Aksel Rykkvin - Boy Soprano who needs your help.

[maartendas]

Wonderful news - Aksel has been working on a new CD!



I am really glad because his voice is richer now than when his first CD was recorded. You can follow his development as a performer quite closely because he regularly shares recordings of live performances on his Facebook page. He is growing in confidence and different experiences on stage. It's great that at this particular moment of his treble career a recording is made for CD. It will once again be baroque repertoire, which he always sings with great joy.

[Surpinto]

He is an incredible singer and while I was at firs skeptical about some of the baroque pieces I was unfamiliar with, I now like them very much. Based on his lower range speaking voice I think it is safe to assume that his treble career is nearly finished. Keep us posted, please, as to any release dates.

[chris17]

Aksel recently posted this video on YouTube, and I wanted to share it because I love how rich his voice sounds now as it starts to deepen. It seems that he's probably nearing the end of his treble career. I hope that it's a smooth transition, anyway, and that he'll be able to continue singing and posting videos.



I feel like, in a way, it's almost too bad his latest album wasn't recorded at this time instead of a few months ago, but then, that also would have been more risky. I'm delighted that we'll have a second album at all. It's wonderful that he continues to record and post decently high-quality videos, anyway.

[kinda_k00l]

He is a charming boy with a beautiful voice. I've checked & subscribed to, of course) his Youtube, I'm glad that he did many pieces from the Baroque era. I also showed some of his videos to my friends who enjoy vocal music - they loved it.

His voice sure is getting deeper quickly (compared to his previous performances from some months ago), and I'm curious about it in the future - I'm certain it will be beautiful, but I want to know how beautiful it will be. Well, we'll know soon, as he is growing up to be a fine gentleman.

[Jay_S]

Thank you kinda+k00l for posting Aksel's latest offering. I too am always happy to see another performance by him since we never know when it may be his last. His voice is rich and deep on this piece. I think he may have already lost his highest notes. Hopefully he will still have some more recording for us to enjoy.

[Jay_S]

I saw this video today. It was posted about a week ago. It is a sad day when it's the last of anything. We have followed Aksel for a while now and we have enjoyed his talent up to this point. I hope he continues to perform with his new voice. Check out the author's video page for a lengthy interview (14 minutes including the song) which is translated in the comments, just prior to Aksel singing his 'last song as a soprano'.

[Surpinto]

Very well spoken and mature for his age and will certainly continue to make impressions in the music world. Thanks for the link, Jay.

To access the interview, go to the link below using the Chrome Browser, then go to the 4th segment of the interview and enable subtitles, then translate the page to English (or whatever language you prefer) using the built in Google Translator and presto you have real-time subtitles.

https://tv.nrk.no/serie/skavlan/KMTE50006617/20-10-2017

[hiskeys]

I just happened to notice in Aksel's video of Eternal Source of Light Divine - at :38, the similarity to Eternal Light (Director's Cut) - at 1:28. Even the song names are similar. Could it be that Aksel's video had some inspiration from Libera's?

[TullyBascombe]

I'm not certain that someone could copyright the idea of a child reaching up toward sunbeams. I suspect it's a recurring theme of child oriented inspirational visual art.

[hiskeys]

Oh, I didn't mean it in any serious sense - I just thought it was interesting.

[Jay_S]

Aksel has released a new video of a performance of him singing as a baritone.

Here is a link to his YouTube account: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfU1LD ... W-g/videos

The first video is the latest. The next one is from June but recently released (still as a boy Soprano).

What do you think of his new voice?

[Surpinto]

Too early! His voice is clearly not yet settled enough to be putting recordings like this online. He struggles to sing that piece as his range has not yet expanded properly and the lower notes in particular sound dull as a result. His training is excellent and he covers for these deficiencies quite well but he is not yet ready to perform as a baritone. Having said this, perhaps I judge him too harshly? How many 14 year old's singers could sing that piece well at all? My error is in comparing the quality of his voice now to what it was prior.

Hope to hear more from him in the future. I could see him being a great opera singer some day.

[j8000]

Too early! His voice is clearly not yet settled enough to be putting recordings like this online. He struggles to sing that piece as his range has not yet expanded properly and the lower notes in particular sound dull as a result. His training is excellent and he covers for these deficiencies quite well but he is not yet ready to perform as a baritone. Having said this, perhaps I judge him too harshly? How many 14 year old's singers could sing that piece well at all? My error is in comparing the quality of his voice now to what it was prior.

Hope to hear more from him in the future. I could see him being a great opera singer some day.

I am sure he is well aware of these things that you say, but he is performing and putting the recordings online so that others can see how his voice develops. For example, he recently performed at an Association of Singing Teachers event in New York alongside his singing coach. Most trebles certainly don't have the confidence to perform solo work so soon into their voice change so well done to him. I am sure it will be useful to other boys his age too.

Regarding his voice developing, he has said that while he is currently a mid-baritone he seem likely to be gaining some higher notes, which he sounds quite chuffed about.

[filiarheni]

Too early! His voice is clearly not yet settled enough to be putting recordings like this online. He struggles to sing that piece as his range has not yet expanded properly and the lower notes in particular sound dull as a result. His training is excellent and he covers for these deficiencies quite well but he is not yet ready to perform as a baritone. Having said this, perhaps I judge him too harshly? How many 14 year old's singers could sing that piece well at all? My error is in comparing the quality of his voice now to what it was prior.

Hope to hear more from him in the future. I could see him being a great opera singer some day.

I'm with Surpinto: I also find it too early to go on stage. He was at the best possible with his boy's voice, now, although by far not at the very beginning anymore, he has to develop his male voice which takes time. It is another stadium now and no-one, neither he nor anyone else, should urge him to perform, but first he should get to know his new voice, get used to it and learn how to handle it. That's what I think when I listen to this video.

It can't be doubted that he has received a particularly good singing coaching. It does not only require talent - and Aksel is an exceptional talent - but also a teacher who knows to guide the singer and educate a voice with utmost care. Terrible to have a great voice and talent, when a teaching methods then ruins it. Aksel was lucky in every regard, and I can only hope that the high quality of his vocal education does continue.

I do like his deep voice, it sounds warm and I like warm male singing voices. Definitely, I found what I heard very promising.

My opinion is that he should leave opera aside for a while and rather focus on concert literature. As a boy, there were a number of opera arias he could sing and he mastered them brilliantly. A boy's voice suits baroque operas well and so does the role of Cherubino (classical opera, Mozart, "The Marriage of Figaro"), who is a young, stormy boy, wildly curious for love adventure. His Cherubino was excellent, he really acted with his voice (here is a technically not so good recording):

(from 1:48)

But I can't believe him not even a Papageno. There is enough beautiful non-opera music for him to be sung (oratorio, Kunstlied (that's English, too?) for example) and, getting older, he can take up opera again when his personality has matured and his voice is prepared for it. Now, he has all the time in the world! There is no need to act precipitately, no limiting factor like a voice change anymore.

I can very well imagine him becoming an outstanding opera singer, if he goes on as carefully as he seems to have done it before, and once again: His voice is like velvet to me, very pleasant! Into whatever register, tenor, baritone, bass, he will develop: I hope he maintains that timbre.

[hiskeys]

If you haven't had a chance to see this yet, it's a wonderful 40 minute presentation from Nov. 11th at the Store Studio, Oslo. I think it's one of his best - he seems to be in the pocket with a live orchestra.

The sound doesn't seem to come on until :40, but the first piece is instrumental. Lovely piece, by the way; and I enjoy the unusual baroque lute and cimbasso.

Aksel comes on at around 3:10.

http://tv.nrk.no/serie/kork-hele-landet ... 11-11-2017

There are also individual YouTube Videos of a few of the songs.