The Metropolitan Opera Recording of Der Rosenkavalier has been nominated for the 2019 Grammy Award for “Best Opera Recording.”
The recording features Elīna Garanča’s “sublime” (WQXR) performance as Octavian, alongside Renée Fleming as the Marschallin, Erin Morley as Sophie, Günther Groissböck as Baron Ochs, and Matthew Polenzani as the Italian Singer.
On December 4, the city of Riga honored Elīna Garanča with the “Gada rīdzinieks 2018” (Rigans of the Year 2018). City Council chairman Nils Usakovs presented the award at City Hall, with Garanča in attendance.
The award honors those who have used their talent and work to contribute to the global recognition of Riga, attracting public attention to the Latvian capital.
Critics wholeheartedly praised Elīna Garanča following her recent performances at the Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall.
Writing about her performance as Dalila at the Metropolitan Opera, The New York Times praised Garanča’s “phrases full of blazing sound and temperament” and ability to bring “elegant and pining emotion to Dalila’s great aria ‘Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix.’” Parterre described the scene featuring this famous aria as “one of the most bewitching quarter-hours I’ve experienced in an opera house in a long while” and Vulture/NY Mag wrote “for those ten minutes of vocal beauty, that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”
Following Garanča’s, performance at the legendary Carnegie Hall, OperaWire wrote that the “Latvian superstar dazzles and seduces.” New York Classical Review also praised the performance, noting that “among mezzo-sopranos she has few peers, vocally, musically, or dramatically.”
