Rachel Willis-Sørensen on Winning the Beverly Sills Award

“The final duet in the opera, set in the convent where Thaïs breathes her last, is all the more heartbreaking because the performers are of the highest caliber. Following in the footsteps of other great American sopranos who have distinguished themselves in the title role (such as the creator of the work, Sibyl Sanderson, in 1894), Rachel Willis-Sørensen asserts herself as a great Thaïs. Her musicality and fantastic technique allow her to manage a wide range and project powerful, stratospheric high notes, all with a beautiful mastery of French prosody. But her dramatic soprano sometimes seems a little too generous for a role where one might imagine more fragility.”

Le Monde