Lisette Oropesa was a truly magnificent Gilda. She portrayed her character's girlishness, innocence, and obsessive love. Her voice was clear and bell-like, especially above the staff. Her "Caro Nome" ("Dear name") was most impressive with its radiant, silvery tones and tasteful decoration. Amazingly, she finished the main part of her aria, climbed a long flight of stairs, and immediately began the trill that ends the scene. Twentieth century operagoers told tales of the legendary Erna Berger and her long trills. Twenty-first century patrons may have their own legend-in-the-making with Oropesa. She definitely is a singer to watch.
— Maria Nockin • Broadway World
Dressed in white with a billowing cape as the deceased Eurydice, Lisette Oropesa looked and moved like one of the dancers. Her sounds were liquid silver and she seemed to be an amazingly graceful creature from another world. She sang through a veil at times, but it never marred the focus of her sound. My only thought was that her part was too short.
— Maria Nockin • Broadway World
Leonard Bernstein’s 1949 “Two Love Songs” tell of a love that is stronger than life and can weld two souls together so that they sing a single melody. Oropesa’s butter cream tones were completely unified with Borowitz’s shimmering melodic strains. She finished the first half of the recital with an exquisite rendition of the “Vocalise” that Camille Saint-Saens wrote on a visit to Egypt in 1901. It is a wonderful text-free song that allows the coloratura to use some of her most intricate and difficult maneuvers. For Oropesa, it was a pièce de résistance.
— Maria Nockin • Opera Today
It was fun to watch the fidgety Hansel (the mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught) and fretful Gretel (the soprano Lisette Oropesa) trading nonsensical taunts, dancing together and skipping their chores while their parents are off working, like mischievous siblings everywhere.
— Anthony Tommasini • New York Times
Lucia is sung by Lisette Oropesa, here making her house debut. Her voice isn’t large, but she is a true coloratura soprano. She has excellent support for the long fioratura lines, and ideal agility for the runs and ornaments. Her Mad Scene (flutes here, no glass harmonica) is more about dramatic conviction than vocal acrobatics, but is no less impressive for it.
— Gavin Dixon • The Arts Desk
Nanetta, interprétée par Lisette Oropesa (Gilda surprise la saison dernière à Bastille). Elle aussi soprano, sa voix plus légère et son vibrato serré insufflent une certaine innocence au personnage, gazouillant naïvement pendant que les autres protagonistes montent des stratagèmes pour se piéger. Ses aigus cristallins et sa maîtrise du souffle impressionnent le public, notamment à l'acte III, où, déguisée en Reine des fées, elle produit de merveilleuses envolées lyriques.
— Malory Matignon • Olyrix
...Lisette Oropesa's show-stealing Norina.
The Cuban-American soprano was equal to all her character's skittish bel canto demands. Hilarious, endearing and blest with immaculate timing, she made the cruel challenges of her Act 1 cavatina seem like throwaway lines and single-handedly gave the evening its class.
— Mark Valencia • What's on Stage
Son sens de la nuance, exceptionnel et charmant, lui garantit de toute façon d’emblée une ovation en fin de soirée : capable de percuter le spectateur d’un aigu flamboyant, elle allège ailleurs son chant sur quelques syllabes susurrant un aigu intense et long. Elle achève son premier air (et le public) d’un suraigu pur dont le vibrato s’élargit progressivement pour se changer en trille.
— Damien Dutilleul • Olyrix
Zo’n dreamteam staat er ook op het podium met bariton Luca Salsi als Rigoletto en Lisette Oropesa als Gilda. Oropesa bracht op de premiere haar aria ‘Caro nome’ met een zoetgevooisd en zilverzacht timbre: het werd een muzikaal hoogtepunt waarin tekstuitdrukking en muzikale virtuositeit op geheel natuurlijke wijze samenvloeiden.
— Oswin Schneeweisz • TheaterKrant
Making the most of her role was the raven haired Spanish lady Konstanze sung by Lisette Oropesa notable for her creamy tone. Extremely well focused she projected her voice strongly through the house right from her first aria ‘Ach ich liebte’ and I especially admired her heavenly aria ‘Martern aller Arten’ from Act II.
— Michael Cookson • Seen and Heard International
The evening opened with “Ragion nell’alma siede,” an aria from Haydn’s opera Il mondo della luna. It was a gutsy move, and Oropesa easily filled the smaller venue with sound. The accuracy during runs was striking, as were the highest notes, all produced with facility. Her tone turned especially limpid on the little cadenza. Pianist Vlad Iftinca, who was a consummate musical partner throughout the program, gave vitality to the long introduction to the piece.
— Charles T. Downey • Washington Classical Review
La transparence du chant, les vocalises irisées et sa simplicité désarmante ont déclenché une salve d'applaudissements bien mérités!
— Julian Sykes • Le Temps
Il soprano cubano-americano Lisette Oropesa, é stata una Gilda di gran classe, con una voce molto bella, tibrata e intonata.
— LucaDella Libera • Il Messaggero
Lisette Oropesa gave a simply dazzling performance as tomboy-turned-lady, Marie. From the graceful, ardent first notes (sung off stage) to the glorious finale on the shoulders of the regiment, she was seemingly born to play the part. Her garçon persona – carried off with irresistible spirit and aplomb – was belied by one of those effortlessly lovely female voices, quite thrilling at the higher register, soaring above the chorus and the other leads when needed. It was a consummate performance, sung with notable facility.
— Hilary Stroh • Bachtrack
Berlin was represented by select Mendelssohn songs, which the soprano Lisette Oropesa, accompanied by the pianist Gilbert Kalish, rendered with pellucid tone and unfussy styling
— Corinna Da Fonseca-Wollheim • New York Times
Soprano soloist Lisette Oropesa has a rich, complexly timbred voice that works well for this music.
— J. Robin Coffelt • Theater Jones
Oropesa is immediately engaging and she demonstrates impressive control of her voice, most notable in Susanna’s playful aria “Deh vieni, non tardar.”
— Jennifer Minich • MD Theatre Guide
Unter den vorzüglichen Solisten, die fast alle in Doppelrollen zu erleben waren, stachen Anna Prohaska als Phani/Fatime und Lisette Oropesa als Hébé/Zima mit leuchtendem Sopran und nie steril wirkenden Koloraturen hervor.
— Georg Etscheit • Musik Heute
Auch Lisette Oropesa ist von der Allerheiligen-Hofkirche schließlich herübergekommen. Sie und ihre beiden amerikanischen Kollegen, Matthew Grills und John Moore, geben Arien und Duette von Donizetti, Leoncavallo, Puccini und Rossini zum Besten. Besonders Lisette Oropesa singt sich mit ihrer glasklaren Sopranstimme in die Herzen des Publikums.
— Jennifer Gaschler • Süddeutsche Zeitung
“Oropesa performed the lovely solo, “Et incarnatus” with radiant beauty, and her stunning trills, leaps and embellishments were in perfect tandem with the winds of the CSO”
— Janelle Gelfand • Cincinnati Enquirer
“In the evening’s first half, Oropesa displayed impressive vocal flourishes and flexibility in the soprano showpiece, “Exsultate, jubilate.”
A special word for Lisette Oropesa, whose character, Mater Gloriosa, is supposed to appear out of the sky. The top tier of Verizon Hall was perfectly suitable, with her in a white gown and voice sounding, well, gloriosa.
— David Patrick Stearns • The Inquirer
Making her debut with the orchestra, soprano Lisette Oropesa spun out a radiant sound that communicated every hopeful, calming word in the fifth movement.
— Tim Smith • Baltimore Sun
Eccellenti e straordinari tutti gli interpreti, dall’ineguagliabile Pappano e dai due solisti, il baritono Vito Priante e, soprattutto, il soprano Lisette Oropesa
— Sergio Prodigo • Focus Italy
Ms. Oropesa and Mr. Churchwell brought uncommon freshness to this music, which somehow hovers on the divide between breathless desire and spiritual calm.
— Anthony Tommasini • New York Times
Ms. Oropesa combined vocal refinement with articulate delivery of the texts. It’s impressive that all of the English translations printed in the program (the recital spanned Italian, German, French and Spanish) were by Ms. Oropesa herself. Clearly, she involves herself deeply in the words she sings.
Notable la encarnación de Lisette Oropesa, una voz de lírico-ligera con cuerpo, impecablemente proyectada, bien colocada y correctamente apoyada sobre el aire. Buena la coloratura como pudo comprobarse en una brillante interpretación del “Caro nome” culminada por un trino largo y de buena factura. Estupendo también fue el mi bemol del final de la vendetta. Cierto es que el timbre no es especialmente bello ni singular y que a alguno de los filados que prodigó le faltó un punto de firmeza y posición, pero estamos, sin duda, ante una soprano con los papeles en regla, con control sobre su instrumento, sobre la intensidad del sonido, la respiración y los resortes del canto. Eso sí, en el aspecto interpretativo no es un prodigio de expresividad.
— Raúl Chamorro Mena • Codalario
Für die erkrankte Patricia Petibon übernahm dankenswerterweise kurzfristig Lisette Oropesa die Rolle der Gilda, die sie mit ihrem vollen, leuchtenden, farbenreichen Sopran sehr schön darbot.
— Martina Bogner • Online Merker
It is possible for a lyric singer to be a great Violetta – among recordings, one I treasure is Bidu Sayão from the Met, who imprinted the role with her distinctive prettiness and pathos. It was Sayão I thought of as I heard how easily Oropesa’s voice carried in the large space, and how elegantly she shaped every phrase, always making the words matter. Throughout, there was telling attention to detail, from the little internal trills in “Sempre libera” that hardly any sopranos today bother with, to the gorgeously tapered phrase endings in “Addio, del passato.” And of course, it helps that Oropesa, like Sayão, is ravishing looking – in her 1950s gowns here (see more on that below), she resembled Pier Angeli.
— David Fox • Reclining Standards
Soprano Lisette Oropesa was a superb Susanna, singing with both delicacy and quick-witted allure. Her duet with the Count at the beginning of Act 3, in which Susanna pretends to be willing to accept his advances, was a particular high point.
— Joshua Kosman • SFGate
Soprano Lisette Oropesa's Marie was a triumph at the Benedum Center, utterly winning in both the role's vocal challenges and the physical demands of Curran's staging. Her voice is wonderfully suited to the role, warm and rounded in tone but also pure, and sparkling in coloratura. “The Song of the Regiment” started with a lovely vocal flourish, then proceeded with irresistible elan.
Oropesa proved a master of physical comedy throughout, especially in a dance lesson Curran interpolates during the orchestra entr'acte after intermission. In the first act, we meet Tonio, Marie's guy, who joins the regiment to be with her. But at the end of that act the Marquise of Berkenfeld claims Marie as her “niece.”
The second act takes place at the castle of the Marquise, who is providing Marie with lessons to add refinement appropriate for an arranged aristocratic marriage. The choreography for the four dancers gives Marie klutzy moves right out of a routine by Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. Oropesa offered a perfect lesson in comic gestures and timing.
— Mark Kanny • Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
As Susanna, Figaro’s bride-to-be, Louisiana-born and -raised Lisette Oropesa was taking on one of the most demanding roles in the soprano repertoire. Being in nearly every scene of a long opera can pose a serious challenge to a singer, but Oropesa rose to it. In her arias as well as in duets and ensemble pieces, Oropesa offered a fine display of vocal versatility, from the lilting coloratura of a young woman in love to the confusion and anger of the object of the lascivious intentions of her overlord, Count Almaviva.
— Thomas Hammon • New Orleans Advocate
Lisette Oropesa brought her limpid, plaintively expressive voice to the two soprano arias.
— John von Rhein • Chicago Tribune
De show werd echter gestolen door Rigoletto’s dochter Gilda, vertolkt door de Amerikaanse sopraan Lisette Oropesa (vorig seizoen Nanetta in Falstaff bij De Nationale Opera). In haar stemgeluid lagen zowel een warme laagte als een glanzende hoogte besloten, en haar vocale acrobatiek was indrukwekkend. Vooral indrukwekkend was haar ‘Caro Nome’, dat in eerste instantie voortijdig moest worden afgebroken omdat iemand in de zaal onwel werd. Ze eindigde de aria met een prachtige triller waar maar geen eind aan leek te komen.
— Laura Roling • Place de l'Opera
Ben affiatato anche il duo protagonista, con Lisette Oropesa nel ruolo di Konstanze in luogo della prevista Albina Shagimuratova. Anche lei soprano ancora giovane, al suo debutto a Parigi ma già Konstanze alla Staatsoper di Monaco, la Oropesa è stata premiata dal pubblico grazie a una prova molto convincente. Elegante e misurata in scena come si conviene al personaggio, ha persuaso per la sua capacità di mettere in rilievo anche nel canto gli stati d’animo, ora malinconici, ora rapiti, ora sdegnati che la parte prevede. Da ciò l’ottimo effetto di Welcher Wechsel herrscht in meiner Seele, sospirosa e malinconica, da ragazza più che da donna infelice nella voce della Oropesa, seguita da Marten aller Arten, cantata con accenti incisivi e appassionata recitazione.
— Lorenzo De Vecchi • Opera Click
With svelte phrases and gleaming high notes, the American soprano Lisette Oropesa introduced a primly earnest Rosalba, a writer looking to pen a book on the diva.
— Timothy Mangan • Orange County Register
Now for the human stars: Entführung is Konstanze’s show, and Lisette Oropresa doesn’t disappoint. “Ach, ich liebte” is not an easy first aria, and she falters on a few high notes and trills. But by the time she reaches Konstanze’s showpiece “Martern aller Arten”, she’s tossing off coloratura and high Ds with ease and looking fiercely defiant, to boot.
— Ilana Walder-Biesanz • Bachtrack
Mais le moment de grâce absolue se niche sous les étoiles d’un ciel de rêve. Lorsque Gilda apparaît en trapéziste lunaire au-dessus de la roulotte paternelle. Lisette Oropesa offre là un exemple de chant aérien, dans une magnifique longueur de voix, aux nuances souples, à la musicalité fine et à l’humanité frissonnante. Un sommet du genre.
— Sylvie Bonier • Le Temps
The combination of his (John Relyea) big but expressive bass-baritone and her (Lisette Oropesa) lithe, silvery soprano was enchanting. Moving with the elegance of a ballerina, Oropesa flitted easily between outraged innocence and wily cynicism.
— Wynne Delacoma • Chicago Classical Review
Oropesa’s light and dulcet tone was ideal for both the roles of Eve and the angel Gabriel
— Daniel Hautzinger • ClevelandClassical.com
Lisette Oropesa est l'exemple même de chanteuse américaine très préparée, techniquement sans failles, mais qui a aussi une vraie personnalité scénique, lumineuse, engagée.
— Wanderer • Le blog du Wanderer
soprano Lisette Oropesa, whose lovely, plaintive vocal colorings made one anticipate her Susanna in the upcoming Ravinia performances of Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro"
— John von Rhein • Chicago Tribune
Her beaming smile and sparkling voice lit up the stage every time she came on. She sang with bright, playful innocence throughout, and was wonderfully endearing when she flirted with the gloomy Werther.
— Eric C. Simpson • New York Classical Review
Nannetta, the winning soprano Lisette Oropesa, sings with effortless grace and lyrical bloom.
— Anthony Tommasini • New York Times
She, for her part used her light, clear sound effectively, with no signs of strain up to high D in the climactic passage.
— Robert Croan • Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Soprano Lisette Oropesa made a pleasing debut as the suffering Amalia
— Charles T. Downey • Washington Post
Lisette Oropesa, who made everyone fall in love with her right from the outset in her company debut. Nothing in the evening surpassed her rendition of “Deh vieni, non tardar” in Act IV, in which she spun strands of magic in the evening air.
— James M. Keller • Santa Fe New Mexican
Soprano Lisette Oropesa was brilliant in Handel's lively “Da tempeste,” hitting the best high notes of the night and showing signs of being an opera star on the rise
— David Hendricks • My San Antonio
...beautifully sung from offstage by Lisette Oropesa.
— Vivien Schweitzer • New York Times
Oropesa also has, perhaps more noticably for some, a pure light lyric soprano that is as balanced and classically expressive as recent decades have seen.
— JSU • An Unamplified Voice
The soprano Lisette Oropesa made a fresh-faced and innocent Pamina. Her aria Ach, ich fühl’s, sung as she believes Tamino no longer loves her, was genuinely moving, with quietly intense high notes and assured, unforced articulation of quick passages.
— David Fleshler • South Florida Classical Review
Oropesa’s soprano simply dazzled in the seductive “V’adoro pupille,” and she convincingly made the key dramatic arc from sexy schemer to a heroine of profound feeling
— Mark Stryker • Detroit Free Press
"You could exhaust the dictionary looking for the perfect words to describe coloratura soprano Lisette Oropesa’s performance at Tucson Music Hall Saturday night. “Arresting.” “Stunning.” “Magnificent.” “Sublime.” Extraordinary.” They come to mind alongside “brilliant,” “breath-taking,” ‘divine” and “fearless.”"
— Cathalena E. Burch • Arizona Daily Star
Lisette Oropesa as Isemene sang with the most beautiful sound in the cast
— Zerbinetta • Bachtrack
...and the best singer of the bunch, the petit flapper that was Ms. Oropesa, had the best music. The light soprano consistently tossed off high notes and coloratura with ease, and then cleared out emotional space in the touching aria "Endless Grief."
— Andrew Druckenbrod • Pittsburgh Post Gazette
"She has a real feeling for the French language and style" and "A light lyric soprano with a full arsenal of bel canto effects at her disposal, she wields a distinctive, bell-like timbre that is instantly appealing"
— Eric Myers • Opera News
Lisette Oropesa as Miranda showed once again that she is one of the most radiant (yet sadly underused) talents at the Met
— DeCaffarrelli • Parterre
"Making her San Francisco Opera debut, 2005 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions winner Lisette Oropesa as Romilda displayed a most engaging light soprano with an especially lovely top. The highest notes may not boom out, but their sweetness and fragility cuts right to the heart."
— Jason Victor Serinus • San Francisco Classical Voice
Ismene, the (eventual) bride of Farnace, was the American soprano Lisette Oropesa, whose performance was remarkable: A very attractive voice and an excellent singer.
— José MªIrurzun • Seen and Heard International
And Lisette Oropesa, also a soprano, was charming as the chirpy Amor, meeting the production’s demand that she sing dangling from wires high above the stage with aplomb.
— James R. Oestreich • New York Times
New Orleans-born soprano Lisette Oropesa sang the role of Leila, the priestess at the apex of the love triangle. Audiences will recall her debut with the company a couple of seasons ago as Gilda in “Rigoletto.” Here she has truly found her voice, which has developed beautifully. She has the lightness and flexibility for Bizet’s lines, while also showing an impressive depth and richness, adding layers of color. She also is a charming singing actress, drawing out all she can from the sketchily defined role.
— Theodore P. Mahne • The Times-Picayune
Ms. Oropesa was exquisite in “Caro nome” from Verdi’s “Rigoletto.”
— Anthony Tommasini • New York Times
I was even more taken with Oropesa, the bright-voiced, very musical singer who played the chambermaid Susanna. Her sharpwitted and beautifully sung portrayal was a smooth fit with John Relyea's amused and amusing manservant, Figaro.
— John von Rhein • Chicago Tribune
Musically, things were more successful, starting with soprano Lisette Oropesa as Konstanze. Mozart put some of his most taxing vocal writing in “Seraglio,’’ including two arias for Konstanze — the mournful “Traurigkeit ward mir zum Lose’’ and the defiant “Martern aller Arten’’ — one after the other in Act II. Oropesa handled both with blistering power and assurance, as well as a range of vocal colors and emotional shadings. She is one to watch.
— David Weininger • Boston.com
Lisette Oropesa tiene una voz pequeña pero bella. Su Nannetta, junto al Fenton de Sola, formó un dúo de enamorados, juveniles y tiernos, y destacaría, entre las características de su técnica, su excelente fiato.
— Javier del Olivo • Mundo Classico
...while Oropesa's ardent, dewy soprano makes "Traurigkeit ward mir zum Lose" the high point of the work and delivers "Marten aller Arten" with ease while being showered with furs, silks, jewels and shoes (shoes!)...
— Anna Picard • The Independant
As his fiancée, Susanna, Lisette Oropesa was a dynamo: her singing had a bell-like purity and enviable agility; her stage presence was magnetic.
— Steve Smith • New York Times
Her voice strengthened act by act, but Oropesa had no problem with the singing even from the start, showing an easy trill and confidence through the part's range.
— JSU • An Unamplified Voice
Yet the hottest number of the evening was Oropesa. Resplendent in a cornflower-blue dress, she defied the mikes by tossing off impeccable trills in “Caro nome” from Rigoletto and coquettishly charming the audience with “Quando m’en vo” from La bohème (a last-minute change to the program that proved to be a brilliant move). Her agile, silky soprano earned the most bravos of the night.
— Olivia Giovetti • Time Out New York
...and the coloratura soprano Lisette Oropesa as, appropriately, Lisette offer sweet, lively and well-sung portrayals.
— Anthony Tommasini • New York Times
Her bright lyric soprano resulted in a rendition of "Caro nome" that literally stopped the show.
— Maria C. Montoya • The Times-Picayune
Ms. Oropesa’s last-minute elevation turns out to be a more interesting story than a pregnant Susanna. She proved a vocally and physically agile Susanna, with an attractively silky, flexible timbre. Her fine comic instincts and cheerfully bright sound put her in command of the stage during much of the first two acts. But she conveyed emotional depth too, most notably in her moving, dark-hued account of “Deh vieni, non tardar” in the final act.
— Allan Kozinn • New York Times