Rachel Rachel Willis-Sørensen

• Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901): La traviata, Act I, Scene 5:
• 1Verdi: La traviata, Act I, Scene 5: È strano! È strano! ...Ah, fors'è lui che l'anima04:16
• 2Verdi: La traviata, Act I, Scene 5: Follie! Delirio vano è questo!01:00
• 3Verdi: La traviata, Act I, Scene 5: Sempre libera03:56
• Les vêpres siciliennes, Act IV, Scene 2:
• 4Verdi: Les vêpres siciliennes, Act IV, Scene 2: Ami, le coeur d'Hélène04:48
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791): Don Giovanni, K 527, Act I, Scene 13:
• 5Mozart: Don Giovanni, K 527, Act I, Scene 13: Don Ottavio, son morta!03:45
• 6Mozart: Don Giovanni, K 527, Act I, Scene 13: Or sai chi l'onore02:54
• 7Mozart: Don Giovanni, K 527, Act II, Scene 11: Crudele? Ah no, mio bene!01:47
• 8Mozart: Don Giovanni, K 527, Act II, Scene 11: Non mi dir, bell'idol mio03:21
• 9Mozart: Don Giovanni, K 527, Act II, Scene 11: Forse un giorno01:56
• Giuseppe Verdi: Otello, Act IV, Scene 1:
• 10Verdi: Otello, Act IV, Scene 1: Era più calmo?04:12
• 11Verdi: Otello, Act IV, Scene 1: Mia madre aveva una povera ancella01:17
• 12Verdi: Otello, Act IV, Scene 1: Piangea cantando nell'erma landa07:17
• Otello, Act IV, Scene 2:
• 13Verdi: Otello, Act IV, Scene 2: Ave Maria, piena di grazia05:01
• Giacomo Puccini (1858 - 1924): La bohème, Act I, Scene 1:
• 14Puccini: La bohème, Act I, Scene 1: Si. Mi chiamano Mimi05:22
• 15Puccini: La bohème, Act I, Scene 1: O soave fanciulla04:01
• Antonín Dvorák (1841 - 1904): Rusalka, Op. 114, Act I:
• 16Dvorák: Rusalka, Op. 114, Act I: Mesícku na nebi hlubokém (Song to the Moon)05:56
• Giuseppe Verdi: Il trovatore, Act I, Scene 2:
• 17Verdi: Il trovatore, Act I, Scene 2: Che più t'arresti?02:08
• 18Verdi: Il trovatore, Act I, Scene 2: Ascolta. Tacea la notte placida05:02
• 19Verdi: Il trovatore, Act I, Scene 2: Di tale amor01:43
• Franz Lehár (1870 - 1948): Die lustige Witwe, Act II:
• 20Lehár: Die lustige Witwe, Act II: Vilja-Lied06:08
• Total Runtime01:15:50

Info for Rachel

Rachel Willis-Sørensen's voice combines dramatic expressiveness and vocal brilliance in arias, as in the album's Verdi scenes with weighty roles such as Desdemona in Otello, Leonora in Il Trovatore and Violetta in La Traviata, with dazzlingly bright sound in works such as the "Vilja-Lied" from Lehár's operetta The Merry Widow and the "Song to the Moon" from Dvořák's Rusalka.

Rachel Willis-Sorensen, soprano
Jonas Kaufmann, tenor (tracks 14, 15)
Olivia Kahler, soprano (tracks 10, 17, 18)
Giovanni Sala, tenor (tracks 3, 5)
Capella Cracoviensis
Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice
Frederic Chaslin, conductor

Rachel Willis-Sørensen
American soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen is known for her diverse repertoire ranging from Mozart to Wagner. A regular guest at the leading opera houses around the world, Le Monde enthused, “…the American soprano has without a doubt one of the most impressive voices in the opera world. The timbre, of marmoreal beauty, is striking, the projection telluric…” Ms. Willis-Sørensen opens the 2021/22 season with a concert in San Francisco. This season finds her performing three roles at the Wiener Staatsoper. Her first engagement in Vienna includes her role debut as Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello, followed by a return to the role of Marguerite in Faust, and a holiday celebration performing Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus. Returning to the Semperoper Dresden, she then performs Mimì in La Bohème. In the spring, she performs the role of Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Elsa in Lohengrin at the Oper Frankfurt, and the title role in Rusalka with NDR Hamburg. On the concert stage, she performs Mahler’s 2nd Symphony in Santa Cecilia, Rome, and a solo Strauss program in Paris with the Orchestre national de France. In 2021, Rachel signed a multi-record deal with Sony Classical. Her debut album will be released on April 8th, 2022.

Previous engagements included Rusalka (Rusalka) at the San Francisco Opera, Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier) at Glyndebourne, Semperoper Dresden and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Violetta (La Traviata) at Opéra national de Bordeaux, Marguerite (Faust) as part of the Royal Opera House’s tour of Japan, Elsa (Lohengrin) at Deutsche Oper Berlin and Opernhaus Zurich, Mimi (La Bohème) at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Countess (Le nozze di Figaro) at the Metropolitan Opera and the Wiener Staatsoper, Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Wiener Staatsoper, Houston Grand Opera and Semperoper Dresden, Hélène (Les Vêpres siciliennes) at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Valentine (Les Huguenots) at the Grand Théâtre Genève, Eva (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) at the San Francisco Opera and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus) at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Staatskapelle Dresden, Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte) at the Houston Grand Opera, Leonore (Fidelio) at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, and Leonora (Il Trovatore) at the Teatro Regio di Torino and Gran Teatre del Liceu. Equally at home on the concert stage, she has performed Strauss’s Four Last Songs multiple times, including notably at Buckingham Palace for an HRH Prince Charles birthday celebration, and joined Jonas Kaufmann in 2019 and 2020 for a multi-city European tour in support of his latest recording, Wien, on which she is featured. Other repertoire includes Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Mahler’s 2nd, 4th and 8th Symphonies, Mendelssohn’s Elias, Dvořák Stabat Mater, and the Verdi Requiem. Rachel was a member of the ensemble at the Dresdner Semperoper for three years, where she sang the title role in (Die Lustige Witwe), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito), Elettra (Idomeneo), Diemut (Feuersnot), Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus) and Mimi (La Bohème). She won first prize at the 2014 Operalia competition in Los Angeles and at the 2011 Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition, and she was a winner of the 2010 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She holds both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Brigham Young University and is an alumna of the Houston Grand Opera Studio.

Booklet for Rachel