Shining Larmore

'I feel like the prodigal daughter, coming back to America after nine years in Europe," says Jennifer Larmore, giving her Pre-Raphaelite auburn hair a toss. The thrilling young mezzosoprano from Georgia has come home to launch her first solo album, a collection of arias by Handel and Mozart for Teldec entitled Where Shall I Fly. Next month, she flies to the H Metropolitan Opera in New York, where she will play Rosina, the frisky heroine of Rossini's Barber of Seville. "Rosina is a lot of fun to play," Larmore enthuses. "She's young, full of spunk. I feel a real kinship with her." She ought to: she has played the role onstage more than 250 times. Now she is preparing to undertake the ultimate challenge for a mezzo: Carmen. "Carmen has been misunderstood," she says. "Why not let a pretty young girl do it? I think I can fit the bill." Go, girl.

JAMIE JAMES