Mezzo-soprano Virginie Verrez and tenor Josh Lovell have won the OPUS KLASSIK Opera Recording of the Year for Offenbach’s La Princesse de Trébizonde. Verrez is Prince Raphaël and Lovell Le Prince Casimir in the acclaimed London Philharmonic Orchestra recording under conductor Paul Daniel, available on CD and for streaming and download on Opera Rara.
It his Gramophone Recording of the Month review, Richard Bratby writes, “Josh Lovell sounding wry and deliciously hissable as the charming monster Casimir.” He continues, “Verrez brings a lovely, plangent wistfulness to Raphaël’s gentler, more bittersweet arias.”
The Guardian’s Tim Ashley writes, “As Raphaël, Virginie Verrez had great fun with her toothache aria, and she and Anne-Catherine Gillet’s spirited Zanetta sounded lovely together in their duets. Josh Lovell’s Casimir, all easy high notes and wonderfully moulded lines, was simply spectacular.”
Colin Clarke, writing in Seen and Heard International says, “The singers were all of a very high standard, but there were a couple of standouts. As Prince Raphaël, Virginie Verrez was simply outstanding, her voice full; … The other standout performer was Josh Lovell’s Prince Casimir, strong, ardent, lyrical, everything a tenor in his position should be.”
The Opus Klassik concert and award ceremony will take place at Kühlhaus Berlin on 12 October 2024.
Photos: Virginie Verrez – Claudia Greco; Josh Lovell – Simon Pauly
