Vittorio Grigolo

[Brian]

Just saw this tenor yesterday in the Washington National Opera's "La Boheme" (as Rodolfo). All I can say is:

Wow.

The man (he's 30) was simply astonishing. His voice has some indescribable quality of glory and warmth which was so evident in Pavarotti's voice. His voice isn't as deep, and it doesn't comfort the soul in quite the same way, but give him time. The Rodolfo was miraculous. After "Che galida manina" he got an ovation that lasted around a full minute (much longer, I noticed, than that which followed Mimi's subsequent aria). It was revealed during intermission that, in fact, during his study for Rodolfo he visited Pavarotti for a day in August to go over the role.

I'm really surprised to see this man's only compact disc so far is a cheesy "pop-era" crossover album. Let's hope he has a rethink and gets into real opera recording soon. I expect great things.