Critical Acclaim

Opera Australia – Lady Macbeth of Mtsenk

Daniel Sumegi portrayed the archetypal dominant rich male, who has power and status but is suspicious and fearful behind closed doors. Sumegi’s vehement vocal power sent chills down the spine of the listeners and thrilled them by its ability to carry over the full orchestra with such ringing might.

Daniala Kaleva, Australian Stage, April 27, 2009

Daniel Sumegi is at his best as Katerina's sinister and cruel father-in-law.  He is consistently vocally powerful and dramatically well controlled.  

John Hay-Mackenzie, The Sunday Herald Sun, May 3, 2009

State Opera of South Australia – Der fliegende Holländer

But equally outstanding is Daniel Sumegi as Daland, whose big, throaty bass makes him a wonderful, blustery old sea dog with a touch of opportunistic menace: he keeps one eye firmly on the treasure the Dutchman promises him in return for his daughter's hand in marriage.

Graham Strahle, The Australian

Daniel Sumegi's Daland, sonorous and physically imposing, pits his dark bass voice against Wegner's lighter timbre in the first act to immense effect.

Ewart Shaw, Adelaide Now

Seattle Opera – The Ring Cycle

Hagen's misfortune was not to have Gibich as his father, but the dwarf Alberich (Richard Paul Fink), who had wooed and enthralled the crowd on opening night. In this enlarged role as the evil and embittered Hagen, Sumegi shone and dominated the stage in Act One. In my opinion, he was the closest we came throughout the cycle to a bona fide baddie. He was so good I could swear people wanted to boo the character as much as applaud the performer at the close, which is the hallmark of a convincing and fantastic performance in this kind of role.

                                                          Steve Clare, Seattle Examiner

Daniel Sumegi brings a rich and stunning bass to the role of Hagen, their half-brother and son of the dwarf Alberich (Richard Paul Fink), the ring’s covetous maker. It is Hagen’s potion that makes Siegried forget his love for Brünnhilde, and betray her by aiding his new royal friends. Sumegi’s stately frame serves as a vessel of malice that moves the story forward, loading the weight of guilt that Hawkins’ Gunther crushingly bears.

Gianni Truzzi, Seattle Post-Globe

Arizona Opera – Mikado

Daniel Sumegi’s superbly projected Poo-Bah proved a hoot and a half, his voice in mellowly rumbustious estate.

David Shengold, Opera News

Washington National Opera – Elektra

As her son Orest, who had fled in exile after his father, the King Agamemnon, had been murdered, and who has now returned to help Elektra in the revenge murders of both Klytemnästra and her husband Aegisth, baritone Daniel Sumegi gave a commanding portrayal. He also has a huge voice and he paired well with Susan Bullock. They were memorable in the famous “Recognition Scene.” His presence created a real sense of foreboding and impending horror.

Micaele Sparacino, Concertonet.com

As Orestes, Australian baritone Daniel Sumegi is a big bear of a man with a deep, threatening voice to match, which added some needed ballast to this soprano-heavy score.

Tim Smith, The Washington Times

Daniel Sumegi cut a tall, beefy figure as Orest, with a big, sturdy sound to match.

Tim Smith, Opera News

Opera Australia – Tannhaüser

The Landgrave was sung with resonant authority by bass Daniel Sumegi, always an impressive performer.

Sandra Bowdler, The Opera Critic

As Hermann, Daniel Sumegi blended vocal power with Neidhardt's delicate lacings of hypocrisy in the characterisation.

Peter McCallum, The Sydney Morning Herald

Seattle Opera – Die fliegende Holländer

The Australian bass Daniel Sumegi, meanwhile, was a sympathetic Daland – a personage whose easy-going venality and cosy human warmth recall the character of Rocco in Beethoven’s Fidelio –and projected with style and apparent ease the Italian melodic lines that coexist in the score with hints of the mature Wagner to come.

 Bernard Jackson, Seen and Heard

There wasn't a weak spot anywhere in the cast, not with supporting roles filled by the likes of Daniel Sumegi (a terrific and multifaceted Daland).

Melinda Bargreen, The Seattle Times

Daniel Sumegi's Daland, Senta's father, was appropriately sober-minded, a figure of everyday life who didn't let love get in the way of greed.

R.M. Campbell, The Seattle Post Intelligencer

Making his debut with Seattle Opera, Australian Daniel Sumegi made a marvelously robust Daland. Playing him as a simple seafaring man, Sumegi seemed entirely at home with the character and with his easygoing, easy-flowing bass-baritone. His voice melded perfectly with Grimsley's in the lovely Act II duet, and he showed a nice sense of humor in handling those awkward transitional moments when Daland is with Senta and the Dutchman.

John F. Hulcoop, Opera News

Scottish Opera – Der Rosenkavalier

Decay is omnipresent in the seedy glamour and guttering candles of the set (McVicar's own). The tone is at times as much angry as nostalgic. One is struck... above all, in the way in which class divides are temporarily set aside in the communal ostracism of Daniel Sumegi's lubricious, unusually attractive Ochs.

Tim Ashely, The Guardian

Of the male line-up, Daniel Sumegi's Baron Ochs was big, booming and buffoon-like where it mattered.

Kenneth Wilson, The Scotsman

Above all, this time around, McVicar has a cast that is potentially faultless, making it quite hard to decide who is the protagonist…Daniel Sumegi's articulate, not merely buffoonish Baron Ochs - the role favoured by Strauss himself, portrayed here as someone still quite young, by no means obese and flamboyant enough to have won his Sophie were she a different sort of person.

Conrad Wilson, The Herald