“It did not take long to get that Adriano Graziani’s portrayal of Don José was something special. When José’s emotions started boiling up, Graziani hit those precious sounds with all the power, passion and poetry one could wish for it….
Für das erkrankte Ensemblemitglied (…) ist der walisische Tenor Adriano Graziani eingesprungen, der mit einer Stimme voller Italienitá sämtliche Facetten der Rolle vom kraftvollen „La vita mi costasse“ über imposante „Vittoria!“ – Rufe bis zum gefühlvoll-verzweifelten „E lucevan le stelle“…
Stepping in at short notice owing to the indisposition of the intended Cavaradossi, Welsh tenor Adriano Graziani had no problem making the part his own – there was little indication that he hadn’t been in the production from the beginning…
When it came to Lucia’s true love, Edgardo, we heard some true bel canto singing and vocal elegance from Adriano Graziani. His name implies some Italian background and he certainly exhibited most of the Italianate squillo heard in the performance….
The opera is uncut and Graziani peaks in the Wolf’s Crag scene, with a handsome Orrida è questa notte.
…Adriano Graziani’s tone is tighter but unfailingly Italianate (he was born in Neath to a Welsh mother and Italian father), and he instinctively knows the style…
‘Adriano Graziani’s brilliantly bright tenor voice (Luigi) and The expressive soprano voice of Christina Vasileva are the evenings outstanding soloists culminating in a gripping duet finale’.
‘Graziani’s tenor is a fine match for her voice; his performance warmed as the evening went by, glorying in roof-raising high notes and culminating in a no-holds-barred account of ‘E lucevan le stelle’.
‘But there was compensation throughout in Adriano Graziani’s sterling Cavaradossi, sung with genuine ardour rather than tenorial preening: “E lucevan le stelle” was unusually haunting – the melancholy lucubration of a man who knows he has only an hour of…
