LAWRENCE BROWNLEE: REVIEW EXCERPTS
CARAMOOR FESTIVAL 2009
as IDRENO in Rossinii's Semiramide
“In the role of the king, Lawrence Brownlee, a rising bel canto
star, delivered his arias with aplomb, singing with a clear, expressive
voice; fluid phrasing; ringing top notes; and effortless coloratura.”
-Vivien Schweitzer, The New York Times, August 4, 2024
“The Indian prince Idreno stands a bit apart from the core drama,
but he has two splendid arias, which the fine tenor Lawrence Brownlee
delivered with succulent tone and technical panache.”
- George Loomis, MusicalAmerica.com, August 5, 2024
“Tenor Lawrence Brownlee has recently conquered the Met and various
European houses as well as Caramoor in its recent L’elisir d’amore.
He is of the Juan Diego Flórez school of singing - uncannily
accurate coloratura, easy high Bs, Cs and Ds, superb breath control and
nice stage presence. His voice may even be a bit more appealing than Mr.
Flórez’s, whose delivery can be overly bright. The cuts in
his arias were a pity; the audience could have listened to him for hours.”
-Robert Levine, www.classicstoday.com, July 31, 2024
“The big surprise of the evening was Lawrence Brownlee as Idreno,
an incidental character (I guess Rossini needed a tenor). Mr. Brownlee,
though, has an extraordinarily clear tenor voice, and in both his arias,
he essayed all the florid lines with ease.”
-Harry Rolnick, www.ConcertoNet.com, July 31, 2024
“It’s a treat to hear a really beautiful voice sing a high
Rossini role (in contrast to the capon squawking you get from a lot of
the boys), particularly since Brownlee doesn’t sacrifice anything
in brilliance of coloratura.”
-La Cieca (a.k.a James Jorden), Parterre Box (www.parterre.com), August
4, 2009
as NEMORINO in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore
" Mr. Crutchfield, a gifted young cast headed by the vibrant soprano
Georgia Jarman and the impressive tenor Lawrence Brownlee, the Orchestra
of St. Luke’s and the Caramoor Festival Chorus rose to the challenge
in a performance so well prepared it came across as natural and spontaneous.
Mr. Brownlee, on a career roll right now, had the requisite vocal qualities
for Nemorino: pliant phrasing, deftly dispatched coloratura passagework,
easy top notes and, when called for, real carrying power. From his first
moments Mr. Brownlee brought out the yearning in Donizetti’s music.”.
In ‘Una furtive lagrima,’ the show-stopping aria in which
Nemorino dares to hope that Adina may actually love him, Mr. Brownlee
sang with melting legato and expressive intensity. He offered a variation
on the second stanza, from a source in Donizetti’s own hand, according
to Mr. Crutchfield, that made this touchstone aria seem almost new."
-Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, July 19, 2024
"The chief delight of the July 18 performance of this opera by ‘Bel
Canto at Caramoor’ was the role debut of Lawrence Brownlee as Nemorino.
Until now, he has enjoyed acclaim almost completely in the "Rossini tenor"
repertoire that, besides the operas written by the Pesaro master, takes
in brilliant high roles such as Tonio in "La fille du régiment" and Arturo
in "I puritani." The tessitura of Nemorino sits a little lower, and, more
to the point, his music is almost exclusively lyrical, with a minimum
of fioratura and little tradition of interpolated stratospheric notes.
So it was a pleasant surprise to hear Brownlee wrap his honeyed....voice
around this music. Because he carries so little weight up to the top of
the staff, the technically tricky climaxes of "Una furtiva lagrima," which
all sit right on the tenor passaggio, spun out so easily that the aria
took on an unaccustomed though ravishing feeling of repose. He also commands
an easy, unforced legato that made the music sound particularly elegant,
even in the fast-ish tempo set by conductor Will Crutchfield, director
of opera for the Caramoor Festival. The tenor decorated the second stanza
of the aria with ornate though unfussy variations (according to the program
notes, "in Donizetti's own hand")..."
- James Jorden, Musical America
"Lawrence Brownlee stands out among the current stellar crop of bel
canto singers: Full command of a smooth, pingy sound; even scale and crisp
diction; plus confidence up to ringing high Ds make him a go-to guy for
technically demanding Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti roles. The affable
Ohio-born tenor scored a triumph at Milan’s La Scala before embarking
on the conquest of virtually every American opera house. The Metropolitan
Opera audience responded vociferously to his Count in an April 2007 run
of The Barber of Seville; playing Prince Charming in the company’s La
Cenerentola this May, he walked off with the HD simulcast.
Will Crutchfield, the presiding bel canto guru at Katonah’s leafy Caramoor
festival, had the smarts to snare Brownlee for both of his opera programs
this year. Each represents a role debut for the singer, whose repertoire
is growing as fast as his renown. It’s amazing that Brownlee’s never done
the lovelorn suitor of Donizetti’s over-easy but touching L’elisir d’Amore."
- David Shengold, NYtimeout.com
"Lawrence Brownlee (who headlines both Caramoor operas this summer)
is one of the fastest rising young singers on the international opera
scene. Having made his professional debut only 7 years ago, he has already
appeared at La Scala and Covent Garden and won critical acclaim for two
leading roles on the Met stage. Quickly becoming one of the main go-to
bel canto tenors of the day, he added another notch to his belt singing
his first Nemorino Saturday night. Even while cutting a dashing figure
in a tuxedo, Brownlee effectively depicted the lovestruck schlub at the
center of the story. His smooth tenor filled the house, easily reaching
the money notes that the opera aficionados in the crowd were noticeably
anticipating."
- Matt Blank, Playbill Arts
“…the evening really belonged to the Nemorino, Lawrence Brownlee,
a fast-rising leggiero tenor who won substantial ovations in La Cenerentola
at the Met last May. With his sweet tone, fastidious pitch, and poetic
phrasing, Brownlee made ‘Una furtiva lagrima’ and other familiar
fare sound intriguingly fresh, banishing, for a moment, the ghosts of
Caruso and Pavarotti. He is likely to have another hit when he returns
[to Caramoor later in the month] for Semiramide.”
-Alex Ross, The New Yorker, August 3, 2009,
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