Page 140 - Alison Balsom Quiet City FULL BOOK

7. Khatia Buniatishvili – pianist

French-Georgian concert pianist Khatia Buniatishvili has established
herself as one of today’s foremost solo artists. Her playing comes with
show-stopping style and striking sensitivity, with a focus on the big
Romantics – Chopin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky. She has dipped her toe in pop
music, playing for Coldplay on their album A Head Full of Dreams, and is a
social rights ambassador, playing at concerts to speak out against human
rights violations, and championing equality for women and girls.

8. Gautier Capuçon – cellist

Celebrated for his masterful tone on the instrument, Gautier Capuçon is a
star French cellist and talent of today. He is the founder and leader of the
Classe d’Excellence de Violoncelle at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris,
and ambassador for the Orchestre à l’École Association, which brings
classical music to more than 40,000 school children in France.

Song of the birds – El cant dels ocells
Gautier Capuçon plays a beautiful anonymous solo cello melody
Play Video

9. Lise Davidsen – soprano

Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen is going from strength to strength,
raising bars and excitement levels across Europe’s major opera houses and
concert halls. Having made her debut recording of Wagner and Strauss
arias as recently as 2019, Davidsen has since performed at the Deutsche
Oper Berlin, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and the UK’s Royal Opera
House, whose music director Antonio Pappano proclaimed, after her
performance in Fidelio, that she has “a one-in-a-million voice… when she
opened her mouth, we were all stunned. The voice has a light in it.”

Lise Davidsen sings Sibelius Var det en dröm
Filmed exclusively by Classic FM
Play Video

10. Joyce DiDonato – mezzo soprano

With a beguiling command of the stage and a voice described by The
Times as “nothing less than 24-carat gold”, American mezzo Joyce
DiDonato is one of today’s most celebrated opera singers. The multi–
Grammy Award winner is famed for her interpretations of Handel, Mozart
and Rossini, and has had residencies at Carnegie Hall and the Barbican