The voice of the afternoon, however, belonged to Martine Reyners as Maria. The scene in which Maria makes her first appearance on stage, surrounded by the shadows of her prison, was thrilling both for Reyners’ compelling acting and for her vocal intensity. Although written for soprano, the role of Maria is often thought of as a mezzo-soprano role, and so it was surprising to see Reyners billed as a soprano, especially as her vocal timbre is as dark as that of many mezzos, and her range extended well down the stave, gaining in intensity and colour the deeper she sang…The last act gives Maria the stage very largely to herself. Reyners was compelling in her pathos and strength as she sang her way through to the opera’s bitter but triumphant end: a moral victory, if not a physical one, with the Scottish queen’s faith and courage steadfast in the face of death.
www.bachtrack.com 29/05/2014