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08/10/2004 Magdalena Kozena - Artist of the Year
You read it here first… A year ago, Music for Grown-Ups picked out Czech mezzo soprano Magdalena Kozena as "a singer who's about to become a household name". Since then she's become just such a household name, partly because of her association with Berlin Phil maestro, Sir Simon Rattle. (Their relationship attracted prurient Brit press interest when both were lighting up the Proms season in London this summer.) Much more importantly, Ms Kozena is now becoming widely recognised for her deeply impressive musical talent. She has just been named Artist of the Year in the prestigious Gramophone (magazine) Awards. In addition, her CD French Arias was chosen as best in the Recital category; and her CD Songs was chosen as best in the Vocal category. Watch this woman: a major talent is emerging.
Gerry Smith
London audiences have been treated to performances by some world-class women musicians recently - from Cassandra Wilson's jazz-lite crossover to the irrepressibly bubbly Vivaldi of Cecilia Bartoli and the passionate Pagliacci of fully-certified diva Angela Gheorghiu; from the exquisitely dark alt.country of Gillian Welch to the sly country rock of Lucinda Williams. Outstanding, once-in-a-generation artists, every single one. Add to that list Magdalena Kozena, the fast-rising Czech mezzo-soprano. Her performance as Paris in last night's Barbican concert staging of Gluck's little-known reform opera, Paride ed Elena, was breathtaking in its controlled power. Kozena was seriously into the music, which demands emotional restraint and subtlety, rather than decoration or pyrotechnics. And her feel for the character could be seen all evening in her facial expressions and body language - she would have clearly preferred a full-dress operatic staging, instead of having to stay fixed to her allotted spot at the music stand. Formerly on Archiv, for whom she recorded a disc of Bach Arias, Kozena is now signed to Deutsche Grammophon. Her Le Belle Immagini, a collection of arias by Mozart, Gluck, and the almost unknown Czech composer Myslivecek, is highly recommended - it gives you an early glimpse of a singer who's about to become a household name.
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