Cecilia Bartoli holds this one note for an astonishingly long time (complete with showy crescendos and diminuendos)

19 July 2016, 12:55 | Updated: 6 January 2017, 14:45

You know when you’re able to convey a limitless range of emotions just by singing one hugely impressive and virtuosic long note? That.

Cecilia Bartoli is amazing. We know this. But sometimes, you just want it reiterated and proven in the shape of an amazing clip of her virtuosity in action.

Here she is singing ‘Son qual nave ch'agitata’ from Riccardo Broschi’s baroque opera Artaserse - the long note we’re talking about is pretty much the first thing she does.

Watch her face throughout - the emotions change, the tone grows and shrinks, and then then there’s a totally bonkers flourish at the end. Like this:

That is NINE BARS of one F sharp, with very impressive characterisation and dynamic range, and then whatever the heck that stuff at the end is.

Cecilia, we salute you: