Lyric soprano Nicole Car has been tipped by Opera Australia’s Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini as the next big thing in opera, as confirmed by her recent triumphs at Covent Garden. “She has the genuine, real potential to be the most important Australian opera singer since Joan Sutherland,” he says.

Terracini may have a vested interest, but if they haven’t already seen her, Sydney and Melbourne operagoers will get a chance to gauge what all the fuss is about when she stars in two Opera Australia productions this year: first in the title role of Verdi’s Luisa Miller and then as Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte.

They can also get an idea from this, her first solo studio recording, which is excellently produced by the ABC Classics team. The 30 year-old from Essendon, Melbourne, built her reputation with roles like Tatyana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni in 2014. Then last year she made a triumphant Royal Opera House debut in Onegin and as Micäela in Bizet’s Carmen (arias from both are featured on The Kiss).

Car has a versatile voice – she started studying jazz singing before turning to orchestral – and this certainly won’t harm her career where, with the bar set high by Anne-Sofie von Otter, international-class singers are often required to jump through several genre hoops.

The disc starts with a brief orchestral flourish into the Jewel Song from Gounod’s Faust, and we know straight away this is an exceptional talent with a voice that is clear and secure across the range, but with a honeyed tone.

Its fluidity is amply demonstrated in Verdi’s Come in Quest’ora Bruna from Simon Boccanegra, while her intelligence combined with a fine dramatic sensibility and the ability to inhabit character are nowhere more apparent than in her magnificent performance of Tatyana’s Letter Scene.

Alongside favourites like Puccini’s Mi Chiamano Mimì and The Song to the Moon from Dvorˇák’s Rusalka, we get some Massenet and the title track, Vendulka’s gorgeous Lullaby from Smetana’s Hubicˇka (The Kiss). Sadly there’s no Mozart – perhaps for volume two?

It’s good as well to hear such fine playing from the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra under Andrea Molino, relishing their release from the sonic dungeon of the Sydney Opera House pit. Listen out for the beautiful horn in the closing moments of the Letter Scene. The band also gets a chance to shine in the Tchaikovsky, Cilea and Smetana selections.

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