Sara Mingardo at the Wigmore Hall

Recently, I went to see a concert at the Wigmore Hall in Wigmore Street, London. Here I saw Sara Mingardo, a Contralto hailing from Venice. Sara is one of the few true Contraltos in the Classical music world, other notables being Ewa Podles, Marijana Mijanovic, Sonia Prina, and Nathalie Stutzmann. (The Contralto is the lowest of the female singing voices and in classical music, most performers that sing Contraltos roles are in fact Mezzo Sopranos, which is the next voice up).

Mingardo is not what many would view as a typical Contralto - visions of very large women singing roles like Wagner's Erda, for example, come to mind - yet she has a rich, dark tone, and a freely resonating chest register, coupled with stunning flexibility, which allows her to perform baroque music with ease.

With respect to her performance, Mingardo was humble and understated, yet she had great presence and was able to carry the emotions of her audience with her. I look forward to hearing her again.

Sara sang a range of Arias, starting with three from Handel's Opera Radamisto:

Cara Sposa, amato bene
Perfido, di'a quell'empio tiranno
Ombra cara

She then sang two Arias from Handel's Tolomeo:

Se un solo èquel core
Stille amare

And finished by performing a secular Cantata by her Venetian compatriot Antonio Vivaldi:

Cessate, omai cessate

She gave one encore, performing Ombra mai fu, from Handel's Xerxes.

Do check out her album Sara Mingardo: Contralto - a fantastic showcase of her vocal talents. The album was released by the Naïve Recording Label.