Luisa in LUISA MILLER - Opera de Monte Carlo, December 2018
After having transported us in #LaTraviata at the Opéra national de Paris Bastille last October, the Polish soprano seduced again to the highest point by the freshness of her voice equal over the whole register, mastering her part without ever having to force, impregnating her singing of infinite color contrasts. In Act III, her superb singing "di grazia" and her "messe di voci" exercice all their power of enchant to an audience listening to her with devotion. - Opera Online
Roberto Alagna & Aleksandra Kurzak , Verdian couple. The concert version of Luisa Miller featured in the Rainier III auditorium, with its warm and precise acoustics, is a first for the Opera de Monte-Carlo. A dream cast confirms the relevance of the project. […] Aleksandra Kurzak combines the safest technique with a very personal vocal charm (tone, ductility of the vocal line, elegance of the phrasing). These qualities allow her, without the help of the staging, to recreate Luisa’s evolution, from her ornate singing (staccato notes, trills) of her first air to the dramatic intervals that follow it, close to those of Abigaille and Odabella, up to the last sentences of the part, worthy of Violetta. The Polish soprano’s performance shows how Luisa Miller shaped the writing of La Traviata and of Verdi’s subsequent masterpieces. [...] Why is not Luisa Miller featured more frequently? Because it calls for excellence. Tonight, it is on the menu. - Patrice Henriot for Opéra Magazine.
The cast reaches levels of exceptional quality. [...] Previously heard at a concert at the Prince's Palace, the couple Roberto Alagna (Rodolfo) and Aleksandra Kurzak (Luisa Miller) stars [...] Aleksandra Kurzak never ceases to surprise and move us by the multiplication of her most brilliant or most subtlety and finely restrained top notes. The soprano knows how to find with elegance and accuracy the intonation which befits her amorous transport, her anger to the Altissimo at the moment of writing the fateful letter to the act II " E segnar questa mano " or her morbid resignation, close to madness, in Act III " La tomba è un letto sparso di fiori ". [...] Roberto Alagna reflects an outstanding fieriness and shows an incredible passion: his great aria, fed with multiple ‘forte’, in the last scene of Act II about the treason that he believes is that of Luisa "Quando le sere al placido "is a pure marvel and earned him a huge ovation. - Jean-Luc Vannier for Musicologie.org
The performance of Aleksandra Kurzak for whom Luisa is also a role debut was highly acclaimed by the audience. With a lyrical voice of beautiful color, able to extend with a great homogeneity, she drew a Luisa in "crescendo", precise, cautious in the first act and more at ease in the second part. [...] In the duets with Miller and Rodolfo at the third act she appears completely comfortable, as well for her ideal vocality as for her committed interpretation. [...] At the end of the show, convinced acclaim for all the performers and particularly intense for Roberto Alagna, Artur Rucinski and Aleksandra Kurzak. - Paolo Malaspina for Wanderer
The vocal formats of the singers are not made for pocket theaters especially as they are entirely devoted to their lines, in a concert version: "it sings, it rocks", "it blows you away" is heard even among the audience at intermission. The title role, sung by Aleksandra Kurzak, is characterized by its psychological and lyrical evolution, from lightness to solemnity, through bitterness (in operatic style, from lirico fiorico to lirico spinto). Her ingenuous soprano is finely lace-like and spotted with sparkles in the coloratura ornamentation of her first aria. Then, the soprano changes her clothes but also her vocality in the second act and takes her tone from the nocturnal palette during her confrontation with Wurm. Her medium range, tinged with soot glistening with pain and dignity, takes the audience by the ears and the heart ("A brani, a brani, o perfido"). In the third act, no vocal fatigue afflicts her as she expires. On the contrary, her pianissimi tie up with the fly loft of the room. The voice is always deeply moving with naturalness and emotion. [...] The audience applauded for a long time, and with gratitude, a committed, enthusiastic and enchanted cast. - Florence Lethurgez for Ôlyrix