Critical Acclaim

• Royal Albert Hall – Tosca

  "...with a fine cast whose ringing voices. Cynthia Lawrence's Tosca does [Puccini's] emotive vocal lines proud, Tosca's climactic death-leap from the angel of St. Michael, high above the orchestra, is as stunning as it should be."

  The Observer (Anthony Holden)

• Washington National Opera – Idomeneo

  "Lawrence tossed off her Act 3 aria with hard, edgy brilliance, and received one of the warmest ovations of the evening."

  The Washington Post (Tim Page)

• Atlanta Opera – Tosca

  "Her character doesn’t grow emotionally so much as merely react to increasingly desperate circumstances. Thus vocalism was the central appeal: her instrument purred smoothly in quiet, legato phrases and, with nice control, sparkled at the high, loud end of her range. All in all, a terrific evening of opera. Lawrence’s voice was beautiful...she was fantastic."

  Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Pierre Ruhe)

• Portland Opera – Tosca

  "Cynthia Lawrence's Tosca was neither frantic nor fussy. Lawrence has sung the role at the Metropolitan Opera and inhabited her character in the small nuances as well as the big gestures. Her clutching love of Cavaradossi, fingers curled into his shirt, faces inches apart, screamed "needy." Her stabbing accusation "You love her!" resounded thrillingly. But jealousy gave way to acidic hate as she circled Scarpia from one end of the stage to the other, he trying to smother her in his predatory wingspan. Unbowed, she sat crumpled and still on the ground, cushioning her famous aria "Vissi d'arte" ("I lived for art") on a stream of sound. Lawrence poured pain and full-throated tone into the notes. Her suicidal leap in the opera's final moments was as brave as they come: a blind, backward dive in layout position."

  The Oregonian (David Stabler)

• Metropolitan Opera – Tosca

  "Ms. Lawrence's fresher, more powerful performance gave the final act a jolt of electricity; she ended the work with an unusually agile backward leap off the parapet of the Castel Sant'Angelo. During her solo curtain call, the full house responded as vigorously as it had for Mr. Pavarotti."

  New York Times (Allan Kozinn)

• Opera Colorado – Macbeth

  "Anyone who sees this Macbeth can say they were present at a major Verdi debut, for Cynthia Lawrence's Lady Macbeth is nothing less than sensational..."

  Denver Post (Jeff Bradley)

• Opera Pacific – Macbeth

  "Lawrence clearly relished her work. Lustfully manipulating her husband (baritone Richard Paul Fink), her performance was electric, although her impressive vocalism alone carried the day. Lawrence succeeded in bringing off the challenging mixture of agility and force in "Vieni, t'affretta" and the scary D-flat in the final bar of the sleepwalking scene."

  David Gregson

• Lyric Opera of Chicago – Mourning Becomes Electra

  "Lavinia.... [was] brilliantly sung by soprano Cynthia Lawrence.... Lawrence is one of Lyric's shining success stories and she inhabited the opera's pivotal role with great dramatic conviction and a rich, steady soprano that soared, rather than circled, when flinging fistfuls of high notes to the far reaches of the theater."

  Chicago Tribune (John van Rhein)

• Metropolitan Opera – La bohème

  "...Cynthia Lawrence, as the more outgoing Musetta, was more consistently striking. Her voice, small and well-focused, is better suited to a soubrette role than to the brassy, flamboyant Musetta. But she used it intelligently enough to make one accept it, and she acted the role with a natural easiness and sparkle."

  New York Times (Allan Kozinn)

• Metropolitan Opera – Die Fledermaus

  "The American soprano Cynthia Lawrence made her MET debut as Rosalinde in Thursday evening's Fledermaus and offered a credible piece of singing in this often unflattering role. Ms. Lawrence seems to have made Rosalinde a sort of calling card and nothing in the role daunted her."

  New York Times (Kenneth Furie)