La traviata

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

...and the outstanding Oropesa brings psychological depth and emotional expressiveness to her sympathetic character, ranging from–and equally masterful at–the ebullient bel canto and decorative coloratura of Act I to the scaled-down drama and poignancy of Act III.

—  Debra Miller  •  phindie

In fact, Ms. Oropesa, the dramatic soprano who stars in the staging at the Academy of Music, brings so much gusto, so much soul to her Violetta, that it is sort of a miracle that the entire stage doesn’t blow up at the end of the three-hour show. Yes, she’s that good, and I’ve never seen an Opera Philadelphia audience react with such fervor to a performer in recent memory.

—  Bryan Buttler  •  PhillyMag

Through a series of stepped vocal shadings over more than two hours, she embraced Violetta's bubbly spirit, infused it with the pale resignation of the dejected lover, and, ultimately - in following one of Verdi's shrewdest emotional zigs - beautifully navigated the last moments of a euphoric consumptive. Oropesa has the instrument for the role, and she has the emotional intelligence.

Her performance grew. If in "Sempre Libera" Friday night her intonation and note placement were pinpoint accurate and her sound commanding, by Sunday afternoon the aria had acquired nuance. With her added lift on the word translating as "free," you felt buoyed.

—  Peter Dobrin  •  The Inquirer

It will be remembered as a 'were you there the night' soprano Lisette Oropesa made her debut as Violetta in "La Traviata." At the end, when the curtain closed and came back up on Oropesa standing alone on the stage, the whole Academy audience bounded to its feet, shouting and lustily applauding for after her spellbinding performance in one of the most vocally and emotionally demanding roles in all of opera.

—  Lewis Whittington  •  EDGE Pittsburgh

To judge from her first attempt at the role (heard Oct. 9), Lisette Oropesa bids fair to be among its great exponents in her generation.

Oropesa manifested secure technical chops—trills, staccati, pinpoint dynamics and—most impressively—a long, sustained line that allowed her to hold the audience breathless in both “Dite alla giovine” and the party scene ensembles. Her quicksilver tone aptly combined appealing girlish purity with lightly charged sensuality.

—  David Shengold  •  Opera News