Olga Borodina - Don Carlo - O Don Fatale

Olga Borodina as Princess Eboli in Verdi's Don Carlo. Apologies for the black and white and blurry image.
For a free English translation, please see the following:
operainenglish....

[@christinec.6685]

Boy, she's got one heck of a high C flat for a mezzo. Great job.

[@carmeloserafin5101]

Una gran lezione di canto ...con melismi ricchi di accenti slavi....che nel finale rendono giustizia al dramma che vive e la fa uscire di scena nel Don Carlos carica di tutto il phatos di un Cuore innamorato..Chapeau!!!

[@godivapaw]

WOW!!!!! Olga Borodina is FABULOUS!!!

[@mongemark]

one of the best voices of the world ... she is a really force of nature ..the first sibem aaaahhhh...IRONTHROAT (powerful and beautiful) ... i have listened in theatre Barbieri, Bumbry, Cossotto, Casolla, Zajic, Verrett, Obratzova Horne and many others great voice but Olga...is a real mezzo...

[@vitabella6481]

Artificially darkened ugly sound of an old woman. Hollow and muffled. No clarity.

[@melisandedebussy]

esta sii que es un mezzo y dramática, fantásticaaa!!!

[@zoricabelic8534]

Brava Maestra! ❤️

[@kgarmaker123]

Wow! Fabulous!

[@johnwillattplant]

Re Saraeltoyou's comment. Olga Borodina sings this aria better than anyone else on the planet. As an opera composer myself, and as one who has spent 53 of his 63 years listening to opera, I am not speaking out of ignorance. Your comment seems mean-spirited and ungenerous - comparable to someone who would claim that Bessie Smith does not know how to sing the blues. This is an astounding and soulful performance of one of the most challenging arias in the entire repertoire.

[@mertuncensored]

Her vocal color is so pleasant to listen

[@jeanottoto2518]

Bravooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo !

[@ИринаИрина-ш5ы7р]

Брависсима!!!

[@ilbacioditosca]

Excelso!!!!

[@mariaflaminiacodronchitore3288]

brava!

[@hermanzoon]

I heard Olga sing Amneris in Aida at the MET in about 2000, and she stole the show. She proved the opera should have been titled "Amneris's" or "Amni's Angst" or something other than "Aida".

[@vitabella6481]

Yea, the one-eyed is king between the blind ones.

[@Orfeus80]

Wonderful. Some sliding to the notes but otherwise passionate, powerful and her slavic accent adds something personal to her singing.

[@ReignEra]

u definatley know alot about singing.. go girl!

[@irinavocal5087]

Ах, если бы она спела арию из Золушки, Гугенотов, Розину. Какое у Ольги прекрасное движение в голосе . Как воздушно она может звучать.

[@Jimmers-y2b]

I like your sense of humour

[@slapfleitun]

BRAVA

[@selinaaalion]

she belts over the orchestra with such ease, completely beautiful. dramatic mezzo sopranos are so fun to watch.

[@denyagantenbein2992]

selinaaalion there is no belting in opera, you stupid ignorant

[@TerrancePogue]

I beg to differ @ Star raft..... If you notice the score... the Amneris and Eboli dont really live in the high parts of the mezzo just has a couple moments... Beautifully done....

[@cantanteporsiempre]

BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG VOICE

[@aztap130]

Wikipedia has this tagged as a prime example of a "Big" dramatic mezzo-soprano voice, and I must agree. This is absolutely goregous

[@vitabella6481]

This is a very ugly sound, sorry. Hollow and muffled.

[@jordifuentes5521]

Y se debe añadir qué es la protagonista está tan influencia por el daño que ha hecho que seguiré en la cara una herida bastante fuerte saludos

[@cantanteporsiempre]

yes, a russian voice, big, creemy, scary lol. Great singer

[@violasinger]

she may be a dramatic mezzo. But this is a different genre and the techniques couldn't be more different. It would take a singer like beyonce at LEAST 1 year to get this good. I'm not saying that she doesn't have what it takes, I'm saying that it is like telling a classically trained ballet dancer to go out on the stage and krump, and vice versa. both may be very good at what they do and the may have the tools required to do what the other is doing, but it's gonna take time to get to that level

[@johnwillattplant]

And now I have to apologize to saraeltoyou! Sorry, I am a novice at youtube and I realize that you and I are aiming at the same target. I thought you were claiming that Olga had no credentials as a 'classically trained singer' - then I saw the history of this debate. In any case, viva Olga - and consider my polemic directed towards anyone who doesn't appreciate her!!

[@raaadja99]

Comparing Beyonce to Borodina made me laugh very hard, even though she is a very fine pop singer, comparing her to a first league dramatic mezzo is truly embarassing. Even for her...

[@evaosirus6055]

raaadja99 well Beyoncé does have good technique! She’s actually quite an accomplished mezzo as well. I agree we don’t need to compare people. But just from a singers perspective she has great technique and she works hard during performances (unlike many pop artists so I understand the opinion). Feels unfair to say a comparison is embarrassing :^/

[@davidmuller9938]

listen tothis voice and then Beyonce. after that calling Beyonce a mezzo is completely ridicolous.

[@hermanzoon]

ah! For a minute there I thought you were being serious.

[@direfranchement]

Lower register sounds congested.

[@MissSovietBones]

@kmillard I would say the most contralto like version of this song is definitely Dame Clara Butt - do check her version out if you can. In my humble opinion, she has the deepest and most weighty voice in a contralto that I've heard.

[@FemaleVocalLover1975]

Actually she is. She took classical training when she was a little girl until she got into the industry.

[@bravazingara]

she hasn´t been thin for a long time... i , however, think that wasn´t her most valuable quality

[@sweetalker79]

Olga is a classic dramatic mezzo. Beyonce couldn't sing over an orchestra if her life depended on it. Don't insult Olga by comparing her to such trash.

[@calsie0]

@aztap130 yeah, i agree!

[@walliswallis8720]

dramatic mezzo

[@schicchi1160]

Have you seriously never hear Zajick?

[@orlandofurioso2034]

Have you seriously never heard Obraztsova?

[@jordifuentes5521]

Una voz que se puede considerar muy apropiada para esta área en la que la protagonista maldice su belleza pues está la llevo a tener relaciones con Felipe segundo que dominaba medio mundo hacer descubierta por la princesa francesa Baluard reniega de su hermosura punto y final saludos

[@bravazingara]

my comment was for a particular user

[@augustorodriguez1653]

Incapaz de transmitir la emoción hacia el final del aria..Tendrá una voz bien grande, pero no tiene una verdadera voz de pecho, de ahi a que en el registro grave suena con una "voz de abuelita" muy dispersa y con poca claridad.. los agudos los saca con bastante dificultad.. En general una cantante mas de las generaciones un poco mas modernas que no entienden la tecnica del bel canto..

[@aurorixix]

De acuerdo 100% con lo de la voz de pecho, no hay más que escuchar a Obraztsova cantando lo mismo. Aquí Borodina en lugar de hacer un sonido libre y pleno en el grave, suena a cuando te cuentan un cuento con voz de asustar. Constreñido.

[@bravazingara]

seriously....not, to each it´s own...

[@hardtechnoboy]

Without her manager father, Jay Z and her bad blond weave, Beyonce would be as famous as Solange. Don't EVEN get me started on the awful House of Dereon! Even Stevie Wonder called those clothes awful.

[@violasinger]

Not that hard? are you even a singer? God, this makes me wanna punch someone in the face! But I'm not gonna, I'm just gonna calm down and say that I'll believe it when I see it. I'm over reacting, I know, I guess I'm just passionate about this

[@Weillfanatic]

Yeah, I agree, Zajick has it all over anyone else in this rep.

[@Irina-tx4su]

А Елена Васильевна Образцова лучше !) Больше красок и интонаций...

[@НатальяРябченко-л5з]

Ещё бы!

[@МаринаАхмедова-и7н]

Я бы не сказала, что кто-то лучше или хуже. Они разные и по темпераменту, и в окраске голоса. Бородина драматического меццо, Образцова лирическое меццо. Но обе великолепны, шикарны, несравненны. И они обе наши отечественные дивы, покорившие мир своими прекрасными голосами!

[@orlandofurioso2034]

То есть после Образцовой нужно перестать ставить Дон Карло? Это как сравнивать Рим с Парижем. Бородина великая певица, лучшая в своём родн

[@StarRaft]

you know this is really not the kind of aria she should be singing; she doesn't have the high notes or temperament for this or amneris (note at 1:08, how she aborts that high note). gorgeous voice, but not for her the dramatic verdi mezzo parts.

[@chiedu90069]

I love and have seen Borodina many times - but I have to agree. I noticed the slowing down of the tempo for the big note at 1:08 and I knew it was going to be a short note. The best Ebolis lunge into the phrase and hold the note. Eboli is full of sudden leaps in phrases and I don't think she sang the role too often. Amneris, though, was Borodina's glory.

[@RedbeardNC]

LMAO Beyonce

[@OGrauMusic]

No chest voice, swallowed voice, wrong placement, nothing to appreciate...