Lucy Crowe leaps over Mozart's coloratura obstacle course

THE SONGBIRD: Born in 1978 in Staffordshire, English soprano Lucy Crowe studied voice at the Royal Academy of Music and won second prize in the Kathleen Ferrier Award in 2005. Her operatic debut was as Sophie with the Scottish Opera. In 2007 she joined the ENO as Drusilla and Poppea in Handel's "Agrippina." Her debut at Covent Garden was as Purcell's Belinda in 2009; subsequent appearances there have been Sophie, Gilda, Susanna, Adina, Gluck's Eurydice, and Mozart's Ismene. Engagements at Glyndebourne include "The Fairy Queen," "Saul," Micaela, and Janacek's Vixen. Crowe has made many appearances in concerts and recitals, often focused on baroque and classical music, as well as several commercial recordings, including solo recitals of Handel cantatas, baroque arias and duets (with Mary Bevan), and a highly recommended disc of Debussy's youthful florid songs.
THE MUSIC: Mozart wrote this concert aria in 1788 for one of his primary soprano muses, Aloysia Weber (Lange), his sister-in-law. It is composed as a brilliant allegro that races forward out of the gate, relentlessly chasing up and down the full vocal compass in elaborate roller coaster figures, peaking on High D.