EIF Emily D'Angelo & Sophia Muñoz Queen's Hall Edinburgh 22nd August 2025 Review
Emily D’Angelo & Sophia Muñoz at the Queen’s Hall Edinburgh was a recital concert that was one of the well-established and always popular 11AM concert series organised by Edinburgh International Festival.
This was a chance for everyone in the audience this morning to be part of a very stripped back performance that was simply Emily D’Angelo backed on piano by Sophia Muñoz. No trickery here, no distractions, simply the vocal talents of Emily performing a wide but carefully curated selection of songs sung in both English, German and Hungarian (with English surtitles).
Emily D’Angelo has an eclectic, expressive, and dynamic approach to her work that has seen her already collect major awards and much awareness in the opera world and outside of it. The choice of music for this morning’s repertoire was eclectic, but that is something that Emily D’Angelo has built a strong vocal reputation upon. I do not think that anyone can really second guess what songs and music will be the focus of any concert on a given day and, even today, this concert had not only some order of performance changes to it, but new material included whilst other songs were taken out to fit into the performance time.
What songs and music Emily D’Angelo chooses for a performance is something that is obviously very carefully considered, but clearly they are also simply what she enjoys singing. That choice covers pretty much everything out there and starting this recital with “W.C. Handy Morning Star” was not, to me anyhow, an obvious song choice. Including works by Bartók, Vaughan Williams, Britten and Mahler may have taken many people in this audience onto more familiar musical ground, but just as you get comfortable, Emily D’Angelo changes her musical direction completely with David Lynch/A.R. Splet In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song).
Traditional folk songs and more avant-garde contemporary music also made it into this recital, but whatever the music, whatever the song, that one constant was there, the voice of Emily D’Angelo and her ability to control it perfectly to get the best, and often unexpected, out of any work. Emily D’Angelo is, as this performance showed us all, a hugely expressive singer who has the ability to become a part of the world of her song, and watching her switch effortlessly from the demands of one song to another, and often very different songs and musical approaches from one song to the other, was always interesting.
Sophia Muñoz also has to be given full credit here for her accompanying work on piano. Together Emily D’Angelo and Sophia Muñoz are a perfect musical partnership.
Review by Tom King © 2025
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
This was a chance for everyone in the audience this morning to be part of a very stripped back performance that was simply Emily D’Angelo backed on piano by Sophia Muñoz. No trickery here, no distractions, simply the vocal talents of Emily performing a wide but carefully curated selection of songs sung in both English, German and Hungarian (with English surtitles).
Emily D’Angelo has an eclectic, expressive, and dynamic approach to her work that has seen her already collect major awards and much awareness in the opera world and outside of it. The choice of music for this morning’s repertoire was eclectic, but that is something that Emily D’Angelo has built a strong vocal reputation upon. I do not think that anyone can really second guess what songs and music will be the focus of any concert on a given day and, even today, this concert had not only some order of performance changes to it, but new material included whilst other songs were taken out to fit into the performance time.
What songs and music Emily D’Angelo chooses for a performance is something that is obviously very carefully considered, but clearly they are also simply what she enjoys singing. That choice covers pretty much everything out there and starting this recital with “W.C. Handy Morning Star” was not, to me anyhow, an obvious song choice. Including works by Bartók, Vaughan Williams, Britten and Mahler may have taken many people in this audience onto more familiar musical ground, but just as you get comfortable, Emily D’Angelo changes her musical direction completely with David Lynch/A.R. Splet In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song).
Traditional folk songs and more avant-garde contemporary music also made it into this recital, but whatever the music, whatever the song, that one constant was there, the voice of Emily D’Angelo and her ability to control it perfectly to get the best, and often unexpected, out of any work. Emily D’Angelo is, as this performance showed us all, a hugely expressive singer who has the ability to become a part of the world of her song, and watching her switch effortlessly from the demands of one song to another, and often very different songs and musical approaches from one song to the other, was always interesting.
Sophia Muñoz also has to be given full credit here for her accompanying work on piano. Together Emily D’Angelo and Sophia Muñoz are a perfect musical partnership.
Review by Tom King © 2025
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
Please note that unless requested by performers/pr/venues that this website no longer uses the "star rating" system on reviews.