Nikola will join the ensemble of the Semperoper Dresden as a soloist and will be here in the major roles of her subject such as Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte), Konstanze (Entführung aus dem Serail), Gilda (Rigoletto) and Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel) be experience.
„a new goddess of opera“
„Sunday evening's sensational Leeds Lieder Festival closing concert, received with stamping of feet and yelps of delight, marked Hillebrand's UK recital debut.“
„Hillebrand and Middleton's programme of Schubert, Brahms and Richard Strauss was impeccably projected. The young soprano's musicality and natural ease shone through. Her voice has a luinous and gleaming quality, equally at home in Schubert and Brahms Lieder as in the long phrases and highwire coloratura passages of R. Strauss.“
„It was an occasion that none present will forget, enhanced by the presence of pianist Joseph Middleton on top form.“
„Hillebrand offered a heady mix of Schubert, Brahms and Strauss. She is the complete package, a lovely well-focused sound allied to charming presence and the ability to penetrate right to the heart of a song within a few bars, helped by a wide range of facial expressions.“
„Conversely, she remains rooted to the spot and makes sparing use of hand gestures. Any young singer considering a career in lieder would do well to emulate her technique in all these areas.“
„They (Strauss' Mädchenblumen Op 22) are little heard because of their taxingly high tessitura, bit in Hillebrand's hands they were pure magic, seemingly posing no difficulties; she negotiated them so smoothly that the vocal lines carried a marvellous inevitability. Cornflowers, poppies, ivy, waterlily, she caressed them all playfully.“
„This was a highly auspicious debut, which must surely lead to many invitations to return to this country“
The German soprano Nikola Hillebrand is praised for her bright, shining voice with a noble timbre, her lightness and sophisticated technique, and her heart-touching, charming presentation and her nuanced design.
Still at the beginning of her career, she has already sung at many leading opera and concert halls including Bavarian State Opera, the Glyndebourne Festival and the Wiener Musikverein.
In autumn 2020 Nikola will join the ensemble of the Semperoper Dresden as a soloist and will be here in the major roles of her subject such as Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte), Konstanze (Entführung aus dem Serail), Gilda (Rigoletto) and Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel) be experience.
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