LA BOHÈME
Mimi in La Bohème, Metropolitan Opera, New York, December 5, 2006
"Few opera stars can single-handedly transform a routine revival into a cause for celebration. Anna Netrebko can.
"Netrebko, it seems, cannot give a performance that's less than incandescent. Her bright lyric voice has more than a glint of metal in it, but she keeps it from ever turning harsh and molds Puccini's melodic line with great sensitivity. A natural actress blessed with sensational looks, she invests her performance with graceful touches that go a long way to make this overexposed staple of the repertory seem fresh again. Watch how she reaches out to caress Villazon's cheek as she bids him farewell in Act III, or rises seemingly straight upward from her deathbed in the final scene."
Mike Silverman, AP, December 5, 2006
"Of course the main difference was Ms. Netrebko's performance. She entered that garret the consummate actress, already sick and vulnerable, establishing an almost excruciating morbidezza from the get-go. Her voice was its usual radiant self, full, warm, polished, dexterous, enticing, enriching. Her initial note alone in the culminating duet of O soave fanciulla was worth the price of admission.
"Ms. Netrebko was splendid throughout, her Donde lieta usci from Act III producing paroxysms of applause. And this woman really knows how to die. Her voice, enduringly strong even on her deathbed, simply became more and more gentle as her seconds ticked away. Not weaker, not softer, not wobbly, just more gentle until it suddenly stopped and her clenched fist opened and fell. Masterful.
"During Act I, Ms. Netrebko let loose in the Mi chiamano Mimi section, expanding and elongating her phrases to their most delicious and emotionally intense lengths. She did not so much intone these phrases as caress them. In order to fully realize her artistic vision, she allowed each phrase to develop organically, unhurriedly, employing tasteful rubato and holding high notes expertly and impressively."
Fred Kirshnit, NY Sun, December 7, 2006
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LA SONNAMBULA
Amina in La Sonnambula, Wiener Staatsoper, November 2006
"Im Finale freilich legt unsere frisch gebackene und hoch willkommene Landsmännin Anna Netrebko als Amina so richtig los. Wenn auch als frisch vom Nachtwandeln geweckte glückliche Braut startet sie die Schlussszene im feuerroten Kleid vor dem Vorhang mit grandioser Bravour.
"Und wieder zurück auf der Bühne veranstaltet sie - eher wie in ihrer russischen Heimat - auf dem Tisch stehend mühelos auch noch mit einem hohen Es um sich werfend einen Koloraturen-Mulatschag, der das Publikum, noch bevor er ganz zu Ende ist, von den Sitzen reißt und in gellendes Jubelgeschrei ausbrechen lässt.
Diese letzten Minuten waren ohne Zweifel ein bewundernswerter, in seiner Intensität aufregender Event."
Peter Vujica, Der Standard, 21/11/2006
"Das lebt! Anna Netrebko im roten Galakleid springt auf den Tisch und serviert zu Bellinis zünden den Rhythmen Koloraturen und Spitzentöne treffsicher und mit einer Verve, dass tosender Jubel nicht ausbleiben kann.
"Berührendes war ein wenig früher, im Lamento der zu Unrecht des Betrugs verklagten Liebenden, auch zu vernehmen. Da ist die Gestalterin Netrebko so recht in ihrem Element.
"(...) in den verhaltenen Phrasen, die uns das Mädchen Amina unschuldig verstrickt in die Eifersuchtsfantasien ihres Verlobten zeigen, wird natürliches, uneitles Espressivo zum Opernereignis. Da singt in größter Schlichtheit eine Künstlerin, die instinktiv begreift, wie sie ihr Publikum darauf einschwören kann, mit ihr zu fühlen, zu atmen - oder auch: den Atem anzuhalten."
Wilhelm Sincovicz, Die Presse, 21/11/2006
"Mit dem umjubelten Auftritt von Anna Netrebko bescherte der Direktor seinem Haus mehr als nur Glamour. Die russische Diva hat nämlich Bellinis Schlafwandlerin zuvor nur am Mariinski-Theater gesungen, an dem sie 1994 ihr Rollendebüt gegeben hat. Wie gut ihr die Belcantopartie der Amina liegt, konnte man außerhalb von St. Petersburg bislang nur durch ihre Aufnahmen der beiden Arien auf ihren ersten beiden Recitals für die Deutsche Grammophon ("Opera Arias" und "Sempre libera") erfahren.
"Nun feierte sie in Wien in der auch nach fünf Jahren noch unlogisch verfremdenden Inszenierung von Marco Arturo Marelli mit einer ausgefeilten Rollengestaltung einen Triumph. Die Sopranistin brillierte mit lupenrein angesetzten Spitzentönen und perlenden Koloraturen, beeindruckte mit eleganten Phrasierungen und subtil schattierten Stimmfarben. Sie bot aber mehr als nur eine technisch stupende Leistung, entzückte durch die anmutige Mädchenhaftigkeit ihrer Tongebung, berührte mit elegischen Kantilenen, vermittelte empfindsam die angezweifelte Unschuld der Schlafwandlerin."
Ernst Naredi-Rainer, Kleine Zeitung, 21/11/06
"But now that Ms. Netrebko has come along, we may hear more "Sonnambulas" in the future. And there is no question that she is worth hearing. First and foremost is the voice, with a creamy roundness that moves smoothly up to a lovely, clear top. It is muffled yet accurate for Amina's first sleepwalking scene and flows altogether so easily that the audience on Sunday seemed not to fully get its impact until the director kitted Ms. Netrebko out in a red ball gown and glittering stage jewelry, giving her show-stopping visuals to match the bravura of her final cabaletta."
Anne Midgette, New York Times, 22/11/06
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MANON
Los Angeles Opera, 2006
"Patersons Inszenierung entlockte der Netrebko eines der wohl eindringlichsten, musikalisch reichsten und dramatisch ausdifferenziertesten Rollenporträts ihrer bisherigen Karriere. Netrebkos grelles Lachen in der Eröffnungsszene drückte somit weder Heiterkeit noch joie de vivre aus, sondern verlieh der Figur der Manon vielmehr etwas Manisches. Die Kehrseite solchen Affektes - fatalistische Verzweiflung nämlich - zeitge sich in der Folge immer wieder: zuerst in der Arie 'Adieu, notre petite table', sodann bei Manons Verhaftung im Casino und schließlich in ihrer Sterbeszene. Ein paar funkelnde Verzierungen schenkte sich Netrebko - ansonsten gestaltete sie ihre großen Momente auf's Eindrücklichste. Nicht minder ausgefeilt war ihr Parlando, unübertroffen am Cours-la-Reine im Dialog mit Graf Des Grieux.
"Der Abend fügte der Geschichte der Bühnenpartnerschaft Netrebkos und Rolando Villazóns ein weiteres triumphales Kapitel hinzu."
Marc Staudacher, Opernwelt, November 2006
"The production also brings back together on the Los Angeles stage tenor Rolando Villazon (as the Chevalier de Grieux, the young lover) and soprano Anna Netrebko (as Manon), who first sang together in L.A. Opera's production of Berlioz's 'Romeo et Juliette' and have gone on to be one of opera's great pairs on stages around the world.
"They match each other perfectly physically, Netrebko a dark, slim, slight beauty who can be girlish in one scene, a femme fatale in another, Villazon with a mop of dark hair and huge eyebrows just an inch or so taller and with all the wounded innocence of youth. Hers is perhaps the stronger voice: together they are magic vocally, passionate and responsive and just plain sexy.
"In 'Romeo et Juliette' their sexual liaison was a bit graphic. Here, it's boiled down to a pillow fight on a bed half the width of the stage, with Netrebko clad in tap shorts and a silk camisole. No matter. Netrebko is physically beautiful, with great legs and a winning smile. And she has a floating, delicious middle forte which she can hold for what seems like hours. The high notes seem unforced, too, and you are never aware that she is singing. It seems as natural as conversation."
John Farrell, Press-Telegram, October 6, 2006
"Of Netrebko, there are no quibbles. She is a powerful singer and a beautiful woman, with a luscious voice and accomplished acting skills."
David Mermelstein, MusicalAmerica.com, October 9, 2006
"Netrebko was born to play Manon. She has the natural beauty, the impish self-confidence and the unselfconscious energy that make us love her al the way from nightgowns to shocking red dresses, from gold lame sheaths to prison rags. It's astounding how she has developed vocally, even over the last couple of years - adding power, precision and solidity in the middle range without losing any of her willingness to take risks on the high notes. The voice no longer just charms, it soars. The Russian, who began literally as a charwoman in the Mariisnky Theatrer, is ready to take over a stage. Manon's third-act aria, "Je marche sur tous les chemins", a self-indulgent proclamation of her feminine prowess, was staged with sly hints at old movie musicals by Paterson and sung with a wonderful lack of subtlety by Netrebko."
Marc Porter Zasada, Los Angeles Downtown News, 10/9/2006
"She can, however, pull everything else off brilliantly - her clothes, Massenet's score and the rest of Paterson's concept. One thing Paterson does, and does spectacularly well, is unleash the nuclear chemistry between Netrebko and Villazón. He is a director who knows exactly what makes them tick, and you feel that whenever they are on stage, alone or together.
"Netrebko is a complete Manon. Massenet's score is a charmer of the first order. Beverly Sills once was everyone's favorite Manon (her 36-year-old recording is still the untouchable gold standard), and she found every ounce of charm and pathos in the music and the character.
"But Netrebko goes a step further and makes Manon real. She travels the dramatic path from girlish country bumpkin dreaming of the big city and lights, to the heights of celebrity, to arrest, degradation and melodramatic death, alert to everything."
Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, October 2, 2006
Madonna Anna, Material Girl
Jules Massenets große Oper "Manon" mit der Netrebko und Rolando Villazón in Los Angeles. In Europa ist eine zeitgenössische "Manon", die mit den Ikonen der Popkultur spielt, nichts Ungewöhnliches, im konservativen Opern-Amerika ist sie eine ästhetische Revolution.
Verehrend nennt er sie seine Muse. Sie ist die derzeit wohl die gefragteste Sopranistin, er ein in Hollywood und am Broadway etablierter Choreograf und Regisseur, der unter anderem für Madonnas und Michael Jacksons beste Tourneen verantwortlich zeichnete. Seit ihrer Zusammenarbeit an der Klassikclip-DVD "The Woman, the Voice" sind die Anna Netrebko und Vincent Paterson befreundet, und seither hat sich eine ganze Heerschar von Opernneulingen für die singende Stilikone aus St Petersburg begeistern lassen. Anna Netrebko ist hip, ebenso ihr Bühnendauerpartner Rolando Villazón, und Los Angeles als Opernmetropole ist es auch. Anna und Rolando sind dem Publikum spätestens seit ihrem L.A.-Debüt vor zwei Jahren in Gounods "Romeo und Juliette" bekannt.
Vincent Paterson, der auch schon in der Berliner Bar jeder Vernunft sehr glatt das Schöneberg-Musical "Cabaret" für die Wohnzimmerbühne zurechtstutzte, geht auch seine ersten Opernregie so geschickt wie zielsicher an. Er setzt auf Anna Netrebko, und weil er daraus auch kein Hehl macht, verzeiht man ihm die eine oder andere szenische Unachtsamkeit. In die Goldenen Fünfziger vorgerückt, geht es ihm vor allem um die Mode der Zeit. So fährt uns die Netrebko auf einer Wartebank zunächst mit Söckchen und Baskenmütze à la Leslie Caron entgegen, die vom besseren Leben träumt. Der Proszeniumsvorhang aus Goldlamee wirkt wie ein versehentlich eingepacktes Mitbringsel aus "Cabaret". Grelle Spotlights verbinden Manons Schicksal mit einem Hollywoodfilm.
In Europa ist eine zeitgenössische "Manon", die mit den Ikonen der Popkultur spielt, nichts Ungewöhnliches, im konservativen Opern-Amerika ist sie eine ästhetische Revolution. Paterson setzt, Madonna lässt grüßen, besonders auf Sex. Weil die Netrebko eben alles tragen kann, und ihre Chemie mit Rolando Villazón kosmische Funken versprüht, zieht das dem Kloster zugedachte Mädel samt Lover Des Grieux rasch nach Paris ins Loft mit Riesenfuton und Eiffelturmblick. In rosa Satinshorts, neckt, lockt und schmust sie ungeniert. Doch die Netrebko ist mehr als ein wunderbar gelenkiges Sexkätzchen. Mit balsamisch warmen Tönen und völlig undivenhaft entwickelt sie den Konflikt zwischen trauter Häuslichkeit und dem letztlich siegenden Drang hinaus in die materielle Welt, die ihr zum Verhängnis wird. Im Cocktailkleid mit Wagenradhut stolziert Manon wie ein Zirkuspferd durch die überbergeisterte Chorschar, den Stiefkindern der Aufführung, deren Auftritte ungelenk und vernachlässigt wirken. Die aufwendigen Kostüme (Susan Hilferty) vermögen dies nicht zu kaschieren.
Auch die Nebenrollen leiden zuweilen unter dem gleißenden Licht der Protagonisten. Rolando Villazón hingegen singt und spielt traumhaft, am begeisternsten in der Stille seines selbstgewählten Zölibats. Von Manon wiederentdeckt, hadert er mit der Rückkehr zu ihr, um dann in einem im MTV-Tempo inszenierten Duett entlang der Kirchenmauer nachzugeben.
Die Zeit rennt. Im Nu hängt Manon-Madonna im Marilynblondhaar an der Stripstange des Casino, während Des Grieux alias Montgomery Clift, die Kasse aufbessert. Hier wird es dann selbst für eine Anna Netrebko unbequem: Falschspiel, Gefängnis, Schlussbild. Und das wirkt wirklich tief und schön: Des Grieux trägt die entseelte Manon in den Sonnenuntergang. (Bühne Johannes Leiacker).
Plácido Domingo, Villazons Entdecker und Hausherr der L.A. Opera, hat sich als Dirigent in Personalunion auf eine sinnvoll Handlungsverdichtende Partiturkürzung eingelassen, die er mit großem Sängeratem serviert. Und während Netrebko als Manon noch mit Roberto Alagna in Wien fremdgeht und Roland Villazón mit Natalie Dessay in Barcelona, wird sie die an die Berliner Lindenoper wandernde Produktion Ende April an der Spree wieder vereinen.
Nina Wachenfeld, Die Welt, October 14, 2006
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LE NOZZE DI FIGARO
Salzburg Festival – Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, 2006
"... like Susanna's blissful anticipation of romance on her wedding night, "Deh, vieni, non tardar" sung here with lustrous tone and lyrical grace by the dazzling soprano Anna Netrebko, whose portrayal brings out the character's earthy and resourceful qualities."
Anthony Tommasini, New York Times, 8 August 2006
"Vom ersten Moment der Aufführung an löste sich die Primadonna auf und wurde zum integralen Faktor eines wunderbaren Ensembles. ... Mit Disziplin und Zurückhaltung verkörperte sie die Susanna, sensibel im Ensemble-Zusammenklang, untadelig in der lyrischen Diktion ihrer Rosenarie im vierten Akt."
Hans-Klaus Jungheinrich, Frankfurter Rundschau, 27 July 2006
"Der letzte Akt ... gipfelt, eigentlich unfreiwillig, weil sie sich so mustergültig einfügte, in Susanna Anna Netrebkos Rosenarie: die russische Perle mit dem Dienstbotenschurz, wieder hochgehypt, doch hier Teil des Ganzen, schwerelos dahinfliegend, rauchzart, individuell. Als Charakter eine Wonne, vokalstilistisch die Wucht. Nicht der einizge Augenblick des puren Mozart-Glüks."
Manuel Brug, Die Welt, 28 July 2006
"Als Susanna kokettiert sich Anna Netrebko keineswegs in den Vordergrund, sondern gliedert sich als seriöse Künstlerin selbstverständlich ein, bereichert Duette, Terzette und Ensembles mit ihrer natürlichen, mädchenhaften Anmut und lyrischer Wärme. Den Figaro liebend, dem Grafen nicht abgeneigt, treibt sie das Verwirrspiel in ihrer Rosen-Arie auf die Spitze und trifft doch den einen, wahren Herzens-Ton, der allein ihrem unterlegenen Figaro gilt."
Gabriele Luster, Münchner Merkur, 28 July 2006
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ROMÉO ET JULIETTE
Vienna State Opera – Juliette in Roméo et Juliette, 2006
Bravour in Liebe und Tod
Der Standard, 12 May 2006, by Peter Vujica
"Hört man nämlich Anna Netrebko zu, wie sie gleich im ersten Akt ihre Ariette hinausschmettert, könnte man die Staatsoper für nichts weiter als das hallige Badezimmer dieser jugendlichen Großmeisterin eines bewundernswert nuancenreichen Lautgesanges halten. Und man könnte bei der Vorstellung ins Schwärmen kommen, wie herrlich das alles in einem Raum klingen müsste, dessen Dimensionen der schier unversiegbaren, mit höchster Präzision wirkenden Kraft und der gestalterischen Allmacht ihrer Stimme auch tatsächlich angemessen sind.
"Auch die schönste Stimme macht noch keine Diva. Anna Netrebko ist auch eine Virtuosin der Darstellung. Nach zwei Probentagen hat sie alles, was sie in Jürgen Flimms showmasterlichen Inszenierung zu vollbringen hat, vollkommen intus. Und wenn sie sich ins szenische Geschehen auch noch so einfügt, so fällt sie trotzdem auf.
"Keine legt sich so perfekt zum Sterben hin, keine schmachtet so glaubwürdig, keine schmiegt sich so schlangengleich an ihren Romeo. Kein Zweifel, Anna Netrebko ist eine große Dar- (und wohl auch) Schaustellerin, der sich nicht nur das Wiener Publikum mit guten Gründen jubelnd zu Füßen wirft."
"La Juliette d'Anna Netrebko est elle aussi parfaitement crédible en jeune fille éprise, séduisante et spontanée. La voix sonne pleine, du grave à l'aigu et la comédienne brûle les planches. Il est difficile de rester insensible face au couple qu'ils forment."
Valery Fleurquin, Forum Opera, 29 May 2006
"Sie singt die Juliette mit deutlich nachgedunkeltem Sopran, der sich immer wieder strahlende Töne entlocken lässt, die ihre Wirkung nicht verfehlen können."
Rainhard Wiesinger, Online Musik Magazin, 5 June 2005
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Los Angeles Opera – Juliette in Roméo et Juliette, 2005
"Netrebko and Villazón know how to exploit their considerable physical graces to the fullest effect; they have the voices of exceptional clarity with almost flawless technique, tackling both lyric and dramatic passages with assurance – and they can act! Gounod's not especially interesting protagonists are passive receptors rather than active initiators of passion, but Netrebko and Villazón had read their Shakespeare and gave us lovers who were playful, infatuated, humorous, spilling over with desire. Their chemistry was electrifying, their tryst in the bedroom the most effectively erotic scene I have encountered in fifty years of operagoing. Their characters also grew, like Shakespeare's. As Juliette bade farewell to Roméo, it was heartrendingly clear that her 'Adieu, mon âme! Adieu, ma vie!' referred to herself as well as him. The aria that leads to her taking the poison (usually cut, but fortunately included in this production) allowed Netrebko to transcend the melodramatic ambience of the opera ... The two squeezed the last ounce of pathos from their death scene."
Opera News, April 2005
Opera's hottest duo fan Roméo et Juliette into flame
"Rolando Villazón and Anna Netrebko – the scintillating stars of Los Angeles Opera's stellar new production of Charles Gounod's Roméo et Juliette – are the hottest duo to play the star-crossed lovers since Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow lit up the screen in Shakespeare in Love. ... Not only do Villazón and Netrebko look perfect in their roles (he is a dashing black-haired Latin, she is an enormous-eyed Russian), they ignite their characters with a passion that's contagious. They are young and beautiful and oh so in love, from the moment their hands first touch, to the tragic final moments when, dying, they struggle for one last embrace. They are two of the brightest stars of their generation. She possesses the type of physical beauty, dramatic fire and lyrical intensity that made Maria Callas into La Divina ... Of the two roles, Juliette's (in the play and the opera) is by far the more challenging. Unlike Roméo her character is forced to go through a total transformation: from naïve, girlish innocence, to passionate lover, to mature woman. In Gounod's opera the transformation takes place lyrically as well as emotionally, requiring a singer who can begin as a giddy coloratura and end as a dagger-clutching dramatic soprano. Netrebko makes the transformation effortlessly. As the belle at her coming-out ball, her aria 'Je veux vivre dans ce reve, qui m'envivre' (Fair is the tender dream of youth) was like a string of coloratura pearls."
Daily Breeze, January 31, 2005
Sheer Bliss in Los Angeles
"[Anna Netrebko] is a ravishing beauty, and it is almost impossible to think she could really and truly be a good singer as well, but she is. Very good. Superb! Especially in a role like Juliette, one that suits her talents perfectly at the present time ... As Juliette, she is flawless. Every number was a treasure: her party aria of Act I 'Je veux vivre dans se rêve'; her sad soliloquy of recognition that her new love is her old enemy, Roméo; her balcony expostulations of her burgeoning passion; and every single duet with some of the very finest and gloriously musical duet singing I have ever heard."
Opera West, February 5 & 6, 2005
"[Villazón] and [Netrebko] radiate youthful ardour, stylistic sophistication and sheer theatrical magic. Netrebko ... is every inch the charismatic beauty demanded by the age of music videos, physically convincing in an undraped bedroom scene, rapturous and accurate in Juliette's waltz song and stirring in her decision to defy society for the sake of true love."
Financial Times, February 2, 2005
A Roméo et Juliette to see and cherish
"Netrebko has, musically, the first chance to shine ... When Juliette enters the ballroom in the first act, she is dressed all in white, and commands all eyes. Netrebko's model-like beauty would have managed that in any case, and when she sings the famous waltz, the delicacy and passion of the moment, her voice as sharp as a knife blade, she is clearly everything you could ask for in an operatic Juliette."
Press-Telegram, February 1, 2005
"Anna Netrebko's clarity of voice and wide range of colours are simply beautiful. After a triumphal Lucia here in 2003, the Russian soprano returns to LA Opera for a memorable Juliette: flirtatious in her valse-ariette 'Je veux vivre ...', innocent and smitten when she meets Roméo, she reaches climatic poignancy in the final duet. The pair works wonderfully; they are charming, young, energetic, ardent, and we immediately fall for them."
ConcertoNet.com, The Classical Music Network, February 9, 2005
"Juliette's trilling waltz song, 'Je veux vivre,' which Netrebko delivers flawlessly, is an early indication that this young soprano has beauty, youth and acting ability to match her glorious voice."
The Hollywood Reporter, February 16, 2005
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DON PASQUALE
Metropolitan Opera – Norina in Don Pasquale, 2006
'Don Pasquale' in a New Production at the Met by Otto Schenk
The New York Times, 3 April 2006, by Anthony Tommasini
"The Met has given Mr. Schenk a marvelous cast, especially the charismatic soprano Anna Netrebko in a portrayal of Norina that dazzled Friday night's audience. ... When we meet her, the lovely Ms. Netrebko is reclining in a lounge chair reading aloud from a sappy romantic novel, using one foot to scratch an itch on the other, her shapely white legs catching the sunlight
"Ms. Netrebko tosses the book aside and breaks into Norina's sprightly aria about love, saying, basically, "I know all about how women use their wiles, and it's nothing like what's in this silly book." The aria often comes off as coquettish and cute. Not here. Ms. Netrebko, her rich voice filling the auditorium, her radiant top notes stopping your breath, struts about her terrace, even turning a somersault on the lounge chair, looking like someone you don't want to cross. There was so much intensity in her singing you would have thought she was performing Lucia's "Mad Scene." The house, understandably, went wild."
The New Yorker, 17 April 2006 issue
"Anna Netrebko, brazen, beautiful, and vocally indomitable, is an utterly winning Norina;"
Netrebko romps through Met's 'Pasquale'
Associated Press, April 8, 2006, by Mike Silverman
"This will go down as the season Metropolitan Opera audiences fell in love with Anna Netrebko. The Russian soprano, with voice and acting ability to match her raven-haired beauty, is currently romping through the company's first production in a quarter-century of Donizetti's sometimes-frothy, sometimes-poignant comic opera "Don Pasquale.
"As the spirited young widow Norina, what Netrebko exhibits more than anything is charisma. She holds the audience in the palm of her hand whether she's flirting with her friend Dr. Malatesta, slapping the face of the old buffoon Don Pasquale after she's tricked him into marriage, or caressing her true love, Pasquale's nephew Ernesto.
"Whatever antics the Otto Schenk production requires, she is equal to them - performing a somersault in her chaise lounge or bounding up a staircase two steps at a time. And she finds plenty of opportunity in Rolf Langenfass's costumes to show off her shapely legs and bosom.
"Her singing? It's frequently gorgeous and always interesting, though her dark, hard-edged sound may not be ideal for Donizetti's bubbly melodies and light-as-air orchestration. She is no slouch in the coloratura department, however, with a nice trill and a strong upper register that carries her easily above high C.
"Netrebko already made a dazzling impression earlier this season in a very different role, as the naive, tragic Gilda in Verdi's "Rigoletto," where she triumphed alongside her frequent co-star, tenor Rolando Villazon."
Don Pasquale
Gotham, 4 April 2006, by Robert Hofler
"Broadway actresses can rest easier knowing that Tony Awards jurisdiction doesn't extend to the Metropolitan Opera. If it did, soprano Anna Netrebko would be a shoo-in to take this year's top honor for lead actress in a tuner. Her star turn as the conniving Norina in Donizetti's "Don Pasquale" at the Met is simply one of the great comic performances to be seen on the legit stage.
"Three seasons ago, Baz Luhrmann tried to make the crossover from opera to Broadway with his fussy staging of "La Bohème." Under the insightful direction of Otto Schenk, Netrebko and company make a much better case for opera as mass entertainment. ( ... ) Netrebko offers us a thoroughly physical performance, whether she is turning somersaults on her roof deck or destroying Don Pasquale's abode by smashing every piece of bric-a-brac in sight. Vocally, Netrebko may be saying goodbye to her lyric past, as her dark Russian soprano here seems to indicate a heavier spinto repertory. Here is a Norina who deserves a Manrico or, better yet, a Macbeth."
Not just another pretty face
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), 3 April 2006, by Bradley Bambarger
Anna Netrebko steals show in Metropolitan Opera's Donizetti farce
" But it's very much the Anna Netrebko show. The dark-eyed Russian soprano – a star like the opera world hasn't had for years – has everyone, on stage and off, in the palm of her lovely hand. Netrebko may not like her character, having described Donizetti's Norina as a type of woman that rhymes with "itch." Yet, at the production's bow on Friday, she seemed to revel in the part, cruel streak and all.
"As the young widow who will teach the old Roman bachelor Don Pasquale to act his age, Netrebko entered the comedy reclining; her bare legs flashed as Norina sunned herself and commiserated with the feminine wiles she reads about in a novel. Certainly, Netrebko's beauty and youthful physicality – she executed a little somersault at one point – provide ideal verisimilitude.
"This soprano isn't just a pretty face, though. Netrebko showed plenty of top-end strength in Norina's many soaring lines, as well as a sparkling rhythmic sense. When she finished her coquettish opening, the audience's enthusiasm was such that the smiling Netrebko had to acknowledge the cheers with a wave before the opera could proceed."
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RIGOLETTO
Metropolitan Opera – Gilda in Rigoletto, 2005 - 2006
Le nouveau duo gagnant des scènes lyriques
Concerto Net, 7 February 2006, by Claudio Poloni
"Anna Netrebko a donné ici toute la mesure de son talent, dans un rôle qui lui convient cette fois parfaitement. La voix est sensuelle, riche en couleurs et capable de pianissimi enivrants, offrant un portrait de Gilda d'une intense émotion. A l'applaudimètre final, c'est elle la numéro 1 incontestée."
She's Verdi impressive in great role
The New York Post, 2 February 2006, by Clive Barnes
"The stunner here was the gorgeous looking, even better sounding young Russian soprano Anna Netrebko. While she's been singing at the Met since 2002, she's never left the distinctive mark she makes here, as Verdi's tragic heroine. Gilda is arguably the last of the great bel canto roles, and not since Joan Sutherland sang it very early in her career some 50 years ago have I heard it sung with such lustrous ease and style. But unlike that great Australian diva, Netrebko has a sensuous passion to her acting and singing. Here is a Gilda for the record books."
Anna Netrebko lightens up Met's ‘Rigoletto'
Classics Today, 15 December 2005, by Robert Levine
"Gilda was sung by the young Russian superstar-soprano Anna Netrebko, and she is – how can I put it? – hot. She's gorgeous and carries herself with graceful girlishness. Her voice is not that of a soubrette; it has a fine dusky strain through it but is nonetheless very comfortable with high notes (her stunning "Caro nome" avoided the bird-like optional high notes coloraturas like to add, but her high Bs and Cs are imposing – round and full) and long-breathed pianissimo singing. Her duet with Melo was ravishing, and in her three duets with Carlo Guelfi's Rigoletto she exhibited real artistry: innocence, confusion, love, pathos."
Opera's glamour couple shine in Rigoletto
San Francisco Chronicle, December 11, 2005, by Mike Silverman
"The sign covered by a SOLD OUT notice in front of the Metropolitan Opera House advertised Verdi's "Rigoletto," but a better name for the show onstage would have been "Gilda and the Duke." Opera's newest glamour couple, soprano Anna Netrebko and tenor Rolando Villazon made their first joint appearance with the company Saturday night and transformed a routine revival into one of the season's sensations.
"Both are young (he's 33, she's 34), wildly attractive, gifted singers and, perhaps most important, brimming with charisma and confidence. Though Verdi gives them only one scene together, their love duet, embellished with some rarely heard unaccompanied harmonizing, sent enough sparks flying that it's a wonder the ushers didn't run for the fire extinguishers.
"Netrebko, a Russian who made her Met debut in Prokofiev's "War and Peace" in 2002, has a pure lyric voice that reaches easily above high C and is strong enough to cut through the full orchestra. Technically, she seems to have it all — excellent breath control, an ability to modulate her volume down to a lovely pianissimo and great sensitivity to phrasing."
The Washington Opera – Rigoletto, 1999
"The young Russian soprano Anna Netrebko redeemed the Washington Opera's production of Verdi's Rigoletto on Saturday night. Netrebko carried the night at the Kennedy Center Opera House, singing with a radiant, precise voice and portraying the not-so-innocent virgin Gilda with simplicity and a convincing sense of sincerity. Netrebko's voice is evenly produced, effortless, sharp and clear without any trace of Russian edginess, and is matched with a technique that loves every note precisely and fully in its proper length and dynamic range. Her pianissimos are thrilling, and her rapid passage work almost flawless. ... Netrebko makes the evening worthwhile."
Philip Kennicott, The Washington Post, October 25, 1999
"The sole attraction in Verdi's opera was soprano Anna Netrebko – a member of St. Petersburg's Kirov Opera, making her Washington debut. She sang in luminous and precise tones, with a gentle Russian vibrato and at times with a twinkling, girlish edge that made her Gilda a vocally complex, thoroughly intriguing character."
Pierre Ruhe, Financial Times, November 18, 1999
"When Anna Netrebko made her entrance, it may sound insufferably clichéd to say that a window seemed to open and the stage filled with light, but that was the experience. Only in her mid-20s, Netrebko is the Kirov Opera's jaw-droppingly pretty new coloratura sensation. She was dazzling last season in a Ruslan and Lyudmila that the Kirov brought to the Met. Netrebko was extraordinary. I can't remember a more convincingly girlish Gilda, one for whom genuine youth, litheness, and quiet dignity created so natural and unforced a characterization. And that voice: pure silver in tone, its edges rounded and burnished, it's an instrument capable of riding over a full orchestra or fining down to a thread of pianissimo. Hers is – no exaggeration – a golden-age sound. Her coloratura work is impressive in its pinpoint accuracy, and her gently flickering vibrato proves a flexible vehicle for conveying the moment-to-moment emotional life of a character. Netrebko obviously has the potential for a tremendous career."
Joe Banno, Washington City Paper, November 5, 1999
"This lovely Russian soprano, 28, has created a character – a taut, virginal beauty, with an inner radiance born of innocence, love and fear – that is near miraculous. The voice is a beautiful instrument – fresh and warm-sounding, with a commanding range of colors. It is also used most intelligently. 'Caro nome' is filled with yearning, without being distorted, and 'Tutte le feste' is convincing. Her death scene was unforgettable – with a fading, vanishing close in which her voice suggested not merely frailty, but death itself."
Stephen Wigler, The Baltimore Sun, October 25, 1999
"The Russian soprano Anna Netrebko was a superb Gilda. She is beautiful, has a clear exquisite voice and conveyed the role most sensitively. Her 'Caro nome' was supreme."
Der neue Merker, January, 2000
"The Washington production has much to recommend it – especially the magnificent Gilda of Anna Netrebko, a young star from the Kirov Opera, who is definitely the star of the production. Not only is she physically attractive but she has a voice that one hears all too seldom. The tone is rich and warm, supported by a flawless breath control. The top notes hold no terror for her. She hits them dead center without any loss of tonal richness. She is also a first rate actress, as she demonstrates in the last act. The production is worth seeing just for her."
Bill Russell, WFOS-FM, November 13, 1999
"Anna Netrebko just sweeps everyone up with her glorious voice. Netrebko is the indisputable star of this production. She is one of those rare operatic sopranos whose voice is never shrill, never too laden with vibrato. Her technique is faultless – breath control, high notes, low notes, agility – but it is the crystalline quality of her voice that is so remarkable. One wished that the other characters would just go away and let Netrebko sing all the time."
Lucia Anderson, Weekender, October 28, 1999
"Miss Netrebko's lower notes were rich and buttery, having in them almost the quality of a mezzo. And her high notes were clean and unforced, at once girlish and yet powerful enough to pierce Verdi's full orchestration. Hers is a supple voice that is developing – and unforgettable."
T.L. Ponick, The Washington Times, October 30, 1999
"The young Russian soprano Anna Netrebko not only has an exquisite tone of voice, but looks like a movie star, and was the most pleasant revelation at the opening night of Verdi's Rigoletto, The Washington Opera's production that opened the 1999-2000 season.
"The inaugural show of The Washington Opera couldn't have been more auspicious. Anna Netrebko sang with great intensity and candor, a perfect combination to characterize the image and the loss of innocence of Gilda, the buffoon Rigoletto's daughter.
"The clarity and simplicity of Anna Netrebko's voice reflected with great fidelity Gilda's candor and virginal innocence, to become intense later after she has been seduced by the Duke of Mantua."
Rafael Roncal, El Pregonero, October 28, 1999
"Soprano Anna Netrebko, who appears to be quite young, sang with a clarity and strength that was a joy to hear."
Kelly Jordan, The Review, December, 1999
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L'ELISIR D'AMORE
Vienna State Opera – Adina in L'elisir d'amore, 2005
Sopran heilt alle Wunden
Der Standard, October 6, 2005, by Ljubisa Tosic
"... im zweiten Akt wuchtig mit jener vokalen Pracht beschenkte, die über Koloraturen zu jenen hohen Langen führt, wo sich der Kern ihrer narkotisch wirkenden Kompetenz als samtig-dunkler Klang zu entfalten pflegt."
San Francisco Opera – L'elisir d'amore, 2001
"The fall-winter segment of this San Francisco Opera season will not be over – please forgive me – until the svelte lady sings.
"Anna Netrebko is very svelte, very gifted and very comely, and she is singing as she never has before. The Russian soprano's role debut at the War Memorial Opera House on Sunday afternoon as Adina in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore emerged a thoroughly disarming affair, one that should leave subscribers with a happy memory of the past four months' vocal bazaar.
"Indeed, Netrebko and her Nemorino may be the cutest couple since Annette and Frankie. The pair surfed their way through this sentimental comedy with a charm that brought to this revival a logic and credibility. Netrebko seems destined for her role."
Allan Ulrich, San Francisco Chronicle, January 9, 2001
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LA TRAVIATA
Salzburg Festival – Violetta in La Traviata, 2005
Alles über Anna: Die Netrebko-Show hält den Salzach-Sommer in Atem
Die Welt, August 9, 2005
"Und jetzt singt sie, tschilpt, tiriliert, trällert. Trotzig ihr Schicksal annehmend, geht sie erhobenen Hauptes in den - und zum Tod. Anna Valéry, Violetta Netrebko. La Traviata - die vom Weg Abgekommene. Sie beginnt vorsichtig, ein mutwillig spontanes Kind, dem die Starrobe noch nicht recht passen will, das sich das Kleid zurechtrückt, die Persönlichkeit formt, die Töne bereitlegt. Gläsern feine, fragil schimmernde, mit jenem charakteristisch dunklen Rauchüberzug. Die wenig ausschwingende Höhe springt zögerlich an, als teste sie die akustisch grausamen Dimensionen aus, jubelt dann freier. Sie spielt mit Schattierungen, dehnt und staucht die Tempi. Trinklied, Duett, dann die große, zweigeteilte, souverän absolvierte Soloszene. Aus der Larve ist ein primadonnenhafter Schmetterling geschlüpft, der sich genießerisch entfaltet. Girrt. Glitzert. Selbstsicher dem gierigen Partymob Koloraturen entgegenschleudert. Sich sogar das kleine Callas-Lachen im Allegro-Übergang traut. Den imaginären, dabei sehr realen Tenorpartner an sich drückt, mit Tonkaskaden überschwemmt, sich verströmt, auf dem vokalen Seil tanzt, ohne Netz. Das hat Spannung, im Saal knistert es.
"Es war kein leichter Sieg für diese außergewöhnliche, außergewöhnlich gehypte Sängerin. Die zum guten, anrührenden Schluß der sie mit stehenden Ovationen huldigenden Masse keine akrobatische Zirkusnummer geboten hat, kein halbseidenes Starvarieté, sondern große Musiktheater-Kunst. Die sich ausliefert, auszieht. Und Oper als Gesamtkunstwerk möglich macht, nicht als One-Woman-Peepshow. Alle schauen auf Anna. Zu Recht."
Das Gesamtkunstwerk: Anna Netrebko begeistert als Violetta in Verdis Oper "La Traviata" bei den Salzburger Festspielen
Rheinpfalz, August 9, 2005
"Die Premiere von Verdis Oper "La Traviata" bei den diesjährigen Salzburger Festspielen war wohl die am meisten beachtete Produktion dieses Sommers. Zu verdanken hatte sie dieses Interesse drei der absoluten Topstars der Opernszene: Anna Netrebko in der Rolle der Violetta wurde flankiert von Rolando Villazòn (Alfredo) und Thomas Hampson (Germont). Und brillierte.
"Wie groß der Druck auch für Anna Netrebko, die ja äußerst virtuos auf der Klaviatur des öffentlichen Interesses zu spielen versteht, gewesen sein muss, merkt man der russischen Sopranistin erst beim Schlussapplaus an. Wie ein kleines Mädchen sprang und hüpfte sie über die Bühne, lacht und hätte wohl am liebsten die ganze Welt umarmt. Es war geschafft. Sie hatte die vielleicht wichtigste Premiere ihrer Karriere mit Bravour gemeistert. Nicht nur vor den Augen und Ohren des Publikums im großen Festspielhaus, sondern auch vor den Zuschauern ... die am heimischen Fernseher die vom ORF live übertragene "Traviata" verfolgten.
"Nicht erst hier, im Finale der Oper, ist man hingerissen von Ihrem Pianissimo. Auch das zarteste Flüstern, das leiseste Stöhnen, vor Lust oder Todesangst, dringt bis in die letzten Reihen durch. Ihre von metallisch-dunklem Glanz geprägte Stimme trägt es hin zu uns ... Das "Gesamtkunstwerk" Netrebko, zusammengesetzt aus ihrem Aussehen, ihrer Ausstrahlung, ihrem Darstellungswillen und ihrer Stimme, ist schlicht überwältigend."
Größter Rummel seit Karajans Tagen: Anna Netrebkos Triumph in "La traviata"
Abendzeitung, 9 August 2005
"Wie auf dem Exerzierplatz erhob sich Salzburgs Festspiel-Schickeria, um mit Standing Ovations einem Superstars zu huldigen: Anna Netrebko hatte in Willy Deckers Neuinszenierung von Verdis "La traviata" unmissverständlich klargemacht, wem an diesem Abend die Palme gebührte ... die attraktive Diva aus Krasnodar war Herrin im Haus. Effektvoller hat noch kein Partygirl Abschied von der schnöden Welt genommen."
Salzburg Festival – Violetta in La traviata, 2005
'Salzburg hails the new golden couple'
"The scheme might not have worked so brilliantly, had the roles of hero and heroine not been taken by singers of such overwhelming magnetism as the Russian soprano Anna Netrebko and the Mexican tenor Rolando Villazon. In operatic terms, they are now the great golden couple, superseding the last golden couple of Gheorghiu and Alagna. If that assessment merely reflects media hype, here is a performance that completely justifies the serious status of both artists.
"The beauty of their singing, their musical subtlety and their animation as actors made the duo uniquely compelling."
Guardian, 23 Aug 2005
"Anna Netrebko plays with shadings, stretches and squeezes the tempos. The Brindisi duet, and then the great two-part solo scena were executed with sovereign vocal command. Out of the caterpillar a prima-donna butterfly has emerged and now appreciatively spreads her wings, coos, glitters, and self-confidently flings her coloratura towards the greedy party crowd. She even allows herself the little "Callas laugh" in the Allegro transition. She presses against her imaginary – but actually very real – tenor partner, lets fly with a cascade of notes, exults, dances on a vocal tightrope with no net. This is thrilling – there's electricity in the air. End of Act I and the brand-name Netrebko has already arrived; the artist Anna has already triumphed. Callas, Cotrubas, Varady were yesterday. Today is Anna Netrebko. A great evening of opera. All eyes are on Anna. With good reason."
Manuel Brug, Die Welt (Berlin), 09 Aug 2005
"Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazón and Thomas Hampson triumph in Willy Decker's new production of Verdi's La Traviata in Salzburg. Hardly has the final applause burst out in Salzburg's Grosses Festspielhaus when the entire audience rises to its feet signalling a triumph for her. Anna Netrebko, the much hyped, desired and loved to death artist, already precisely defining emotional nuances and levels of intensity in her acting, can transpose these qualities almost literally into her singing. The expression is right at every moment. Her voice, moreover, effortlessly fills the entire space. From the second act her high notes are poured out in a gentle stream; even piano passages are so focused in tone that her singing always seems transparently light. Willy Decker isn't just telling Violetta's story, but also Anna Netrebko's. He projects – and this is apparent throughout – her social role into this 'artist opera.' He emancipates the singer Netrebko from the media star. The latter dies at the end along with Violetta. In her place is born Anna Netrebko the artist."
Reinhard J. Brembeck, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 09 Aug 2005
"One had the impression the opera 'Anna Netrebko' was being performed, not Verdi's 'La traviata!' Anna Netrebko – the name alone makes people swoon. She let her powerful soprano shine, the coloratura sparkle and in the love scenes wonderfully fade away. And her entrances! Standing there in her undergarment and shaking with fear, she could not help but enchant everyone. There will have been a good many people shedding a secret tear during the death scene, which she turned into a devastating farewell to love, hope, and lost happiness."
Kronenzeitung
"Preceded by endless hype, the superstar fulfilled every promise. Anna Netrebko is above all an excellent singing actress, who puts her virtually flawless voice at Verdi's service and brings enormous eroticism, tragedy and intensity to her portrayal of the unfortunate courtesan."
Peter Jarolin, Kurier (Vienna), 09 Aug 2005
"Very few voices like [Anna Nebtrebko's] prosper under the close scrutiny of recordings, yet her soprano never admits any flaws. In the unhelpfully cavernous acoustics of the Grosses Festspielhaus she sounded no less impressive: the softest singing always carried, but she could also fill this vast open space with apparently little effort. Netrebko could bring class to Violetta anywhere in the world, but in Salzburg she went one better and played the role as the producer wanted, as a tough and tarty modern woman, fired by the will to live when she finds that her time is running out."
Richard Fairman, Financial Times (London), 09 Aug 2005
"That Anna Netrebko has at her disposal an extraordinary voice is beyond question. Her soprano issues from deep in her throat and thus radiates with opulent resonance without ever tending towards heaviness. The timbre, compact yet rich in overtones, enables her to open up to her full power, but also to establish her own intensity in quiet passages. The stormy fortunes of her love affair with Alfredo is completely gripping because Rolando Villazón, with his splendid, carefully schooled tenor, introduces dazzling effects but also maintains dramatic intensity. La Traviata is and always will be a singer's opera, and in Salzburg this was realized on the highest level. And because the main characters here have such presence, just like the material that Verdi set to music must have had in 1853 when the opera was first performed, their highly emotional singing provided an effective contrast to the events on stage. That too was acknowledged in the riotous applause."
Peter Hagmann, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 09 Aug 2005
"The superstar, massively hyped in the weeks running up to the opening night, met all expectations because Anna Netrebko is above all an excellent actress who totally devoted her impeccable voice to Verdi, portraying the unhappy courtesan with the utmost eroticism, tragedy and intensity."
Kurier
"A mega-event? Yes, but much more than that. A great artistic event with outstanding achievements. Above all by Anna Netrebko, who in Salzburg repeats her triumphs of Munich and Vienna as the ideal title heroine. What's so impressive is not just the bell-like purity of her tone and the clean coloratura of her supple, rounded soprano, which carries well in every register, she also grips and moves us with the emotionality of her delivery, the expressive power of her flexible voice, which easily encompasses radiant exultation, lyrical fulfilment and subtle piano nuances."
Ernst Naredi-Rainer, Kleine Zeitung, 09 Aug 2005
"Anna Netrebko has a unique voice of golden luminous power, velvety sweetness, youthful lyricism. Even her coloratura to a certain degree comes from the depths of her soul. Anna Netrebko doesn't need anything to help her become a star. She is one."
Karl Harb, Salzburger Nachrichten, 09 Aug 2005
"[Anna Nebtrebko's] timbre is superb, her visual presence never overdone – a sort of diva on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She's touching – very simply, very honestly, and always musically elegant."
Renaud Machart, Le Monde (Paris), 09 Aug 2005
"A strong music drama. The premiere of Verdi's opera La Traviata in Salzburg on Sunday evening was the most closely watched European opera event of the year. No wonder when it has Anna Netrebko as Violetta Valéry and Rolando Villazón as Alfredo, the absolute dream couple of the operatic world, together for the first time on the Salzburg Festival stage."
Salzburger Nachrichten, 08 Aug 2005
"Netrebko emerges from the darkness of the Russian provinces and is perfect: she sings perfectly, she looks perfect, and she's laid-back and natural. The advent of Netrebko is that of a woman who brings with her all the qualities of a star – a voice to make one weak at the knees."
Anna Netrebko, Commentary: Netrebko-Show, Laszlo Molnar, Salzburger Nachrichten, 06 Aug 2005
"This is the kind of thing that turns opera into street-sweeping: whenever this singer is announced, people who otherwise would never set foot in an opera house stream in en masse."
Anna Netrebko, Feature, preview La Traviata in Salzburg, Wilhelm Sinkovicz, Die Presse (Wien), 03 Aug 2005
"Netrebko portrays the role with utmost clarity, selflessly devoted to the overall concept; she is a singing actress."
Der Standard
"Netrebko and Villazón exude youth, life, and high spirits. It's almost unnecessary to add that, to top it all off, they also sing so fabulously well. Anna Netrebko, with her unmistakable dark, deep timbre, has already portrayed the role several times before and has clearly worked hard at it. Dramatically, her performance is the strongest, and she dies so beautifully that it's pure pleasure to watch her graceful reeling and swaying, stumbling, and final collapse."
Eleonore Büning, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 09 Aug 2005
Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich – Violetta in La traviata, 2004
"Netrebko came, saw and conquered – just as she did at the Festival Gala Concert and in her Traviata début last year. The singer's appearance, stage presence and musicality merge into a symbiosis that is ideal. Netrebko's voice, with its velvety mezzo-like timbre, soars effortlessly into the top register. Precise coloratura and the finest dynamic shadings depict a woman torn between defiant independence and feminine self-sacrifice."
Münchner Merkur (Munich), January 24, 2004
"It's clear from the first notes: a serious and gifted artist is at work here with a beautiful voice of bell-like purity, which can convey emotion with pinpoint precision and seems to climb straight up into the heavens like a lark. And, something that's always a special blessing in opera, she is a full-blooded actress. Even the deaf would react to this Violetta ... That she also brings to the role a palpable delight in performing and – if you'll excuse the old-fashioned word – great personal charm makes her ideal casting."
TZ (Munich), January 24, 2004
"Sought after like Callas, Anna Netrebko sings of this courtesan's fate with tones of bell-like purity and sparkling coloratura. But it's not just vocal acrobatics – also resonating in the nuances of her characterization and heavenly arching Verdian phrases is the human soul of Violetta."
Abendzeitung (Munich), January 24, 2004
Bayerische Staatsoper – La traviata, 2003
"Opera houses exist to fill audiences with thrills and delight. The noblest duty of sopranos is that of moving admirers of vocal artistry to transports of ecstasy. Taking the two together, one could say that in casting Anna Netrebko the Bavarian State Opera attained its ultimate objective. There is none lovelier, none who sings more excitingly, none more charming – there were cheers, madness, and cries of 'the new Callas'. This would be seemingly unrepeatable ... until you go back to the opera house. Even if it isn't Traviata."
Süddeutsche Zeitung, July 26, 2003
"Her dramatic soprano has now taken on an attractive dark colouring, the high notes are perfectly placed, the coloratura sparkles like perfectly cut diamonds. No apparent effort. No strain. No technical problems. Anna Netrebko's singing seems to be naturalness itself."
Die Zeit (Hamburg), July 24, 2003
"Ms. Netrebko was always secure and vibrant in tone, always radiant and beguiling ... an outstanding, indeed an ideal Traviata."
Süddeutsche Zeitung (Munich), July 22, 2003
Vienna Staatsoper – La traviata, 2003
"New York, Munich, London, Milan, Washington, Madrid – all of them have had the chance to get to know the miracle from St. Petersburg. Last year she was the highlight of the much-discussed production of Don Giovanni in Salzburg. With her Traviata she has now conquered the Vienna Staatsoper as well ... It really isn't a stretch to use the word 'miracle.' Here one singing actress brought together everything that opera fans could hitherto only dream of. A young woman of confident appearance, in every moment completely present in the intelligently conceived, deeply moving interpretation of a character caught between joie de vivre, destructive love, and the gripping proximity of death. And all of this constantly attuned to the vocal side of her interpretation: faultless technique, perfect coloratura, a substantial soprano voice full of dark-hued luminous power in all registers. Next to that her richly shaded coloration made every emotion believable. She was radiant in joy and confidence, passionate in outbreaks of love, empty in deeply moving moments of despair."
Die Presse (Vienna), April 4, 2003
"With singers like her there's no more need to worry about successors to great figures of the past ... Her voice has a remarkable combination of lightness and sufficient weight, is technically fully developed, secure in every register and blessed with a moving timbre. What's more, the singer acts her role superbly. And that she looks like a young Hollywood diva surely won't hurt her either."
Kurier (Vienna), April 4, 2003
"She's convincing at every moment: with a superb vocal endowment and flexibility, a dramatic attack and precise, intelligent interpretation of the arias. A Violetta without affectation or artifice, endearing, enchanting, moving."
Kronen Zeitung (Vienna), April 4, 2003
"Netrebko's dark timbre carries well in every register, she renders awkward notes effortlessly and with pinpoint clarity, her coloratura is expressive and her control of dynamics superb, with pianissimos that always carry. All that vocal adeptness is integrated into a characterization that encompasses both Violetta's carefree nature and her presentiment of her tragic end. Even in the final scene intensity and poetry are consistently maintained."
Der Standard (Vienna), April 4, 2003
"[Vienna] hasn't had a Violetta like this in a long time. Anna Netrebko, who was the sensation of last year's Salzburg Festival in Don Giovanni, has now made her debut at the Staatsoper. She is deeply expressive like Cotrubas and Freni, beautiful like Moffo and Stratas, and has a voice whose dark fire shines organically in all registers."
News, April 10, 2003
Kirov Opera – La traviata, 2002
"La Traviata was last presented here in 1997, with a set that dated to 1944. This run has sold out, partly from the five-year absence of a favorite in the canon, but also from the keen interest in the new Mariinsky star, Anna Netrebko, in the title role.
"Netrebko made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 2002 singing Natasha in Prokofiev's War and Peace. Later in the year her Donna Anna in Don Giovanni under Nikolaus Harnoncourt at the Salzburg Festival was a big success. This season she will sing Zerlina in that opera at the Met. Her career is the most successful one among the younger Mariinsky singers since Olga Borodina and Galina Gorchakova.
"Although she is facile in the operas of Russian and French composers, the core of her repertoire has been in the works of Mozart (Susanna, Pamina, Zerlina), Rossini, and Donizetti. Her Verdi experience has consisted until now of Nannetta (Falstaff) and Gilda (Rigoletto), and in interviews before the premiere, the singer spoke of difficulties she encountered while preparing her part.
"The result of her hard work is masterful drama with many musical charms. She brings to Violetta a clean, crystal timbre and maximum contour to the melodic line. She approached the first-act aria with subtle gradations of tone and mood, as she did the scene with Giorgio Germont (the imposing, tonally robust Vasily Gerello) in the second act. There were breath-taking pianissimos, filigree coloratura passages, and such a meaningful rendering of embellishments as to make emphatically clear their intended dramatic impact. In such moments, opera seemed to return to its original state as dramma per musica – the dream of opera reformers throughout the centuries. Valeria Stenkina and Mlada Khudolei, the two others who will sing this part, will find it very difficult to fill Netrebko's shoes."
Olga Manulkina, MusicalAmerica.com, December 24, 2002
Merola Opera, San Francisco – La traviata, 1996
"Like the older and more traditional-looking opera fans in the audience, the younger people were knocked out by a 23-year-old soprano from Russia, Anna Netrebko. Slender and dark-haired, she wore a long, body-clinging red tank dress that had a hot, leg-revealing split up one side.
"In two arias from Verdi's La Traviata, Netrebko proved that her voice is at least as good as her looks. Given the whooping standing ovation that followed, I'd wager that the next time several hundred folks hear 'Ah, fors'e lui' and 'Sempre libera,' the hair on the back of their necks will rise in sensual memory of the divine Miss N."
Stephanie Salter, San Francisco Examiner, August 8, 1996
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WAR AND PEACE
Salzburg Festival – War and Peace, 2004
"Vocally the soprano demonstrates her sovereign command of the demanding role of Natasha, flawlessly, movingly making the most of her splendid timbre and stupendous technique. With Anna Netrebko it doesn't matter what she sings, only that she sings."
Kurier (Vienna), 11 August 2004
"There are no doubts about Netrebko, whose career skyrocketed when she appeared two years ago in the Salzburg Don Giovanni. Her dark, lyrical voice, which really blooms while remaining velvety in the heights where other singers begin to sweat, is the foundation upon which the Russian soprano actively fleshes out her roles and actually sacrifices a bit of tonal lustre in order to portray the emotional life of the character (Natasha)."
Der Standard (Vienna), 11 August 2004
"Anna Netrebko in this lead role is certainly the star, yet at the same time she's also a 'first among equals'. Here we can experience the new prima donna on her spiritual and artistic home turf, among her own family, as it were. Mind, voice and body are one, and Anna – even without the aid of a director – simply becomes Natasha."
Salzburger Nachrichten (Vienna), 11 August 2004
Metropolitan Opera – War and Peace, 2002
"Anna Netrebko is Natasha to the life, from her bird-like immaturity through her petulant fury at being denied Kuragin to her serenely confident handling of Andrei's death. It is a masterful performance, gorgeously sung – I hope to hear her in other roles."
The New Criterion
"The star of the evening was newcomer Anna Netrebko, an enchanting young soprano with an uncanny resemblance to Audrey Hepburn, who captured Natasha in all her freshness, frivolity, petulance, and vulnerability. Her bright timbre carried effortlessly, yet she could drop to velvet pianissimo without loss of focus. In Natasha's happy episodes, she simply sparkled."
Musical America
"Opening night was the occasion of another major Met debut – that of Anna Netrebko as Natasha. Although she has been a member of the Mariinsky since 1994, this delicately beautiful, slim soprano looked to be little older than a schoolgirl. With a dancer's grace of movement (she could give master classes in fainting) and a voice of surprising power and steely-edged purity, she didn't so much play the impetuous, love-struck heroine as inhabit her. She was the incandescent spark who held the whole outlandish thing together – Audrey Hepburn with a voice."
Charles Michener, The New York Observer, February 20, 2002
"The most important debut was that of Anna Netrebko, a young lyric soprano with a pearly, gleaming tone, who projected her voice effortlessly into the house. She embodied the role of Natasha so sparklingly that it was impossible to imagine anyone else singing it."
The New Yorker
"The Met has assembled an extraordinary cast, starting with Anna Netrebko, making an astonishing debut as Natasha. Apart from her rich, agile voice, Netrebko has the gift of making her character seem entirely natural, a creature of 19th century Moscow rather than the operatic stage."
Howard Kissel, New York Daily News, February 16, 2002
"Unquestionably, the star of the evening, in her Metropolitan debut, was soprano Anna Netrebko, an Audrey Hepburn look-alike who delivered an enchanting Natasha in all her freshness, wistfulness, petulance and vulnerability. The voice could soar or drop to a whisper; it was a beautifully rounded portrayal."
Shirley Fleming, New York Post, February 16, 2002
"Anna Netrebko, making her company debut, is virtually ideal as Natasha Rostova, exquisite in voice, in looks, in poise and expressive impetuosity."
Martin Bernheimer, Financial Times, February 20, 2002
"In her Met debut, Anna Netrebko made an ideal Natasha – spirited, beautiful, a graceful dancer and a supple and expressive soprano."
Associated Press
"Splendid house debutante soprano Anna Netrebko is far and away the best thing about the show. Netrebko's Natasha is particularly exciting. Her security of pitch in the upper register is extraordinary. Nor does her voice seem to tire; it sounded just as brilliant and expressive at the end of Act II as it had four strenuous hours earlier."
The Washington Post
"As Natasha Rostova, the young woman whose immaturity, romantic notions and budding sexuality create a volatile mix, Anna Netrebko shines. With her graceful form and gracefully nuanced movements, she is reminiscent of Audrey Hepburn (who had the role in the 1956 movie); her creamy soprano is capable of exquisite phrasing."
Tim Smith, The Baltimore Sun, March 11, 2002
"Anna Netrebko's impulsive, self-assured Natasha Rostova had the allure of an Audrey Hepburn as well as that actress's gift for making flighty behavior seem eminently reasonable in its own illogical way. ... and Netrebko's lovely, well-rounded tones projected easily and with no apparent strain."
Opera News
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LA BOHÈME
San Francisco Opera – Musetta in La Bohème, 2004
"A sexual dynamo powers S.F. Opera's La Bohème"
"There is one bright spot amid the drab, workaday revival of Puccini's La Bohème that opened at the War Memorial Opera House on Saturday night, and her name is Anna Netrebko.
"Could anyone be surprised at that?
"For as long as she's been appearing at the San Francisco Opera – ever since her revelatory 1995 U.S. debut in Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila – this magnificently gifted singer has favored local audiences with performances of unforgettable beauty and insight.
"Her artistry has crowned great evenings (especially in little-known repertoire by Prokofiev and Rimsky-Korsakov) and done its part to salvage weak ones. Saturday's was in the latter category.
"Not that Netrebko had a particularly ample opportunity to shine. As Musetta, the sexual dynamo with a heart of gold, she had just one big moment in the spotlight, the Café Momus scene in Act 2 with her showstopping waltz 'Quando m'en vo'.
"But in those few moments, the performance took on a whole new degree of theatrical and musical vividness. Netrebko's powerful, pure soprano – still silvery in its basic coloring but growing darker and more luxuriant with each passing year – soared above the orchestra in cascading, precisely shaped phrases.
"And her depiction of Musetta's emotional plight was sketched in unnervingly specific detail. Temporarily on the outs with her boyfriend, the painter Marcello, Musetta shows up on the arm of a decrepit old sugar daddy and proceeds to goad Marcello into confessing that he still loves her.
"Her bountiful erotic charms are the main weapon, of course. But in Netrebko's version there was also a petulant reproach over the entire spectacle, as if to say, 'Look what you've driven me to' – an irrational charge that any lover could recognize."
Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle, June 7, 2004
San Francisco Opera – La Bohème, 2000
"As it happens, the weekend did boast one such moment of brilliance – Anna Netrebko's stunning turn Sunday afternoon as the erotically alluring Musetta. With her bold, precise and richly colored soprano cresting effortlessly above the orchestra, Netrebko delivered 'Quando me'n vo' with unnerving majesty in a performance graced as much by personal charisma as by vocal radiance."
Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle, January 11, 2000
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LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR
Los Angeles Opera – Lucia di Lammermoor, 2003
"Netrebko's voice buoys L.A. Lucia"
"There's much more to the title role of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor than the famous mad scene. But when a singer invests that showpiece with as much emotional specificity and musical splendor as Anna Netrebko did here Wednesday night, it does get your attention.
"Lucia's extended breakdown – a harrowing burst of sweet-toned, delusional coloratura that lays bare her brother's cruelty in compelling her to marry against her will – was the crowning glory of Netrebko's first attempt at this defining role. For sheer theatrical and vocal potency, it was a triumph.
"San Francisco audiences hardly need to be sold on Netrebko's brilliance, of course. Ever since her 1995 U.S. debut in Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila at the War Memorial Opera House, the Russian soprano has shone repeatedly in Russian and Italian repertoire (she'll return in June to sing Musetta in Puccini's La Bohème).
"But to sing Lucia is to stake a claim to full-fledged diva status, and Netrebko gave every indication that it's a role she's well equipped to fill.
"Just from a technical standpoint, the mad scene was a magnificent display. Netrebko's coloratura was note-perfect, each melodic phrase and glittering roulade precise and full-bodied. Her dynamic range was remarkable, from a piercing fortissimo to the merest whisper, and she exploited it all for dramatic effect. At one unforgettable juncture, she opened her mouth wide but let only the smallest sound escape – a virtuoso gesture of deep-rooted horror.
"For that matter, the entire scene spoke eloquently of Lucia's anguish. As ravishing as Netrebko's singing sounded, that was never the point of the performance. Instead, the listener was gripped with pity and astonishment at the character's disintegration.
"Netrebko built masterfully toward that climactic episode. Her first aria, 'Regnava nel silenzio,' boasted a beautifully sustained legato line, with a dark, smoky tone color that complemented her pinpoint control, and the cabaletta, 'Quando rapito in estasi,' was deftly ornamented ...
"But in the end, this was Netrebko's show, and the tumultuous ovation that greeted her at the end was evidence of that. With this Lucia, she has added one more jewel to the glorious strands of her still burgeoning career."
Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle, December 15, 2003
"There's one great reason to see Los Angeles Opera's presentation of Lucia di Lammermoor: Anna Netrebko in the title role. The young and beautiful Kirov Opera soprano, who once earned money scrubbing floors at the Maryinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, made her company debut Saturday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion with a stunningly detailed and involving portrayal of Donizetti's tragic heroine.
"Netrebko proved rivoting from her first moments onstage, and she stayed credible throughout.
"But it was in the famous mad scene that she most dazzled, both vocally and dramatically, working the action out to the last detail, yet appearing utterly spontaneous.
"Netrebko was definitely the star of the show."
Los Angeles Times, November 24, 2003
"The star is Anna Netrebko [who] sang a first rate-rate Lucia, tragic in the tragic moments, horrifying in the mad moments, stupendous in the high-E moments."
LA Weekly, November 28 – December 4, 2003
"And then there was the Lucia, of course, a singer whom everyone seems to be talking about. The voice is vibrant and shining, velvety and evenly toned. The notes in the stratosphere pop out gleefully. She phrases with elegance and fluidity, enjoys floating, shimmering pianissimos and yet easily topped the resounding Sextet with a jewel of a high note. In the mad scene she stumbled and spun (and apparently mesmerized the dead-silent audience) without ever losing sight of the reason she was there – to sing trippingly."
Orange County Register, November 25, 2003
"We were hypnotized by her reflective cavatinas and thrilled by her flaring cabalettas. Yes, like a true diva, she took the part into her own hands – unlike many fine singers, the woman can also act."
Los Angeles Downtown News, December 1, 2003
"Netrebko is the dark-eyed Russian beauty everyone's suddenly raving about. [This] Lucia marks her Los Angeles Opera debut and her first time singing the exacting role of Lucia in North America. And Netrebko was clearly ready for her close-up on the moors. Her girlish mannerisms, lithe physique and silvery voice are well-suited to the role, and she is a fine actress. Her mad scene ... proved a triumph, as full of conviction as it was rife with effortless coloratura, bel canto fluidity and flutelike tones."
Press-Telegram, November 25, 2003
"... in the duet with Enrico, and the Mad Scene that followed, we witnessed a fully matured actress in total command of her craft, for whom singing was a natural extension of her stage persona. The rapid runs and roulades were not for vain vocal display, but a mirror reflection of Lucia's fragile and rapidly deterioration mental state. Spargi d'amaro pianto was unleashed with such a vehemence and anger that made Lucia's descent into madness all the more pitiful."
Classical Voice, November 27, 2003
Mariinsky Theater – Lucia di Lammermoor, 2000
"The girlishness that seems to be an innate part of all Netrebko's characterizations emphasized Lucia's vulnerability and made for a mad scene that was especially gripping. The soprano reinforced the image vocally with purely focused, nicely rounded tones that often caressed the music delicately but always had a robust presence and could be assertive when needed."
George W. Loomis, Opera News, July, 2000
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