Production Reviews
STARS OF THE BOLSHOI, Carnegie Hall
“This was simply one of the best live performances – Even better than expected! All five singers distinguished themselves with excellent technique, great skill and powerful voices. A standing ovation. This concert … may change things for the better.”
– Maya, Pritsker, Novoye Ruskoye Slovo
LA BOHEME by Puccini
“When La Boheme receives the kind of truly warm, glowing and knowing performance that it did last night at the Auditorium Center, then it at least seems like history’s greatest opera. Last night’s American Opera performance showed La Boheme is more than a soap opera. Highly nuanced, flesh and blood stand-out performances. There was much to admire in the production’s extraordinary sweep and vigor.”
– Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
“La Boheme was the best show we ever had! The audience was captivated. It was mesmerizing.”
– Beckley Concert Series
“La Boheme had beautiful voices, outstanding ensemble, coherence and stability.”
– Washington Post
IOLANTA by Tchaikovski
“A moving performance, gleaming voices, gently rendered.”
– Washington Post
“Once the music started and the accomplished vices soared, the audience was enraptured.”
– Washington Times
“Diana Corto won praise for her producing skill. The voices were excellent. The evening was a huge success.”
– Palm Beach Daily News
LA MOLINARA by Paisiello (American Premiere)
“Corto’s singers made a romp of the affair and sang with confidence and grace. American Opera made history with the American debut of La Molinara. Ensembles bubbled with energy and good cheer.”
– American Record Review
“This performance was projected energetically and with good humor by everyone on stage.”
– New York Times
THE JEWEL BOX by Mozart/Griffiths
(New York Premiere, produced for American Opera Co., subsequent production produced by Diana Corto for New Jersey State Opera)
“Elegant! Touchingly Human, Playful! A thinking person’s opera, Mozart’s uncanny combination of formal manners and feeling…welcome debut of American Opera Co.”
– New York Times
“Mozart sparklers… a jewel box of musical treasures. High Art! A fun show and also a show for thoughtful operagoers.”
– Newark Star Ledger
“The American Opera, under its dynamic director, Diana Corto, aims to continue to present new works. Based on this most inventive and enjoyable initial sampling, I can only wish them much continued success.”
– Opera Glass
FAIR AT SOROCHINSK by Moussorgski (West Coast Premiere)
“Under the direction of Diana Corto, California State Opera Workshop produced the west coast premiere of Moussorgsky’s opera, The Fair at Sorochinsk. It was exceptionally fine, nuanaced, entertaining; with good humor”
– Los Angeles Tribune
