...she soon made her mark, dispensing tonal sweetness or steel with equal control and making dramatic use of her plush low register. The soprano’s poetically phrased account of “Tu che le vanità” was a highlight of the performance.

En el Auditorio del Castellse reunió el equipo vocal formado por la soprano norteamericana Leah Crocetto; junto a ella la ya bien conocida y prestigiosa mezzosporano Ekaterina Gubanova, de importante trayectoria internacional. Las dos voces, impecables ambas intérpretes, se alternan y se juntan en distintos pasajes del Requiem combinándose a la perfección sus voces en todo momento.

Most remarkable, however, was the superbly refined vocal beauty and emotionally compelling performance by luminous soprano Leah Crocetto in the title role as the captured Ethiopian princess, Aida. In love with Radamès, in Crocetto, a sweet sense of purity and courage bonded on a voice in which the high notes were taken to elegantly sustained length, vocal shading impeccably realised and register shifts as smooth as butter. Crocetto, who alternates in the role with Alexandra Lobianco, easily garnered her audience’s sympathy, poignantly encapsulating the aguish Aida sings in “Qui Radamès verra .. O patria mia” (“Oh, my dear country!") and never seemed to tire until her last breath when, entombed, she expires in the arms of Radamès.

As self-sacrificing Liù, the vibrant soprano Leah Croccetto rendered with ease and expressiveness the character’s vulnerability and determination, the pathos in Puccini melodic line.

She began with Liszt’s three Petrarch sonnets, sung with gorgeous Italianate style. In these invested readings Crocetto displayed a deep textual connection and flashed an astonishing, colorful, burning chest voice. There were pangs of anguished longing in “Benedetto sia’l giorno,” while “I vidi in terra angelici costumi” was a more straightforwardly lovely romance ...

A set of Rachmaninoff songs showed off all the best of Crocetto’s qualities as a singer. “How fair this spot” highlighted the rich, dark velvet of her middle voice, and she sang with breathless passion in the “Fragment from A. Musset.” Most impressive of all was her account of “Sing to me not, beautiful maiden,” which was poised, yet ravishing in the depth of its emotion ... Then Crocetto dropped every jaw in the house with her spectacular take on “Can’t help lovin’ dat man”—originally from Show Boat, but here given in a steamy, jazzy version, showing off a superb belt.

Leah Crocetto as Norma was beyond superlatives. When she sang the famous aria Casta Diva, I nearly lost it, and managed, just, to weep quietly. She sang, and Maestro Walker accompanied, as if this were the first performance ever, and might be the last. Her singing was technically brilliant and musical, but also truly transcendent. It penetrated and illuminated the extremities of human emotion, from love to fury to despair.