Bryan Register and Rachel Nicholls in rehearsals for Tristan und Isolde at Grange Park. Photograph: Robert Workman
A worthy replacement for Anja Kampe as Isolde, the British dramatic soprano Rachel Nicholls was utterly fearless; she was a restless, inflamed presence on the stage and her bright, cutting soprano never seemed to tire. Such laser precision in a small theatre left eardrums ringing, and it was almost a relief when the orchestra underpinned her with a wash of rapturous sound. Nicholls, who studied with the great Wagnerian Anne Evans, has already sung Brünnhilde in Ring cycles for Longborough Opera.
