My last post was on the wonderful bass Kevin Burdette, a Knoxville native, who is appearing in Elektra and The Nose at the Metropolitan Opera this season. Soprano Rachele Gilmore is NOT a native of Knoxville, but of Atlanta. However, I have the distinct feeling there will be those that might want to make her an honorary citizen following her appearance as Lucia in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor with the Knoxville Opera Company in February.
Gilmore, too, is appearing at the Met this season; she was listed as the cover for Kathleen Kim in the role of the mechanical doll, Olympia, in Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann. (I saw the HD broadcast and Kim was terrific) However, in the performance of December 23rd, Kim was forced to withdraw because of illness. So, on three hours notice, Gilmore stepped into the role and electrified the audience with some high-wire vocal acrobatics that included high Gs and possibly an A-flat.
Although I don't know how this video was made (and don't want to), here is a YouTube video of "The Doll Song" from that performance. ( Despite what the title says, the performance was on the 23rd.) This will knock your socks off.
Prior to her February appearance in Lucia di Lammermoor in Knoxville, Gilmore will appear at Knoxville Opera's Oak Ridge Community Concert on Sunday, January 24th. That concert, in the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center at 3:00 p.m., is free. In addition to singing selections from Lucia, The Tales of Hoffmann, and The Daughter of the Regiment, Gilmore will perform a scene from Knoxville Opera's production of Rossini's The Barber of Seville. The concert will also feature selections from Knoxville Opera's production of Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance (March 12, 14). Performing will be principal artists from the production, including Carroll Freeman (UT Opera Theatre Director) as "the very model of a modern Major-General," soprano Rachel Anne Moore as his daughter Mabel, and baritone Jesse Stock, as Pirate Sam.
The Knoxville Opera season:
Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, February 12 and 14
Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance, March 12 and 14
Rossini's The Barber of Seville, April 23 and 25
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