Last wednesday’s RBA recital was given by mezzo-soprano Jingjing Xu; the 2022/23 Wirth Vocal prize winner, and Christopher Knopp; piano.  It was one of the most impressive performances by a singer at this stage of her career (just finished her master’s) that I have heard in quite a while.  Mr. Knopp is pretty impressive too and it’s obvious that they have worked together quite a lot.

The first piece on the programme was Mooring by the Maple Bridge at Night by Li Yinghai.  It’s a rather beautiful text and the music skilfully blends Chinese and Western influences.  It was beautifully sung and played.  The rest of the music came from the Western canon with art song followed by some opera arias.

The song component was Schumann’s twelve song cycle Liederkreis Op.39.  This is something of a tour de force in the sense that it explores quite a wide range of emotions.  It was the contrast between the beautifully sung but measured “Intermezzo” and the dramatically charged “Waldesgespräch” that really started to make me realise that Ms. Xu has a very considerable toolbox and knows how to deploy it.  She can really darken the voice when she chooses and make it much more dramatically incisive.  All this backed up by a solid ability to present a German Lied with taste and delicacy.  All in all this was very fine Lieder singing.

She gave us four very contrasted opera arias.  “Wie du warst! Wie du bist!” from Der Rosenkavalier wasn’t a huge contrast with the Schumann but it was very well done.  Carmen though is a completely different copita of Manzanilla and I was somewhat surprised and impressed to see how much she could raise the emotional temperature (and sexiness) for “Près des remparts de Séville”.  Then shifting gears again she rattled off “Anderò, volerò, griderò” from Vivaldi’s Orlando finto pazzo with precision and a proper sense of Baroque style.  The runs were pinpoint accurate.  Then she turned to bel canto with Romeo’s aria “Se Romeo, t’uccise un figlio” from Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Monteccchi showing dramatic flair as well as beauty of voice in yet another style!

The encore was Urbain’s cavatina “Nobles seigneurs, salut!” from Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots.  Classic French grand opera fare and again idiomatic, stylish and dramatic.

Seriously this young lady is one to watch.  I haven’t been this impressed by one so young since Emily D’Angelo burst onto the scene.

The photo is taken from the Youtube recording of their winning performance in the Wirth prize.