The first piece is from Gounod's Romeo and Juliet. Juliet is a role that Valerie Masterson sang to great acclaim in the opera houses of the world. This was an internationally acclaimed singer, particularly in the big opera houses of France, Switzerland, America and South America. Not only did she have a beautiful voice and excellent technique, but she had that magnetic quality in her stage presence. I saw/ heard her several times when I was a teenager at the English National Opera in the 1980s. Although there are many fine and wonderful sopranos before the British opera going public now I really don't think anyone has matched Valerie Masterson for the special bond that she created with her public - audiences just fell in love with this artist.
I fell in love with her in the 70s and 80s at the ENO as a teenager too and I'm still trawling RU-vid looking for snippets from this vastly under-recorded singer!
Valerie Masterson = a treasure of beauty, grace and song. And just look at those people dressed up in Victorian style at that most intimate of music halls, the City Varieties in Leeds. The inimitable Leonard Sachs presiding. Thanks for posting this.
