The big news in home-team debuts (third cycle only) came from Anna-Louise Cole’s Brünnhilde and Olivia Cranwell as Sieglinde. Cole took over from Lise Lindstrom; Cranwell succeeded Cole as Sieglinde. Cole has a big, warm, flexible voice that sounds as if it will grow ever more luxuriant. She has been on the radar since her attention-grabbing Third Norn in OA’s 2016 Ring. […] The QSO could be let off the leash for Cole. She was tremendously appealing, full of youthful juice and an unshakeable sense of justice and destiny. The mighty clash of wills between Wotan and Brünnhilde in Die Walküre had plenty of fire, underscored by a palpable sense of love and loss. Cole’s connection with Sumegi was absorbing. Even more touching was the one with La Spina’s Siegmund. The moment when Brünnhilde has to tell Siegmund he must die was full of compassion.

Cole tackled these dramatic demands as competently and thoroughly as the musical fireworks, her physical prowess giving her an electrifying stage presence. […] The finale, following Siegfried’s death, is a marathon sprint for the soprano and Cole sang the immolation speech with great passion and strength, her ability to cut through the powerful orchestration with some astonishing non-stop top notes added a fierce nobility to her delivery. […] The audience response to this electrifying and powerful musical ending was a 10-minute standing ovation.

Anna-Louise Cole, who so impressed with her debut as Brünnhilde in Die Walküre, rose wonderfully to the demands of the dramatic and vocal fireworks that this most difficult of scenes requires. She and Vinke played off each other perfectly, with tremendous skill and wonderful complementary vocal qualities. They appeared to have a terrific rapport, even after just one encounter together in their respective roles. Hesitant to cast off the last vestiges of her immortality in order to give herself to Siegfried, Brünnhilde agonises over the future, while his growing love and infatuation wins her over.