"Bright sound and expansive lyricism... embellishments emanated from the melody and the mood"
“Early in Act I, the tenor Nicholas Simpson — as Count Almaviva, who has fallen for the lovely Rosina — brought bright sound and expansive lyricism to the serenade he sings from below her balcony. Simpson certainly embellished the melodic lines with ornate ornamentation; not for nothing has [conductor Will] Crutchfield called one offering of his program ‘ornamentation boot camp.’ But his embellishments emanated from the melody and the mood, and never seemed overly elaborate.”