“The baritone, Christian Bowers, was the first of the soloists to be heard. He sang with a rich, resonant, and compelling voice that suited the earthiness of the texts.” – Classical Connection Review with 89.1 WBOI

“...Daniel Sumegi in his aviator shades looked like he was having the time of his life putting the Elvis into Escamillo, belting Toreador Song to a moshpit of dancers and chorus members, one of whom even flung a bra at him as fireworks exploded above.” - Financial Review “Escamillo was taken on by bass-baritone Daniel Sumegi , who appeared in garb suggesting a cross between Tom Jones and an ageing Elvis. Playing the character as a rockstar with fawning groupies, he delivered the famous Toreador Song with gusto.” - Bach Track “Escamillo is nicely played by Daniel Sumegi, who appears on stage like a rock star (think Elvis or Tom Jones) in black jeans, satin jacket and sun shades, while the ensemble scream and throw underwear at him, with the prerequisite fireworks erupting at the end of the Toreador Song.” - Limelight Magazine “Daniel Sumegi, as the Toreador Escamillo, made a rock-star entrance amid a rapturous, bra-throwing mosh-pit frenzy, which he seemed to quite enjoy. The strongly projected dominance through the sound system took away some of his own vocal agency, but he maintained vocal warmth, and the character’s generosity of spirit permeated both voice and persona.” - The Sidney Morning Herald “Daniel Sumegi (alternating with Alexander Sefton) as an aviator-wearing, Elvis-esque Escamillo gives the standout performance – a charismatic and powerful bass-baritone.” - TimeOut “As the matador Escamillo, bass-baritone Daniel Sumegi makes a deliciously ballsy entrance in wraparound shades, glittering scarlet shirt and black caped suit, strutting like old Elvis amid hurled knickers and bras. He too sings magnificently which is extra remarkable as all the varied voices, orchestra and chorus are the overall responsibility of sound designer extraordinaire Tony David Cray" - Stage Noise “Stealing the show was the Toreador song from Escamillo (Daniel Sumegi) dressed like John Travolta from Grease it ended with Opera Australia’s trademark outdoor climax.” - Stage Whispers

“The darker elements of the story are played down, except when Michael Mayes cuts through the sweetness as George’s nemesis, Henry F Potter.” - Financial Times “His final confrontation with his nemesis, Michael Mayes’ callous, calculating Henry F. Potter, was thrillingly fierce and tense.” - Opera Today “Here, the villainous banker Henry F Potter, superbly sung by Michael Mayes, is a pantomime baddie with his Trump-tower golden doors, but today’s Potters are everywhere around us, and they are not amusing.” - Culture Whisper “This production of It’s a Wonderful Life saw brilliant performances across the cast, with fabulous ENO debuts from Michael Mays as the evil Mr Potter (he even got boos at the Curtain Call)” - London Unattached “Special mention must go to American baritone Michael Mayes, who is excellent as the villain of the piece, Mr Potter. His curtain call elicits a round of boos before the audience bursts into applause” - Opera For All “...Michael Mayes (Potter) slithered menacingly over some of the more sharply characterised vocal writing.” - The Spectator “It is crucial to the balance of the piece that there be a convincing, sinister villain, and baritone Michael Mayes delivers this in spades as Mr Potter.” - Plays To See

“…our Rinaldo is a countertenor, Patrick Henry. A University of Minnesota grad who’s gone on to an international career, Terry proves a captivating protagonist with a powerful voice and an endearingly vulnerable stage persona.” - Minneapolis Star Tribune

February 10, 2023 | The Telegraph On a performance day, Macon native Jasmine Habersham tries to get as much rest as possible, eat well and stay hydrated. Staying hydrated, she said, is important for any singer and definitely so for an operatic soprano such as herself. She stretches to stay limber and relaxed and, as far as her voice goes, she runs through scales in the morning then again at mid-day. “I like to warm up my voice in the shower in the morning and take advantage of that steam,” she said. Depending on the day and how much she’s been performing, she gauges what exercise and practice to do. She said regardless, it takes a lot of work. From late January through this past week, Habersham performed with the Houston (Texas) Grand Opera. In the past opera season, she traveled all but seven cumulative weeks and her work has included her debut with Opera North (United Kingdom) as Gilda in “Rigoletto,” appearing as the Dew Fairy in “Hansel and Gretel” with Rochester Philharmonic and, remarkably for someone of her only 33 years, debuting in the lead as Cleopatra in Handel’s “Giulio Cesare” with Atlanta Opera. Continue reading.

Review of Madison Opera's 'Trouble in Tahiti' and 'Seven Deadly Sins' " Together, these pieces showcase the exceptional mezzo-soprano Rehanna Thelwell and make for a pleasantly compact evening at the opera. . . Thelwell and Gray are well paired here, expressive, grounded performers with a sure command of Bernstein’s musical style. . . Thelwell sparkles on the title aria, giving her retelling of a silly movie plot the barest edge of mania. . . In both of these pieces, Thelwell is a true star. She’s a pop of primary color among khaki in “Trouble” . . . and digs as deep as she can for emotional impact in “Sins.”" – Cap Times

" Soprano Jasmine Habersham’s Sophie was fresh-voiced and breezy." – Texas Classical Review "Lighthearted moments in “Werther” come at a premium, but they do exist: in soprano Jasmine Habersham as Charlotte’s younger sister Sophie, whose pure youthful ebullience at times seems like she could single-handedly vanquish the growing romantic angst around her" – Houston Chronicle

May 5, 2023 | Musical America "Lucas is in her element, too. Green's revised vocal writing draws on both her dark, resonant lower range as well as her heroically hefted upper register. Whether whispering, belting out top notes, or floating up to a comfortable falsetto, she's entirely unfazed. She also displays a tangible understanding of the text and its myriad meanings. Take, for example, her warm portrayal of the widowed Anne Hathaway, imagining Shakespeare had "written her, the bed a page beneath his writer's hands." She's powerful as well as Mrs Beast, rattling through a catalogue of women dealt unplayable hands, from the Little Mermaid to Princess Diana." – Musical America

A singer explores the use of ethnic makeup in opera and how challenging its use has supported race-conscious casting in the industry. TO PAINT OR NOT TO PAINT: IS THAT THE QUESTION? What is “Blackface,” really? Is it an outdated, racist, derogatory practice or a lazy excuse for making our art form more “realistic” in the current day? These are the questions I asked myself and a few other artists whose work I love and respect. In my opinion, the term “Blackface” is misused as it pertains to opera and makeup. I see “Blackface” as not merely darkening one’s skin but a literal, deliberate mockery of Black people through the use of charcoal or shoe polish on the face while overly exaggerating the eyes and lips. I did not grow up with opera; I had no interest in it until I was in high school. I was exposed to the artistry of Jessye Norman in a live recital in Philadelphia, and my whole life changed. Because I saw Ms. Norman, I knew that a career in classical music and opera was possible for me. I became a sponge and watched everything related to opera on PBS and practically lived in the listening library. The first opera I saw on PBS was the 1989 Metropolitan Opera telecast of Aida , with an all-star cast including Plácido Domingo, Dolora Zajick, Sherrill Milnes and the stunning Aprile Millo in the title role. I had no idea who any of these artists were at the time, but I was moved by their voices and transported by Sonja Frisell’s extravagant production. I couldn’t wait to get to school the next day and share with my choir director what I had experienced. “Mr. King, I saw Aida last night on Channel 12, and it was amazing! There was a beautiful Black soprano singing Aida.” Mr. King advised me that Ms. Millo was not Black, but that she was wearing makeup to play a character who was. He explained that this was customary in opera. This was my first experience of makeup being used to change one’s appearance to represent a different ethnicity. I remember being stunned—but not necessarily in a bad way. It did pique my curiosity, and I delved more deeply into the art form. AS I BEGAN MY OWN SINGING CAREER in the regional opera houses of America, I was hired to sing roles such as Ping in Turandot and Prince Yamadori and the Imperial Commissioner in Madama Butterfly . Depending on the house and the production, I would be made up to appear Chinese or Japanese with the use of Asian-presenting makeup. I did not believe then that I was participating in a practice that could be perceived as harmful or racist. I was just getting into “character.” Just as Millo had darkened her skin as Aida, several iconic African American singers that I had grown to love and admire, such as Leontyne Price, Martina Arroyo, George Shirley, Grace Bumbry and Shirley Verrett, all sang roles for which they used makeup to lighten their skin. If it was O.K. for them, what could be the problem for me? In the case of Aida , the soprano cast in the title role must feel complete isolation as a singing actor. To me, Aida is more than just a love triangle: it is the story of two African countries at war. At the heart of the opera we have an Ethiopian princess who is enslaved in a country where no one looks like her. I have made my career as a Black artist in the world of opera, so I know what it is like to be the only person in the room who looks like me; that feeling and that reality can be difficult to express and even more difficult to experience. Read full article at OperaNews.com

Celebrated soprano Kathryn Lewek embarks on a busy 2022-2023 season with several exciting debuts. She begins with a role début as Countess Adèle in Rossini’s Le comte Ory with Lyric Opera of Chicago and returns to Deutsche Oper Berlin to make her role debuts as the Heroines in Les Contes d’Hoffmann. Next, she reprises the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor for Opéra de Nice. Lewek makes house débuts with the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Semperoper Dresden as Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte , and will sing the role in returns to the Vienna Staatsoper and The Metropolitan Opera for their new production, marking her 50th performance of the role at the house, more than any other artist in history.

Kathryn Lewek is one of the greatest Queens of the Night of our times but shines just as bright in roles rush as Lucia di Lammermoor, and she will be back at the MET with her signature role! But first, just a small talk with Maria-Isabela Nica for OPERA Charm Magazine. Is there something Kathryn still doesn’t know about the Queen of the Night? Was it a dream role ever since she started singing? Find out the answer to the questions & more about the secret of perfect firework coloratura! Kathryn Lewek has established herself as one of opera’s most thrilling coloratura sopranos of this generation, performing some of the most vocally challenging roles in the repertoire, joining the top-ranking operatic performers of all time. Lewek made an “especially brilliant” (Backtrack) début as Ginevra in Ariodante with the Salzburger Pfingstfestspiele in Austria, opposite Cecilia Bartoli, where Lewek “performed a miracle” (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) and thrilled audiences with “a rich (and richly differentiated) soprano voice that has not been experienced for a long time.” (Salzburger Nachrichten). She returned in the summer of 2019 in Barrie Kosky’s new production of Orphée aux Enfers, “ravishingly” (Bachtrack) singing “the raunchy, full-throttle” (Financial Times) role of Eurydice, wowing critics and audiences alike for her versatility as a performer and prompting Opera Wire to exclaim her Artist of the Week – not to mention a five-page spread in Salzburg’s official festival magazine. Lewek’s interpretation of her signature role, the quintessential Mozart villain, has labeled her the current reigning Queen of the Night of the world, with productions of Die Zauberflöte with over 25 companies in over 300 performances to date, including The Metropolitan Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, The Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bregenzer Festspiele, Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Wiener Straatsoper, Teatro Real in Madrid, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Festival Castell de Peralada, Opera Leipzig, The Royal Danish Opera, amongst others. With an impressive history of leading female roles in her career, recent seasons’ engagements have also included Teresa in Benvenuto Cellini with Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona; Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Deutsche Oper Berlin and subsequently in her house début with the Bayerische Staatsoper (Munich); a reprisal of her performance as Ginevra in Ariodante with Opera Monte Carlo; the title role of Maria Stuarda with Edmonton Opera; Angelica in Handel’s masterpiece Orlando on tour throughout Europe; and Jessica in the world première of André Tchaikowsky’s Kupiec Wenecki (The Merchant of Venice) with Bregenzer Festspiele. This production was awarded the International Opera Award 2014 in the category “Best World Première''. Read full article.

"With his powerful voice, the veteran Gordon Hawkins commanded the stage as Preacher Man." – Chicago Classical Review "baritone Lucia Lucas , a woman whose technological existence continually thwarts her attempts at human connection. . . she meltingly sang of her loneliness before ultimately joining Holiday for a final, loving duet." – Opera News " Shaw renders a car’s GPS as an electronically processed voice that veers from turn-left instructions to poetic flights, yielding to an introspective aria just right for Lucas’s tender voice." – The New York Times