Don Pasquale

Vocally, Oropesa was well ahead of the pack. Her command of phrasing of the coloratura is exceptional: she can accelerate into a run and shape the dynamic as she leads up to a high note which she duly nails in the middle, with no vibrato needed to mask any possible inaccuracy. The timbre is always perfectly smooth and controlled – even when executing complex runs and complex acting moves – and there’s plenty of power to ensure that she’s being heard above the orchestra. Oropesa’s voice had something of a hard edge, but that may well have been a deliberate point of characterisation: in the one scene in which Norina genuinely softens, her love scene with Ernesto, her voice acquired a sweetness that was notably absent for much of the evening. It was a properly starry prima donna performance.

—  David Karlin  •  Bachtrack

...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

Oropesa doesn’t have a huge voice but it’s a carefully placed one that sits absolutely securely but lightly on the roulades. This was a prima donna performance in every sense, and the foot-stamping accolades Oropesa received were totally deserved. At first there was a slightly hard edge to the tone - perhaps it was intended to reflect Norina’s flintiness - but in her Act 1 duet with Malatesta, and during her raging assault on Pasquale in the final act, Oropesa’s accuracy and ease were notable.

—  Claire Seymour  •  Opera Today

Norina (Lisette Oropesa) dozes at her writing desk. Did her husband die of natural causes? It seems unlikely. All greed, wit and wide, sexy eyes, with a sweet, fast vibrato, trills as neat as pinking shears and a prodigious appetite for the texture and flavour of the Italian language, Oropesa holds the performance.

—  Anna Picard  •  The Times

The stand out performance of the evening was Lisette Oropesa in the role of Norina. Her Norina was a cool customer, ready to use her looks in order to secure financial stability and social respectability and with a contemptuous attitude towards the elderly Pasquale. Her handling of Donizetti’s vocal fireworks and coloratura was absolutely outstanding. The decorative vocal lines flowed with a mellifluous ease and she brought wonderful tone colouring to the vocal line and thrilling top notes.

—  Robert Beattie  •  Seen and Heard International

Whilst every singer was good in their part, Lisette Oropesa who played Norina was nothing short of a revelation. It wasn’t just her singing that stole the show but her acting abilities, her last laugh instead of being sung, coming out as a snort, her actions, every movement that Oropesa made on that stage was exactly the right one to make and I am not surprised that at the curtain call it was her who made the building cheer, stomp and clap louder than for anyone else.

—  Stuart Review  •  The Stuart Review