Category: Reviews

“Soprano Michelle Areyzaga took a light-hearted approach to ‘Spring,’ infusing it with easy flowing diction and warm fun. She was restrained in ‘Sleep’ and was given particularly sympathetic accompaniment by Rizzer.  Areyzaga knew just how long to float the gently sung high notes in ‘Diaphenia.’  […] The opening work of the afternoon, Alessandro Scarlatti’s cantata [...]

“Michelle Areyzaga showcased very challenging 20th century repertoire and a true mastery of the craft. […] Ms Areyzaga has chosen to offer a variety of art songs from the 20th century to today. The care she takes in her delivery of text in Walker’s Waterbird shows a deep knowledge of storytelling and performance. The overall [...]

Saturday’s performance was paced by the stentorian yet lyrical vocalizations of bass-baritone Kevin Deas, notably in Whitman’s “Reconciliation,” the chorus’s finely detailed treatment of the elaborate closing biblical sequence and the orchestra and chorus at full tilt in Whitman’s “Beat! beat! drums.”

Soprano Michelle Areyzaga brought restrained passion, and welcome gradations of expression, in her role as a lone, pleading voice in recurring recitations of the “Dona nobis pacem” chant.

“Soprano Michelle Areyzaga and pianist Jamie Shaak deliver performances of stunning beauty, clarity, and eloquence. Ms. Areyzaga’s voice has a luminous radiance from top to bottom, and she deploys that sound with elegant ease in even the most taxing of these songs. Beyond the exquisite sound she produces, the soprano also has a limitless palette [...]

Chamber Music Society pays tribute to Schubert “…The second half was lighter with sensational singing from soprano Michelle Areyzaga in Andre Previn’s “Vocalise for Soprano, Cello and Piano” (1995) and William Bolcom’s “Cabaret Songs for Voice and Piano” (1978, 1996). Her lustrous voice, jazz styling, and theatrical manner really sold the songs. Bax was the [...]

Chamber Music Society delivers with style “…Things brightened up after intermission. Andre Previn’s “Vocalise” was a patchwork of luscious bits performed by soprano Michelle Areyzaga, cellist David Finckel and pianist Alessio Bax. …Three cabaret songs of William Bolcom returned Areyzaga and Bax to the stage. The soprano showed some charming acting ability and also perfectly [...]

Fine Hyde Park performance of rarely heard music “The concert opened with Giocomo Meyerbeer’s Hirtenlied, written for soprano, clarinet and piano. Areyzaga performed this idyllic song about a shepherd high above the rest of world with beautiful clarity and sweetness. …The newest and longest composition on the program was Songs of the Kisaeng by the [...]

Soprano Areyzaga warms up a rainy night in Chicago Ensemble opener “No chamber series in town roves as widely nor as adventurously, and so it proved again with Tuesday evening’s generous program sparked by soprano Michelle Areyzaga, who led off the concert with a rarity by Meyerbeer. …The clear inspiration for Hirtenlied is Schubert’s Shepherd [...]

“Areyzaga had many opportunities to shine and she took them firmly in hand. In a 2001 work by American composer Mark Zuckerman — “Ménagerie” — she was an apt story-teller, bringing to life poetry by Robert Desnos which Rizzer noted was beloved by French children. “Le Léopard” was enhanced by Levitin’s flute, which at first [...]

“Michelle Areyzaga was the standout, her high soprano–and exemplary diction–soaring in her solo moments as the blind man’s mother. […] The finest moments were once again provided by Areyzaga’s sensitive and evocative solo singing.” —Lawrence Johnson – Chicago Classical Review, April 25, 2015 (Soloist with the Chicago Master Singers and Ars Viva Symphony)