Der Spiegel
“It’s a marvel to see the virtuosic ease with which Elīna Garanča almost casually sails over the hurdles of the material: Never at the limit, and always smiling as she expertly sings, as if it were nothing.”
Associated Press
“Garanča, a tall, strikingly beautiful and fast-rising star from Latvia, sings with alluring tone and captures the gypsy Carmen’s sexual swagger and self-confidence. Under Eyre’s shrewd direction, she dispenses with much of the tired, traditional stage action associated with the character.”
Opera News
“Elīna Garanča was a consistent pleasure to watch and hear. Vocally she projected the part with well-studied ease, using her smoky low notes and her robust middle to full effect. And the moment she set foot onstage, there was no way to look away from her Carmen.”
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The Times
“She dominates in every scene.… Here’s one Carmen whose ability to reduce strong men to jelly is totally credible. But she also commands a voice that’s rich and vibrant from lowest note to highest, and capable of hurling out a contemptuous challenge with blazing power.”
Gramophone
“Garanča’s voice has been described as “creamy,” “silken,” and “lustrous” (her chest register is superbly produced) but it also has a surprisingly rounded maturity. What sets her apart, however, is the unteachable ability to send shivers down the spine and make grown men salivate.”
The Evening Standard
“Garanča has the edge. Her mezzo is stunningly impressive. Rising effortlessly to notes that would stretch many a soprano, it descends evenly throughout the compass, avoiding any unseemly changes of register.”
Classic FM
“It’s this versatility that makes Elīna’s voice so special and impossible to pigeonhole – she has the richness and depth of sound of a mezzo-soprano but also possesses all the top notes and an ability to “float” her voice that is the envy of many a bona fide soprano.”
New York Magazine
“The Latvian mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča is the most convincing Carmen in a long time, and not just because of the way she hikes her skirts to stroke a naked thigh.… Today, we can read [Carmen] as a guerrilla in the gender wars, a martyr to personal freedom, a narcissistic virago, or just a self-destructive vamp. Garanča chooses all of the above, mixing stereotypes with a dab of nonchalant cruelty. Onstage, though, musical choices merge with an acting strategy: Garanča delivers a hot performance of a cold character, a Carmen who doesn’t seduce Don José so much as kick him into her world and then carelessly toss him out. She is a virtuoso of indifference.”
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Opera News
“Latvian mezzo Elīna Garanča has now won the hearts of the Viennese, and it would be hard to imagine a more perfect creation. Vocally, everything one could want is there in abundance. Absolute beauty of tone, flawless technique, passion and sensitivity to her colleagues are but a few hallmarks of this coltish, magnificent performance.”
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The New York Times
“Dalila is like Carmen: There are so many clichés,’” Ms. Garanca said in her dressing room. “’Somehow Dalila is seen to be a calculating bitch who has just one goal, to destroy Samson. But I think that she is a very normal woman, who also has feelings.”
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