Rachel is the exciting debut album from American soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen – released by Sony Classical. The new album sees this immensely gifted singer, who possesses an impressive vocal and dramatic range, explore a wide swathe of repertoire to showcase her versatility, vocal depth, and artistry. The selection of opera arias and scenes showcases the variety of her incredible voice – which leading French daily Le Monde cites as “without a doubt one of the most impressive voices in the opera world.”

The album includes key works from Verdi, Mozart, Puccini, Dvořák and Lehár that reflect her stellar career performing on the world’s most prestigious opera stages. Ms Willis-Sørensen is joined by one of her vocal idols on the famous duet from La Bohème – tenor Jonas Kaufmann, who makes his first guest appearance of this kind.

An intimate portrait of the artist at this stage in her career, each piece included on the album was carefully selected by Ms Willis-Sørensen as she presents a collection of her favourite arias and scenes that she hopes will move the listener as they have moved her. Her dramatic expressivity and vocal virtuosity are both on display in full force, in arias ranging from the album’s centrepiece Verdi scenes, with weighty roles such as Desdemona in Otello, Leonora in Il Trovatore and Violetta in La Traviata, to ‘Vilja-Lied’ from Lehár’s operetta The Merry Widow and ‘Song to the Moon’ from Dvořák’s Rusalka.

“Rachel” is an accomplished and versatile debut from one of the most exciting and gifted sopranos.