Ying Fang shimmers in a twinkling baroque jewel aria

THE SONGBIRD: Ying Fang was born in China and studied in Shanghai before moving to New York to get her Masters degree from The Juilliard School. She has sung lyric and lyric-coloratura roles in many of the world's top opera centers including Paris, Amsterdam, Zurich, Salzburg, Vancouver, Philadelphia, Santa Fe, Chicago, Boston, and New York including roles at The Met such as Pamina, Susanna, and Servilia. Roles elsewhere have included Konstanze, Adina, Morgana, Nannetta, Cleopatra, and Zaide.

THE MUSIC: "Agrippina" (HWV 6) was Handel's second Italian opera, composed for the Venice Carnevale season, where it premiered in 1709. It had a very successful run and occasional productions emerged in the following years, but it fell out of fashion, along with most of Handel's operas, in the mid-18th century. “Agrippina” was revived in the 20th century and has become more prevalent on stages and recordings, including a production at Metropolitan Opera in 2020, only the fifth Handel opera staged there in its 120-year history. The opera focuses on Agrippina, who connives to install her son Nero as the emperor of Rome -- a baroque diva turn to be sure. The secondary role is the lyric soprano Poppea, the first of Handel's "sex kittens," a self-absorbed flirt and a liar. In her opening da capo aria, she gazes in the mirror and notices how the precious pearls in her hair add to her beauty, which no man can resist.