Takako Mizuno sings Lucia's mad scene

THE SONGBIRD: Japanese soprano Takako Mizuno (水野貴子) was born in 1960 and showed an affinity for singing as child. In high school she began taking voice lessons privately, then continued music studies culminating in a Master's degree from Tokyo College of Music. In the late 1980s, she studied in Milan and made her European debut as "Lucia" in the Netherlands. She won prizes at the Corradetti International Competition in Genoa, the Bellini International Competition in Sicily, and the Toulouse International Competition. In 1990, she placed fifth in the voice category of the International Tchaikovsky Competition, which is held in Moscow once every four years. Back in Japan, she sang in "Das Rheingold," "Rigoletto," "Lucia," and "Cavalleria Rusticana." Her concert engagements included Verdi's "Requiem" in Hungary, Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis" in Taiwan, and Orff's "Carmina Burana" in the Netherlands, as well as recitals of arias and songs in locales as diverse as Salt Lake City, Melbourne, and Vienna. She is a professor at Tokyo College of Music.

THE MUSIC: Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" has become one of the quintessential operas for a coloratura soprano -- it's one of the most widely produced bel canto operas in the world and the title character is a benchmark role for this voice type. Donizetti composed it in 1835, which was a peak of his artistic and popular success -- Rossini had recently retired, Bellini had just died, and Verdi had not yet had his first premiere ("Oberto" in 1837). Based on Walter Scott's novel, the opera premiered in Naples. The plot in a nutshell: after being tricked into marrying a man she doesn't love, and lied to that her true love has betrayed her, Lucia loses her mind and murders the groom on her wedding night. The mentally unstable young woman appears in a bloodied gown and sings a long, complex, and haunting "mad scene" mixing delusion and grief that is a musically and dramatically innovative tour-de-force of bel canto vocalism and gripping tragedy. The primary section of the mad scene culminates in a long cadenza with a flute (and occasionally the glass harmonica). Apparently that wasn't enough warbling for one diva, so Donizetti succumbs the era's operatic conventions and gives Lucia even more to sing: a traditional cabaletta "Spargi d'amaro pianto."