last updated: March 20, 2008

Concert Review of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt

Cleopatra

March 13, 2008

San Francisco Chronicle
by JOSHUA KOSMAN, Chronicle Music Critic

She was some kind of woman, that Cleopatra - bold, emotionally volatile and ultimately tragic (the asp thing). As embodied by the dynamic Canadian soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian on Thursday night, she ruled the stage of the Herbst Theatre as decisively as she once ruled ancient Egypt.

Bayrakdarian was the star of an imaginative program by Nicholas McGegan and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra that featured excerpts from four 18th century operas based on this most irresistible of monarchs...

> Full review

Reviews of Carnegie Hall Recital

Recital Carnegie Hall

March 8, 2008

ISABEL BAYRAKDARIAN | SEROUJ KRADJIAN
Zankel Hall, New York
March 8, 2008

NY Times
Soprano Returns, Bellini and Komitas in Tow
by ALLAN KOZINN

NY Sun
A Tour of Talent
By JAY NORDLINGER

> Full reviews

Reviews of Don Pasquale

Don Pasquale

Feb. 8, 2008

Boulder Daily Camera
"Glory of the cast, of course, is the Norina of Canadian-Armenian Isabel Bayrakdarian, who makes easy kid stuff of the coloratura demands of the role. And bug’s-ear cute Bayrakdarian enters into the high-jinks spirit of the staging with obvious elan."

Denver Post
"Don Pasquale" is a hoot of a spaghetti Western opera
By KYLE MACMILLAN

Rocky Mountain News
'Don Pasquale' blazes trail through Monument Valley
By MARC SHULGOLD

> Full reviews

Review of Kansas City Recital

Folly Theater

Jan. 26, 2008

Kansas City Star
An Armenian at the Folly: Soprano sings the long line
By PAUL HORSLEY

> Full review

Le Nozze di Figaro at San Diego Opera

May 5, 2007

Sandiego.com
"The Marriage of Figaro" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
by DAVID GREGSON
................................................................................

San Diego Union Tribune
'Marriage of Figaro' a night of surprises
by VALERIE SCHER

> Full reviews

Dialogues of the Carmelites at Lyric OPera of chicago

Feb. 17, 2007

Chicago Sun Times
Fear, religious fervor work in 'Dialogues'
by ANDREW PATNER
................................................................................

Chicago Tribune
Ravishing 'Carmelites' pierces the heart
by JOHN VON RHEIN
................................................................................

Daily Herald
Lyric Opera hits right note with 'Carmelites'
by BILL GOWEN

> Full reviews

Recital at the Morgan Library

Jan. 14, 2007

NY Times
A Visa Problem in Canada, and an Excursion to Spain
By ALLAN KOZINN

> Full review