ALEKSANDRA KURZAK

OPERA

Violetta in LA TRAVIATA - Opera de Paris, October 2018

I loved! A great moment of PURE DELIGHT for all those who love opera. Violetta - Aleksandra Kurzak, is dazzling, true, with a limpid voice, which managed to draw tears from me (I'm not lying!) in the last act. I think you understand how much I loved this version, without letting me forget the version of 1997 at the Opera Bastille staged by Jonathan Miller with Angela Gheorghiu. These two versions leave their mark on Opéra. Hurry to attend the show!" by Guy Courtheoux for On sort ou pas
 

The drama piece, which divided at the time of its creation, received tonight a great ovation from the audience, expressing a special admiration for the voice of Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak, performing as the eternal role of Violetta. As soon as from the opening of act II, Kurzak and baritone George Gagnidze as Giorgio Germont, were acclaimed by sounding "Bravo!". So the voices made the audience stand at the end of the show, to thank Kurzak, Gagnidze and Jean François Borras (Alfredo Germont) for the sensitivity with which they embodied their characters. Standing ovation from the audience, expressing a special admiration for the voice of Aleksandra Kurzak - by eldiario.es

 

Aleksandra Kurzak SUPERBA! Forty-eight hours after Montserrat Caballé’s passing away, we could have the feeling that Aleksandra Kurzak was taking up the torch! Not that the Polish soprano imitates in any way the great Spanish diva but, like the latter, she owns this characteristic color, this both fleshy and clear tone, this vocal crystal - which works wonders, from an ‘E strano’ with natural, never pushed and obvious top notes – up to the weaving of a fabulous ‘Sempre libera’ in front of which we yelled "hats off!"! It was still only a stunning voice. With the second act, in this intense and overwhelming confrontation with Germont father, we also discovered a woman who knows how to express in turn her anguish, her determination, her resigned despair. She deploys her medium without ever veiling the high range.

What a painful emotion in this somnambulistic ‘Dite alla giovine’! Here again, the memory of the "Superba" (Caballé’s nickname), revives in the ears and in the heart: Aleksandra Kurzak never overexposes her singing, she let her breath - which she has immense - conveys the colors and that range of nuances that build her character. She knows how to issue those piani that tell her agonizing intimacy.
And then, in the third act, even more heartbreaking, she knocks the public down with her reading of the letter, drawing on the first violin of the orchestra, before shouting this ‘E tardi’ as from her guts, her whole body turned inside out like a glove. A cry which tells that she knows that the death is in her. Heavy-hearted, full of distress, we have only to further listen to this ‘Addio del passato‘, as an ultimate confession. Only for this superlative Violetta, this revival of La Traviata is worth the trip.
[...] Only for the amazing Violetta of Aleksandra Kurzak , this revival is not to be missed! - Alain Duault for @operaonline

On the occasion of the release of their new album, Puccini in love, Roberto Alagna and Aleksandra Kurzak were performing together La Traviata last night, October 26, on the stage of Bastille for a single show. No sooner had Roberto Alagna stepped off the plane that brought him back from New York, still exhausted by the jetlag, than he was to sketch the first notes of Alfredo. By his mere presence, he illuminated the first act, deploying in the first scene of Act II - facing Violetta and his father - this colorful and solar voice that characterizes him. Crazed with grief, impressive by his scorn when he "compensates" Violetta, his distraught despair in Act III upset the audience who acclaimed him during the curtain call. Aleksandra Kurzak as at the opening performance was dazzling. In front of Roberto Alagna, she acted an even more mischievous and facetious Violetta in Act I. From "E strano", she gave us a series of pianissimi and indefinitely held notes, that she repeated all along the evening. - Audrey Bct for Forumopera.com

Revelation, a Violetta is born: a dream Violetta! The miracle occurs thanks, above all, to the revelation of a dream Violetta [at the Opéra national de Paris]. Aleksandra Kurzak accomplishes the prodigy of moving from the very moment when she enters the stage and of keeping a captivated audience on the edge of their seats until the heroine dies, despite a set that is not conducive to intimacy. The simplicity and the naturalness of her expression emerge as a clear evidence in the almost restrained dignity of the Brindisi, in the sincerity without any superfluous accent of "Follie! Follie! ". The ideal cabalette, the final flat high-E issued with an apparent ease tailored to avoid any demonstrative intention, seem to directly come from her soul. From Act II, the wealth of her medium range, her art of coloring, her legato offer us an overwhelming confrontation with Germont. "Amami, Alfredo" does not give rise to any excess, the emotion stems from sobriety. Act III is a model: nuances in the depths of despair (“Addio, del passat“), an absolute mastery in coloring the ‘piano’ phrasing in the duet with Alfredo, a final scene carried out “fil di voce”, with a staggering intensity obtained by the simple projection of her voice. [...] Violetta dies, a Violetta is born. The public is not mistaken. Patrice Henriot for Opéra Magazine.