★★★★☆ Romanian Diva shows Sydney exactly why she’s where she is today.

Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
October 8, 2015

Superstar Romanian Diva Angela Gheorghiu has been a fixture on world stages from Milan to the Met for well over 20 years now and counting. Her recordings are widely respected, her life occasionally makes the tabloids, and yet she has never set foot on Terra Australis. Last night at the Sydney Opera House she put that right with a programme of the familiar and the less-so that gave ample demonstration of the talents that have put and kept her at the top of her profession for a quarter century.

First of all, the voice. Gheorghiu is possessed of a magnificent, warm instrument, ample though not massive, and with secure, exciting top notes. This she wields with considerable sensitivity and it’s probably fair to say that in the French Romantic repertoire and the Italian verismo she has no betters. At full throttle she’s thrilling, the upper middle and above proving refreshingly free from strain and any sign of wobble. Her diction is good, too, enabling her to communicate with more than tone and body language alone.