Music / Vissi d’arte – Italian songs and arias in recital, Eleanor Greenwood, soprano, and Bradley Gilchrist, piano. At Wesley Music Centre, Forrest, March 7. Reviewed by LEN POWER.

In their recital, soprano Eleanor Greenwood and pianist Bradley Gilchrist demonstrated a rich tradition of Italian vocal expression.

Song and aria alike were driven by drama, intensity, and emotional truth and the works gave voice to themes of love, longing, devotion and despair.

Greenwood is a graduate of the  ANU School of Music and Royal Academy of Music Opera Studio.

In 2023, she won the Opera Awards prize in Sydney, and she has performed across Australia, the UK, Europe and China. Recent role debuts include Tosca in Germany and Turandot in London.

Gilchrist completed a Bachelor of Music at the WA Conservatorium of Music, and post-graduate studies in accompaniment and piano performance in Sydney and Madrid. He has given solo and chamber music recitals across Australia and overseas and he has been repetiteur for many of Sydney’s chamber opera companies.

Commencing with three love songs, Se tu m’ami (If you love me) by Giovanni Pergolesi, Amarilli by Giulio Caccini and Caro mio ben (Dearest my beloved) by Giuseppe Giordani, Greenwood sang with great sensitivity. Her rich soprano and clear diction made the songs an engaging opening to the recital.

Moving to opera, she performed a wide-ranging set of songs by Scarlatti, Gluck, Bellini, Verdi and Puccini. Singing with great control, her powerful voice seemed to make even the most difficult passages seem effortless. Her fine singing of O del mio dolce ardor (Oh, of my sweet ardor) from the opera Paris and Helen, by Gluck, was one of the highlights of this recital. Gilchrist’s accompaniment for this song was particularly notable.

Her singing of the well-known Casta diva from Bellini’s Norma was another highlight, especially her unaccompanied singing towards the end of the song. The emotion displayed in her performance was impressive.

We were expecting the recital to finish with Vissi d’arte from Puccini’s Tosca, but after giving a superb performance of this difficult aria, we were treated to a fine Climb Ev’ry Mountain, then an aria from the Ring Cycle by Wagner and, finally, O Mio babbino caro (O my dear papa), also by Puccini.

The wide-ranging program of songs gave Greenwood the opportunity to show her vocal versatility and, with the fine accompaniment by Gilchrist throughout, the result was a highly memorable recital.