Rachele "delivers vocal performance of the season" as Lucia

Rachele made her debut with Virginia Opera this season and praised universally for her portrayal of Lucia in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.

Andy Garrigue from the Richmond Times-Dispatch writes:

From her very first notes, Gilmore projects more successfully than anyone else in the cast. Exhibiting exquisite control, with dynamic fading and surging, subtle gradations of tone, and pinpoint accuracy, Gilmore seizes the audience’s attention immediately. Offering a nuanced prelude of what’s to come, Gilmore is convincing in her acting as well as her vocals, as she veers off balance, emotionally and tonally, suggesting fragility and instability. She offers glimpses of the heights she will ascend, as well as the rhythmic runs that reflect her mental unmooring.

…The story here, though, is Gilmore. In her acting, one feels her grief and weariness, uncertainty and desperation, as she is overcome by betrayal.

And vocally — especially from the moment she enters the stage during the start of her mad scene, bathed in white light, soaked in blood, her neck hanging loosely as if she has already felt the hangman’s noose — she is mesmerizing. In the vocal part of the season, she delivers the vocal performance of the season. In a word, Gilmore is spectacular and not to be missed.”

In this production, the company was most fortunate in its choice of coloratura soprano Rachele Gilmore to sing this role. Slight of build, her physical appearance suggested a delicate, sensitive young woman doomed to destruction by powerful forces that reduce her to a political pawn.

Also Terry Ponick from the Communities Digital News writes:

"Ms. Gilmore’s initial appearance foreshadows this work’s tragic conclusion. Given her apparent frailty, however, she soon startles us with her liquid, quicksilver soprano. Her exquisitely controlled instrument makes everything seem deceptively easy. Yet we know such ease, such fluidity requires great art. This holds true whether she’s executing Donizetti’s demanding legato passages or navigating his tricky, often stratospheric bel canto ornamentations.

With deceptive ease, Ms. Gilmore’s interpretation of this complex role immediately seizes our attention and creates instant sympathy for Lucia’s character. This, in turn, helps the magic happen, particularly in Lucia’s blood-drenched mad scene. It’s this kind of full-bodied vocal and dramatic performance that longtime opera fans continually crave but don’t often quite find. Brava!"