Gemma Bertagnolli “Gemma Bertagnolli has a bright and clear voice, through which a dramatic edge occasionally shows, but most telling is its vulnerable quality, well suited to the complaints of the injured lovers who populate these imaginative works. An agile technique is also a major boon, enabling her to negotiate Vivaldi's doleful chromaticisms and dazzling wide leaps, high notes and rapid runs, with equal expressiveness.” — Gramophone UK and other territories by arrangement with ARTISTICA. |
Elizabeth Donovan "...Donovan stood out both for her acting and for her vocal performance, without allowing the fickle emotions of her character to intrude into her vocal tone." —Opera |
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Katharine Fuge "...the delectable soprano Katharine Fuge sang with lip-smacking milky white tone...” — The Times Photo: Marco Borggreve |
Ruby Hughes “… each vocal item here was socked out with equal commitment by the gifted young soprano Ruby Hughes, winner of last year’s London Handel Festival Singing Competition. No shrinking violet, this. She squeezed expression from every word. Torment transfigured her face, particularly as Handel’s heroine Agrippina…she’s made for the opera stage because she sings with such ringing belief.” —The Times Winner of First Prize and Audience Prize at the 2009 London Handel Festival Singing Competition |
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Hye-Youn Lee “The young Korean soprano Hye-Youn Lee sings with such beauty, and acts wit such engaging aplomb, as even to evoke memories of Natalie Dessay’s landmark performance as Marie at Covent Garden last year..” —The Guardian |
Alwyn Mellor “Alwyn Mellor, oozing repression and torrential top notes is the superlative Chrysothemis….” —The Guardian |
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Sarah Redgwick “Redgwick, singing in a warm lyric soprano, had the poise, good taste and understated humour for her role…the Czardas was agreeably insinuating.” — Opera |
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Wilke te Brummelstroete "As Minerva, the excellent Wilke te Brummelstroete lit up the stage most effectively, with her searing mezzo-soprano, crisp enunication and strong presence.” — Opera Today |
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Clare Wilkinson “Clare Wilkinson’s personification of Music has a magical quality which leaves no room for doubt that her art does indeed have the power to inspire and reflect all human emotions…” — Early Music Review Photo: Stefan Schweiger |
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James
Laing “The compelling young countertenor James Laing is becoming quite a master of sinister, ethereally pitched roles: he was outstanding as the Fox in Opera North's recent Pinocchio and is no less compelling here as an androgynously alien Oberon, his voice as sharp and scintillating as the diamante sarong and skull cap he is given to wear.” — The Guardian |
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Michael Bracegirdle “Michael Bracegirdle was a magnificently imperious Judge Danforth…” — New York Times |
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James Edwards "James Edwards’s Hoffmann was robust of tone, but generally well-controlled and with plenty of expressive phrasing, a good combination of attributes.” —Opera Photo: Clive Barda |
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Richard Roberts “There was a particularly engaging Steersman from Richard Roberts, lyrically sung and attractively presented.” — Opera Photo: Lisa Kohler |
Christopher Turner “Puccini clearly had more interest in the secondary tenor role of the poet Prunier, sung most winningly by Christopher Turner who, as on previous occasions, made it evident that the stage is his natural element.“ — Opera |
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Simon Lobelson “…a classy performance, his baritone finessed and honed (like a young Gidon Saks) – and a dab hand as an actor.” — Opera Now |
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Njabulo Madlala “That moment of rapt silence and attention, when an audience is entirely transfixed by a musician’s artistry, is rare at the best of times — let alone in the middle of a competition. But it happened in the finals of this year’s Kathleen Ferrier Awards, when the South African baritone, Njabulo Madlala, riveted every listener in the hall with his musical storytelling in Schumann’s dramatic ballad, Belsazar. The 28-year-old’s imagination created a gripping and growing sense of menace; and when he cried “Ich bin der König von Babylon”, the walls of the Wigmore Hall shook with terror. He would have taken first prize for this alone. But there was more. Madlala was equally at home in Butterworth’s Bredon Hill and in an aria from Bellini’s I Puritani that revealed the rich velvet plush of his fearless voice, its inner warmth and its flexibility.” — The Times Winner of First Prize at the 2010 Kathleen Ferrier Competition |
Adrian Powter “Well, if all round talent was anything to go by, I would plump for the Guglielmo of Adrian Powter, perfect in articulation, phrasing and ease of deportment.” — Opera |
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Simon Thorpe “His Rigoletto showed the full range of his voice, with expressive singing and a fine command of suppressed anger.” — Opera |
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James Oldfield “James Oldfield sang the role (of Forester) in a ripe, rounded baritone, as richly shaded as the foest in Autumn, and brought a wealth of feeling to his final soliloquy.” — Opera |
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Nicholas Jenkins “A lively performance. Nicholas Jenkins conducted with authority. The afternoon passed all too quickly.” — Musical Pointers |
Alexander Walker “Walker's players enchanted with a cavalcade of controlled, astute brass, refined woodwind and alluring low strings, all beautifully articulated.” — Opera |
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