As Geneva audiences well know from his memorable performances here of Ramiro and Lindoro/Almaviva, Lawrence Brownlee is one of the exceptional Rossinian tenors of our time. And for his much-awaited return to the Place de Neuve stage, he brings with him a young colleague, to wow us with a double bill of sheer bel canto enjoyment. Less known than his American colleague, Levy Sekgapane, born in South Africa in 1991 won in 2015 the first Belvedere Prize in Amsterdam, the same year the Montserrat Caballé Prize, and in 2017 the Operalia Competition. Here are two equally virtuosic singers, who appreciate and respect each other and no doubt entertain a form of mentor-mentee relationship… but who are two very different artists. In Levy, we have the energy of youth, liveliness, fantasy, brightness, singing as elation; in Larry, experience, sense of drama, intensity, musicality of the highest order, singing as a sharing of emotion. Taking turns at going solo or joining forces, this all-Italian evening of musical rapture and virtuoso vocal pyrotechnics is going to be something to remember.
