Salammbô, title role (Phillipe Fénelon, composer)
The American Mezzo-soprano Emily Golden was outstanding in the title role, strong dramatically and vocally and investing her part with more nuance than it really has.
The International Herald Tribune
Having taken over the title role at short notice, the American Soprano Emily Golden gave a performance of immense poise and authority…her singing was beautifully sustained and her French impeccable.
Andrew Clark
Financial Times
The part of the protagonist is murderous for the expressive intensity it requires. The temperament and vocal technique of Mezzo-soprano Emily Golden are formidable.
Corriere della Sera
The Mezzo-soprano Emily Golden gave the enormous title role all-encompassing vocal and dramatic energy.
Frankfurter Allgemerne
…a largely American cast serves this aim magnificently, starting with Emily Golden, tragedienne and great dramatic Mezzo-soprano.
Le Figaro
…complex and radiant Salammbô.
Le Monde
The singers are remarkable-Emily Golden, a touching Salammbô.
Tribune de Genève
Emily Golden had a convincing success.
Die Welt
In the title role, Mezzo Emily Golden made a successful debut here, with music that sometimes allowed her to show off the warmth of her voice.
The Wall Street Journal Europe
The Composer, Ariadne auf Naxos
Emily Golden shines as the Composer, both vocally and dramatically.
Corriere della Sera
The best was the expressive (Mezzo) soprano of Emily Golden in the trouser role of the Composer.
La Stampa
An intense and vibrant Emily Golden offered an excellent portrayal of the trouser role of the Composer in the Prologue.
L’Avvenire
Emily Golden uses her voice well and generously expressed the tormented character of the Composer.
Il Messagero
The Composer of Emily Golden was vocally correct and superbly acted.
Il Tempo
Emily Golden warmly expressed the Composer’s character.
L’Unita
Carmen, title role
Miss Golden was a Carmen who didn’t over sing. Her voice flowed. She used the words. She brought the music and the character to life with flickering, teasing inflections, flashes of anger, phrases of seductive smoothness.
The New Yorker
The (London) Financial Times
Miss Golden is an astonishing artist. What raises her performance above the ordinary is an ability to project a Carmen who dominates the action not because of what she does, but because of what she is. The Habanera is sung without the least movement or gesture, yet this very immobility proves utterly gripping. Here is a Carmen who is not a vamp but an instrument of fate.
(London) Sunday Observer
…the title role being sung and acted with compelling insight by Emily Golden, whose experience in Peter Brook’s production shows in her capacity to dominate the stage and to present a credible and tragic figure. Her lower register is strikingly beautiful, walnut rather than mahogany, and her singing grew more alluring as Don Jose’s became (correctly) more strident.
The (London) Telegraph
Emily Golden’s Carmen is a vibrant blend of self-possession and visual allure.
(London) Sunday Telegraph
Emily Golden has the makings of a memorable Carmen. Dark and slender, she moved with catlike vitality that never let you forget the gypsy’s wiliness. Her chemistry with (Neil) Shicoff’s Don Jose was palpable.
Chicago Tribune
In this cast a skinny, sexy Carmen – the bad girl – is contrasted with a plump, dull Micaela – the symbol of virtue. It is no contest. Emily Golden’s Carmen is a highly developed character, evolved during long experience with the role. She is as adept at seduction in Act Two as she is at stoicism in Act Four.
Chicago Sun Times
This opera belongs to the title character, and in Mezzo-soprano Emily Golden, Lyric has truly struck gold for its latest Carmen. Not only does the New York native look the part of the gypsy seductress, her Habanera, Seguedilla and Gypsy Song are something to behold; this is great singing and acting.
Daily Herald, Chicago
Emily Golden was sexy and her singing was glorious.
Opera News
Emily Golden’s Carmen epitomizes all that I suspect this director intends for his production. She sits on the floor, back to the wail, absolutely motionless and sings a Habanera that will rivet you–provocative, feline and fluid. She spits like a hellcat but at root is unshakable fatalistic and honest.
Glasgow Herald (Scotland)
With a figure appropriate for the sharp and successful sexuality of the part and a voice that holds the attention without bullying, Emily Golden is the kind of Carmen opera directors dream of.
Liverpool Echo
…in Emily Golden the audience gets a title character who is as seductive vocally as she is dramatically.
St.Louis Post-Dispatch
Klytämnestra, Elektra
Elektra’s primary antagonist, her mother Klytämnestra, was well sung by mezzo- soprano Emily Golden…
David Mead
Statesman.com
Amneris, Aida
Emily Golden delivered the wildly diverse role of Amneris with complete dedication. She electrified the stage, transforming from glamour to nobility to passion to sinister abandon with musicality, zeal, and grace. …Now that’s impressive.
James Rodgers
Bloomington Independent
Emily Golden’s Amneris is brilliant
Whitney Smith
Indianapolis Star
Emily Golden sings the role of Amneris…..with an excellent portrayal of the Egyptian princess’ jealousy and treachery
Tom Aldridge
NUVO Indianapolis
Two fantastic performers stood out. Emily Golden was fabulous as the spurned Amneris…a terrific performance by this talented lady.
Charles Epstein
Jewish Post
Emily Golden was a strong and smooth voiced Amneris.
George Walker
Indiana.edu
Jokasta, Oedipus
Emily Golden sang with proud emphasis the murderous part of Jokasta.
Berliner Morgenpost é-Die Welt
Absolutely superlative as well was the vocal, musical and dramatic performance of the protagonist (Andreas Schmidt) and his partner (Emily Golden).
Suddeutsche Zeitung
…overwhelming concentration and mezzo beauty of Emily Golden.
Opera News
Emily Golden as Jokasta: powerful, secure, an excellent timbre.
Die Zeit
Baba the Turk, The Rake’s Progress
Baba the Turk is a sure-fire, winning role and Emily Golden made the most of it with her massive voice and show-biz pizzazz.
Opera
Anna I, Seven Deadly Sins
…Emily Golden sang Anna I’s music vividly…
Allan Kozinn
The New York Times
In the end the evening was saved by a classy, absorbing performance from Mezzo-soprano Emily Golden, whose dusky voice lent Weill’s “The Seven Deadly Sins” an appropriate depth and melancholy.
Paul Horsley
The Kansas City Star
Maria Macapa, McTeague
Emily Golden was positively virtuosic, singing with dark-hued shining energy. She never broke the music’s line…
The New York Times
Azucena, Il Trovatore
Golden’s Azucena seemed warm and maternal on the surface, but deeper passions bubbled below….Azucena accented lyrical phrases with piercing notes from her bottom register in Act Two’s Stride La Vampa…
Whitney Smith
Indianapolis Star
Azucena, may have stolen the evening with her many splendored portrayal of Manrico’s gypsy mother. In any case, her Act 2 dialogue/duet with her son was the singing high point of the production.
TA
The Azucena of the production, Emily Golden, was portraying her part, a difficult one vocally and dramatically, for the first time. She did amazingly well as the gypsy who holds much of the mystery that surrounds the various characters and their relationships.
Peter Jacobi
The Herald Times
Mother Marie, Les Dialogues des Carmélites
Emily Golden was a haunting presence as Mother Marie.
Wes Blomster
Opera Now
With Emily Golden’s powerful mezzo the role takes on diamond hard brilliance.
Glenn Giffin
Denver Post
…and Emily Golden is a forceful, if sometimes heavy-handed, presence as the upright Mother Maire.
Jim Lillie
Westword
…and Emily Golden was noble and secure as Mother Marie.
Marc Shulgold
www.operanews.com
Nancy, Martha
Mezzo-soprano Emily Golden has just finished singing here as the Secretary in Menotti’s The Consul and she is equally extraordinary in the role of Nancy. Her voice is a glory, her stage presence and acting ability are dazzling.
The Washington Post
The Secretary, The Consul
Having sung the Consul’s obstructionist Secretary with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington Opera and in Monte Carlo (directed by Menotti), Emily Golden currently owns the role. Her synergy with conductor Joel Revzen seemed effortless, and her seductive appearance in Magda’s dream was elastic and assured.
Leslie Kandell
Opera News
Emily Golden shines as the supercilious, detached, self-important “rules are rules” Secretary, the prototype of many found in government offices, cable-TV companies, and HMOs.
Benjamin Pernick
Fanfare
Mezzo soprano Emily Golden injected some needed humor into her turn as the rule-obsessed Secretary… Golden showed us the humanity in the Secretary, and just a glimpse of fear she felt at straying from the norm.
Kathleen Allen
Arizona Daily Star
Ottavia, The Coronation of Poppea
The best voices in the cast were those of Emily Golden and Will Roy.
The Washington Post
Emily Golden played Ottavia with revenge in her eyes and luster in her voice.
The Washington Times
However, it was Emily Golden’s phenomenal – and I do mean phenomenal – performance as Ottavia which really knocked me off my feet. Singing the doomed Empress’ music with rare passion while acting the pants off the role, Miss Golden gave one of those legendary demonstrations of what the new breed of American artists can do when given half a chance. The intensity of her portrayal as well as the strength of her musicianship places this young mezzo on a level with such seasoned artists as Leonie Rysanek and Helga Dernesch, a compliment I don’t give lightly; keep an eye out for Miss Golden — she’s the real thing.
San Francisco Bay Area Reporter
Countess Geschwitz, Lulu
Emily Golden as the lesbian Countess Geschwitz had vocally great moments
Berliner Morgenpost
Mezzo-soprano Emily Golden finds understated glory in the role of Countess Geschwitz.
Toronto Sun
Cecilia March, Little Women
…the singers on stage were excellent. Adamo favors mezzo-sopranos in his score, and four of them – Jennifer Dudley as Jo, Jennifer Rivera as Meg, Gwendolyn Jones as the ‘good’ mother, and Emily Golden as the ‘wicked aunt’ – offered rich, textured performances.
Willa J. Conrad
New Jersey Star Ledger
Emily Golden has great power as Jo’s demanding, wealthy Aunt.
Howard Kissel
New York Daily News
Emily Golden, who sang the role of the dowager Aunt Cecilia with a permanent sneer and indignant voice, was a relief from so much goodness. Adamo might consider writing a sequel about her.
Justin Davidson
Newsday
The cast was superb.
John Rockwell
The New York Times
La Donna del Lago
Emily Golden showed that her voice and talent are capable of stardom.
The New York Post
Sonyetka, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
Emily Golden’s Sonyetka traded in opulent mezzo tones.
San Francisco Examiner
The biggest surprise in the cast was the superb performance of Emily Golden in the small but powerful role of the convict Sonyetka. Her mezzo has a purity of tone, clarity, accuracy and dramatic power that I would like to hear again.
The Washington Post
Whitman Triptych –William Bolcom, Composer
(New York premiere, American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall)
…His vocal writing is graceful, and Emily Golden, a Mezzo-soprano, sang it affectingly.
Allan Kozinn
The New York Times