Adina in L'ELISIR D'AMORE - Metropolitan Opera, New York, April 2016
[Vittorio Grigolo] has an excellent Adina for this run in Aleksandra Kurzak, who somehow saw through her opposite’s teenage angst and found a believable arc that led her to fall for him. She has an expressive face and lively stage presence, and for all the flirtatious fierceness of her character, her portrayal was strikingly warm. She declined showy vocal ornamentation, instead giving a wonderfully direct account of the part mostly as written. High notes were often breathy, but the body of her voice has a lovely, cool color and a quick warble that is impossible not to like. Her calm, caring rendition of “Prendi, per me sei libero” was one of the high points of the evening, acting as a kind of rejoinder to Nemorino’s flashier aria just before.
Eric C. Simpson - NY Classical Review
Thursday, Polish soprano was complimented by Charles Kelis, emeritus professor of singing of the famous Julliard School, also associated with Met's Lindemann program for young artists: "Aleksandra Kurzak possesses an ability to sing the top notes gently, that only the most seasoned artists are mastering. On stage, she demonstrated a great professionalism and a lot of freshness, and she also proves to be a very good actress "
Andrzej Dobrowolski - Wyborcza.pl
Aleksandra Kurzak is an entrancing Adina, singing with grace and beauty and acting with charm. She also moves well and even dances a little. Her rendition of the aria “Prendi, per me sei libero” was exquisite".
Barry Bassis - THE EPOCH TIMES
Aleksandra Kurzak’s attractive soprano [...] offered a vocally and theatrically nuanced portrayal of Adina that revealed the character’s emotional trajectory: initially coquettish and secure, then suddenly vulnerable when Nemorino decides to play hard to get.
Vivien Schweitzer - The New York Times
As Adina, Aleksandra Kurzak sticks closer to Sher’s direction but shows more affection early and melts into loving behavior later in the opera. Her handling of the florid music is dazzling and she sings with charm [and élan]. One believes the loving relationship that ends the opera. And if that works, the opera works.
Robert Levine - Bachtrack
The performance was largely dominated by Aleksandra Kurzak who gave us a brilliant and impeccable Adina in her singing and acting. Vittorio Grigolo was a good Nemorino [...]. Adam Plachetka very well portrayed the pedantic Sergeant Belcore and Alessandro Corbelli played a wonderful Dulcamara. In fact, the moment I most enjoyed was the barcarola because Kurzak and Corbelli did it with a great beauty and gave a high-quality artistic sense to this so little 'intellectual' piece.
Luis Gutiérrez Ruvalcaba in "Ópera y otras elucubraciones"
Every actor is excellent, and their natural zest is what makes this opera, written in 1832 , feel so fresh. Kurzak exudes dynamism and sultriness as the easily fickle Adina and uses her celestial range to make exemplar riffs.
Diandra Riverafor - nytheatreguide.com
Kurzak's finest moments of the night came in the second act when the bare staging meant that she was allowed free reign to control the scenery and play her own Adina on her own terms. And in this regard it was a far more fluid and likeable character. From her comic flourishes and flirtatious vocal intonations during the duet with Dulcamara to the interpolated crying after the final note of the duet's first section, this was a character alive with emotion. During the aria "Prendi, per me sei libero," Kurzak sang rather quietly, her voice drawing the listener in, casting a hypnotic spell. Every phrase was sculpted elegantly, every ebb and flow of her voice capturing the listener. Her coloratura during the jubilant cabaletta was refined, hammering home the sense of excitement over Adina's newfound emotional freedom.
David Salazar - Latin Post