Limited opportunity is not what comes the way of the eponymous role sung by the Belgian lyric coloratura soprano Martine Reyners, and how! Hers was a considerable vocal and histrionic achievement. Slim, even slight, she sang strongly and acted with whole body conviction, her eyes and arms being particularly communicative. Her voice is strong and with a wide variety of colour across its considerable range allied to vocal flexibility of a high order. Miss Reyners produced a consummate performance that gave focus to the whole of the action of the opera – its many and varied emotional conflicts are burdened on Emilia. She concluded the performance with hair-raising singing of the rondo finale….

musicweb-international/ janvier 2008