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DTSTAMP:20260923T023056Z
UID:b4cd72c1-aea8-40dd-8d3a-ad8e004dfc36
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261111
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261111
DESCRIPTION:Nov 11\, 2026\nHer 42nd Street-style Covent Garden debut as Car
 men catapulted Aigul Akhmetshina to stardom at 21\, but Bizet’s wildcat 
 scarcely begins to exhaust her allure. And to think that she hails from th
 e wilds of Bashkortostan\, where she and two siblings grew up with a singl
 e mother who left her to play granddad’s accordion\, devour psychology b
 ooks\, and swan around playacting in whatever glad rags she could scrounge
 . “A free bird\,” her family called her\, and at 14\, off she flew to 
 study voice in the Bashkir capital of Ufa. There\, in the hometown of Rudo
 lf Nureyev (whose mother gave birth to him on a train bound for Vladivosto
 k—oh\, these origin stories!)\, she kept afloat waitressing\, busking on
  stilts\, and dreaming of advanced training at the conservatories of Mosco
 w and St. Petersburg. When she struck out there\, the young artists progra
 m at the Royal Ballet and Opera in London somehow found her. At age 30\, A
 khmetshina does her teachers proud\; that smoky yet lustrous instrument\, 
 her sensual phrasing\, and a magnetic stage personality mark her as one in
  a million. The songlist for her Carnegie Hall debut\, with Jonathan Palme
 r Lakeland on piano\, kicks off with Benjamin Britten’s “Tell me the t
 ruth about love\,” possibly a gender-bent tribute to Carmen (“Some say
  that love’s a little boy\,” it begins\, “And some say it’s a bird
  …”). We’ll hear Jule Styne’s “People” (hello\, Barbra!)\, mix
 ed and matched with Tchaikovsky\, Massenet\, Kurt Weill\, Irving Berlin\, 
 and Velázquez—Consuelo Velázquez\, that is\, she of “Besame mucho.
 ” After the encores\, it’s back to the Metropolitan Opera\, shears in 
 hand\, to rehearse Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila opposite the Met newc
 omer Clay Hilley. For Akhmetshina\, it’s a reunion with the conductor Gi
 acomo Sagripanti\, who notched his magnificent company debut pacing her un
 iquely self-possessed\, gorgeously sung Rosina in Rossini’s Barber of Se
 ville (there’s video out there\, not to be missed). We can’t wait.
LOCATION:Carnegie Hall\, 881 7th Ave\, New York\, NY 10019\, USA
SUMMARY:Aigul Akhmetshina\, Mezzo-Soprano  Jonathan Palmer Lakeland\, Piano
URL;VALUE=TEXT:https://airmail.news/arts-intel/events/aigul-akhmetshina-mez
 zo-soprano-jonathan-palmer-lakeland-piano
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