Lyric Opera

John Brown

“John Brown, hero: Lyric's new opera is hit at opening performance"

"With unabashedly lush solo and choral writing, a shimmering orchestral backdrop and a raw-nerved story of continued relevance, this opera is a natural almost from start to finish."

"...Brown’s heroism is enhanced by the bronzed-voice mastery of baritone James Maddalena. It’s hard to imagine anyone else in American opera who could more powerfully convey both the sympathy and the hard-headedness of Mechem’s Brown."

"...baritone Donnie Ray Albert, who inhabited the role of Douglass with inner smolder and tinges of humor where necessary, his robust voice like a cannon firing ingots of gold."

–Kansas City Star, May 5, 2008

Aida

“The Lyric Opera of Kansas City’s “Aida” is not just a superb operatic production, it’s theatre on a level you seldom see on any Kansas City stage, musical or otherwise.”

–Kansas City Star, September 17, 2007

"This Aida dared its audiences to think - and drew prescient parallels between Egyptian omnipotence and American imperialism, between a beloved opera and contemporary events."

-Opera Now, January/February 2008

The End of the Affair

“The Lyric Opera of Kansas City keeps topping its artistic peaks, and in April this Jake Heggie opera based on Graham Greene's novel recieved a performance so accomplished that it was recorded live for major-label release. The cast, with Emily Pulley and Robert Orth, was top-drawer, and R. Keith Brumley's lavish sets were possibly the best we've seen on the Lyric stage."

-Kansas City Star, December 23, 2007