Profile reviews
2'But for once – just once – I was engaged here, by a Polish soprano called Anna Jeruc-Kopec who has a quality of voice beyond the reasonable expectations of a little show like this, and a theatrical intensity to match. The timbre of the voice is pearly, almost Gheorghiu like, with fierce attack and a generally secure coloratura. But above all, she's incredibly moving and dies so beautifully that for the first time ever (and I mean this) Violetta's last gasps drew a small tear from my tired old critic's seen-it-all-before eyes...'
They say that Violetta in La Traviata is one of opera's hardest soprano parts. Violetta changes character completely over the opera's three acts – all the way from voracious party girl to delicate, dying consumptive – and the singer must be in complete control of the role to make this work. The musical part, of course, is hardly easy either. But add to this the proviso that Violetta perform the whole of Act I in a corset, dancing around a chair and flirting with the audience, and the feat really starts to seem impressive. Anna Jeruć-Kopeć was hugely successful as Violetta, stretching over the dramatic range the part demands as elegantly as she stretched over that chair in Act I.’
