The 8 November 2020 episode of Masquerade featured 2014/15 Chamber Singer Gabriella Létay Kiss, who evoked tragic heroines from Italian operas. Her aria recital could be viewed from 8:00 p.m. live on Facebook and Origo.
Gabriella Létay Kiss graduated with honours from the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in 1999 with a diploma in voice, a year later she was awarded both first prize and a special prize at the Hungarian Radio Singing Competition. She began her career at the Hungarian State Opera as a lyric mezzo-soprano, since 2005 she has been singing soprano roles. She was named Chamber Singer of the Opera in the 2014/15 season. Her achievements were awarded with Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary in 2017, and the Ferenc Liszt Award in 2019. In her aria recital, she performed the most beautiful musical moments of tragic heroines from 19th century romantic and verismo operas. One of her guests was the Bartók–Pásztory Award recipient mezzo-soprano Andrea Ulbrich, the surprise guest was Attila Erdős, a young baritone. The programme directed by Sylvie Gábor was hosted by Melitta Gyüdi, featuring on the piano was László Bartal.
Programme:
Leoncavallo: Pagliacci – Bird song("Qual fiamma avea nel guardo!... Stridono lassù")
Puccini: Manon Lescaut – Manon's aria from Act 2 ("In quelle trine")
Donizetti: L'elisir d'Amore – Belcore's aria from Act 1 ("Come Paride vezzoso") – performed by Attila Erdős
Puccini: Madama Butterfly – Cio-Cio San's aria from Act 2 ("Un bel dì vedremo")
Verdi: La forza del destino – Leonora's aria from Act 4 ("Pace, pace mio Dio!")
Verdi: Il trovatore – Azucena's aria from Act 2 ("Condotta, Ell’Era in Ceppi") – performed by Andrea Ulbrich
Giordano: Andrea Chénier – Maddalena's aria from Act 3 ("La mamma morta")
Puccini: Madama Butterfly – Flower duet ("Scuoti quella fronda di ciliegio") – featuring Andrea Ulbrich
The performance can be viewed HERE.