American soprano Nicole Cabell, winner of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 2005, makes her Roy Thomson Hall debut on Sunday, March 8 at 2 pm. She is joined by pianist Spencer Myer for a captivating program of art songs by Liszt, Obradors, Guastavino and Gordon, plus Leonard Bernstein's delightful song-cycle I Hate Music, and a selection of spirituals. The concert, part of Roy Thomson Hall's International Vocal Recitals, will be recorded live by CBC Radio for future broadcast. Ms. Cabell will be exclusively outfitted for the occasion by Canadian designer Rosemarie Umetsu.
Since her prestigious win in the world's most important competition for young singers, Ms. Cabell has made triumphant debuts at the world's major opera houses including London's Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Chicago's Lyric Opera and most recently, the Metropolitan Opera in December '08, where she "brought a warm, elegant sound and a sparkling presence" (The New York Times) as Pamina in The Magic Flute. And following her Roy Thomson Hall recital, she returns to the Met to star as Adina in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore. Also this season, she portrays the Countess in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro with Cincinnati Opera, Micaeli in Bizet's Carmen with Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Leila in Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. In concert she appears in Copenhagen, Prague, Munich, Frankfurt, and at Carnegie Hall for Marilyn Horne's 75th birthday gala.
Ms. Cabell's solo debut Decca recording Nicole Cabell: Soprano, released in 2007, has been honoured with several major international awards, including the Echo Klassik, the Georg Solti Orphee d'Or and Gramophone's Record of the Month. She is also featured on Decca's Porgy and Bess as Clara, and as Musetta on Deutsche Grammophon‘s La Bohème.
Ms. Cabell, a native of California, is of mixed African-American, Korean and Caucasian ancestry. She studied at Rochester's Eastman School of Music and briefly at the Juilliard School of Music before joining the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Her two main mentors have been the renowned American mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne and Sir Andrew Davis, Conductor Laureate of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
American pianist Spencer Myer also makes his Roy Thomson Hall debut with this appearance. A Gold Medalist at the 2008 New Orleans International Piano Competition, Mr. Myer is rapidly establishing himself as one of the outstanding pianists of his generation.
This performance is sponsored by Lexus.
UPCOMING: Roy Thomson Hall's 2008-2009 International Vocal Recitals Series concludes Fri April 17, 8 pm with a performance by American soprano Renée Fleming and pianist Hartmut Hoell (call 416-872-4255).
