San Francisco
Opera (2002)
Georg Friedrich Händel Alcina
The real magic came through in the music, which featured the season's
most enthralling vocal artistry. In the title role, Bay Area native Catherine
Naglestad established her power to ravish the senses right from her first
aria, the sensuous "Di', cor mio, quanto t'amai." Her soprano
was both large and sweet-toned, with an irresistible combination of dramatic
heft and emotional inwardness. So when Alcina first faces the loss of
her lover, in the expansive showpiece "Ah! Mio cor", Naglestad
responded with an expressive display of uncompromising range. And her
first lament, "Mi restano le lagrime" was heart-rendering.
San Francisco Chronicle
... the Californian soprano Catherine Naglestad came home to introduce
an Alcina of great physical allure and superior vocalism, nowhere more
so than in the lament "Ombre pallide". Opera
Both operas rode to glory in San Francisco, however, on the strength of
the singers in the title roles. The Alcina of Catherine Naglestad - an
American singer, now based abroad, who began her career in the Los Angeles
Opera chorus - was similarly spectacular, astounding in her command not
only of the notes of Handelian coloratura but of its intricate rhythm
as well.
Opera News
The cast is young, good-looking and decked out like Vogue models. Alcina
(the sensational soprano Catherine Naglestad) makes her first entrance
in a little black cocktail dress; she sings successive scenes in a series
of clingy costumes, each more revealing than the last. No wonder men find
her irresistible... This Alcina fairly overflows with vocal brilliance,
beginning with Naglestad's shapely, assured performance in the title role.
The soprano makes the audience feel her anguish as a forsaken lover as
well as her power as a temptress. Each of her arias was was arrestingly
sung, with the final brilliant showpiece,"Mi restano le lagrime,"
movingly conveying the depths of her despair.
Contra Costa Times
Catherine Naglestad is amazing as Alcina, an island bound sorceress who
transforms lovers into trees, rivers and wild beasts. Naglestad's singing
is powerful and pure, and her 12-minute aria over the loss of the man
she truly loves ("Ah! Mio cor!") was the highlight of the night.
Naglestad also plays the role of the hilt. Over the course of the night
she wears a half-dozen slinky dresses, including one with a see-through
top.
San Jose Mercury News
... one of the five or six performances that I will carry with me forever
as examples of how theatre, at its best, can work. The singing was terrific
... Catherine Naglestad, who played Alcina, was astonishing. The Threepenny
Review
Budapest Spring Festival (2002)
Georg Friedrich Händel Alcina
The glorious Catherine Naglestad, whose Alcina is one of the most
carefully wrought pieces of singing to be heard on any stage these days.
Even while sporting more little black cocktail dresses than one could
keep track of and eventually taking a bullet in the head, the American
soprano created a musical and dramatic creature of great tragic proportions,
every bit as complex and compelling as Medea or Norma. Naglestad's lush
voice has a dusky, reedy quality - a natural sound for producing long
lines of aching lyricism - but its size and weight make it all the more
surprising that she's equally capable of effortless trills and unearthly
sustained pianissimo phrases worthy of Monserrat Caballe in her prime
time.
Andante 2002
Edinburgh International Festival (2000)
Georg Friedrich Händel Alcina
Right from Alcina's entrance sex is in the air. Catherine Naglestad sings
her first aria in the arms of her beloved in a scene of feverish, highly
charged eroticism. The relationship between her and Ruggiero is critical
to the opera's drama, and in Naglestad and Coote this production has a
magnificently matched pairing. Naglestad gives a vivid portrayal of Alcina's
gradual emotional collapse in her string of violently contrasting arias
in the second part. She lurches with raw terror from sorrowful defeat
- in an ice-cold monody, supported by a solo violin - to impassioned revenge,
as she comes to know the torments of human love.
The Guardian
The cast has been chosen for looks and acting ability as much as vocal
prowess - but we still get some virtuosic singing. Catherine Naglestad's
Alcina could have drifted in off an Italian catwalk, but never sold her
music short.
Financial Times
Catherine Naglestad has the looks and figure for an enchantress, which
is a good thing since she has to perform much of Alcina's role virtually
topless. I am not referring to her voice, which is healthy throughout
the registers, agile, richly coloured. The Times
Staatsoper Stuttgart (1998)
Georg Friedrich Händel Alcina
Dem Zuhörer blieb der Atem aus. Catherine Naglestad riss ein intensives
Gefühlsspektrum auf - betörend sinnlich in der erotischen Magie,
schneidend in der Rache.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Erotisch, exotisch: Jossi Wieler zelebriert mit Catherine Naglestad Händels
Alcina als rauschendes Fest der Sinnlichkeit. Die Reise nach Stuttgart
lohnt sich.
Die Welt
In der Titelrolle brillierte Catherine Naglestad als erotisierend-bezaubernde
Alcina, mit einem ausdrucksvollen, dramatischen Sopran.
Schwarzwälder Bote
Catherine Naglestad in der Titelpartie ist eine Zauberin. Schwäbische
Zeitung
