Faustine, THE INVENTION OF MOREL

 

"Soprano and COT mainstay Valerie Vinzant is wonderfully alluring as the strange object of the Fugitive's desire. Faustine's melismatic vocal lines and glissandos add to her otherworldly aspect. Our final, haunting image of the opera's central figures is of them lounging alongside each other at sunset along a deserted shore, lovers forever united in spirit but forever separated in time."

 

-Chicago Tribune

 

"And then there is the cool, elusive man magnet Faustine (Valerie Vinzant, a powerful soprano with a supermodel allure, flapper bob and the ability to unfold on a beach towel with balletic grace). The Fugitive immediately falls madly in love with her, even if, in the face of all his efforts to pursue her on the beach, he remains entirely transparent."

 

-Chicago Sun-Times 

 

 

Celia, LUCIO SILLA

 "Celia (gorgeously sung by soprano Valerie Vinzant)"

 

  -Chicago Tribune 

 

"Valerie Vinzant delivered a meltingly beautiful Celia"

 

  -Opera News

"Valerie Vinzant’s pliant voice and open-hearted characterization, and Maeve Höglund’s power and pyrotechnics carry the day." 

 

  -New City Stage

 

 

 

Euridice, ORPHEUS AND EURIDICE

 "In Valerie Vinzant he has an ideal romantic and musical partner. The soprano doubles as an Euridice of striking vocal and physical beauty, and as a storyteller who guides the audience unerringly through each swift change of scene. She stops the show with her haunting song, "I Am Part of Something Now," in which Euridice exults in the connectedness Orpheus' love has brought her."

 

-Chicago Tribune

 

 

 

Agilea, TESEO

"The fine soprano Valerie Vinzant, stepping in at the last moment, was luminous as an Agilea who was steadfast without being a drip. Her "Deh V'aprite," accompanied by a pair of undultaing flutes was exquisitely shaped."

 

  -New York Times

 

"Valerie Vinzant was hustled in from Chicago as a late replacement. And what a replacement! Vinzant, who recently completed an apprenticeship at the Los Angeles Opera, gave an utterly dazzling performance, marked by tonal grace, technical brilliance and clarity of phrasing. her duet with Forsythe to conclude Act 4 was a knockout display of competitive warbling."

 

-San Francisco Chronicle

 

 

 

 

Amour, ORPHEE

"Former LA Opera Young Artist Valerie Vinzant was delicious as Amour, and provided by far the most idiomatic and expressive French diction of the evening."

 

  -Opera Today

 

"Valerie Vinzant was an expressive, vibrant Amour"

 

  -The Seattle Times

 

 

 

Williamson Girl, THE DIFFICULTY OF CROSSING A FIELD

 "As the Williamson girl, Valerie Vinzant, a young soprano who has been getting noticed at Los Angeles Opera, sings mostly lying down, dazed and confused yet in a lovely reverie. Could it be because Mr. Williamson did not talk to the horses about the history of horses, the daughter asks. Her gorgeous voice gives it plausibility."

 

  -Los Angeles Times

 

"As his daughter, Valerie Vinzant, new to LBO but groomed by LA Opera, displays lovely timbre and enigmatic presence with economic gestures."

 

-The Hollywood Reporter

 

"The big revelation in the cast is Valerie Vinzant (right), whose breathtaking performance predicts a bright future for this up-and-coming soprano. Her tone is liquid to the top, shimmering where others would falter, in a portrayal that is pleading, desperate and absolutely magnetic: she is elegantly beautiful, but swimming in grief.  This is an artist to keep an eye out for."

 

-Lauri's List Reviews

 

"Though Mrs. Williamson, who, in Bierce’s story was deemed mad and thereby incompetent to testify, is the main character in the opera, the Williamsons’ daughter seems the best voice for its haunting nature."

 

-Signal Tribune

 

"Valerie Vinzant was superb as the Williamson Girl"

 

-Opera West

 

"Valerie Vinzant, who made an impression in last month’s “Moscow, Cherry Town,” revealed herself as a rising star with a magnificently sung and acted daughter."

 

-The Long Beach Gazette

 

"As the young Williamson girl, Valerie Vinzant spends her time on the floor drawing and recalling the last thing her father said to her—"What is the point of talking crap like that?"—in response to her Cassandra-like suggestion that the horses know something important and must be understood. Lang has given the character music as lovely as anything in the piece, and Vinzant sings it rivetingly."

 

  -A Fool in the Forest

 

Iris, SEMELE

" ...soprano Valerie Vinzant practically steals the show as the comically willful and wanton Iris, divine servant and temptress."

 

-Seattle Times

 

 

Bellante, ALIMRA

"Valerie Vinzant brought a high brightness to Bellante."

 

-The Wall Street Journal

 

"Valerie Vinzant’s sprightly soprano delighted us as Bellante."

 

-The Boston Music Intelligencer

 

"I was likewise taken with the rich, erotically charged color of Tyler Duncan's Raymondo, and the sparkle of soprano Valerie Vinzant's vixenish Bellante."

 

  -The Hub Review

 

Lidochka, MOSCOW CHERRY TOWN 

"The singing, for the most part, is stronger than the characterizations, though Southwell, Vinzant, Gomez and Hanson offer colorfully complete performances."

 

-Los Angeles Times

 

"Valerie Vinzant sang Lidochka, a museum guide who hopes to move into one of the new high rise apartments with her father. She's a recent graduate of the Domingo-Thorton Young Artist Program at Los Angeles Opera and has made notable appearances with her bright, easy sound successfully around town including Musica Angelica's recent semi-staged version of Mozart's Zaide."

 

-Out West Arts

 

"Valerie Vinzant was pert and sassy as Lidochka, and sang beautifully."

 

-The Long Beach Gazette

 

"Valerie Vinzant, as a repressed museum guide, got the best music and sang it with lovely tone and delicate feeling."

 

-The Orange County Register

 

"John Atkins' Boris is a raffish charmer, his eye out for the main chance, but sincerely smitten with Valerie Vinzant's Lidochka—as who would not be?  Ms. Vinzant is at home with comic physicality, implying hidden depths beneath her character's straight-laced exterior. That calculated gawkiness combined with a strong and beautiful singing voice is extremely winning, and reminds me again why Ms. Vinzant made a practically perfect Papagena in Los Angeles Opera's most recent Magic Flute."

 

  -A Fool in the Forest 

 

 

Zaide, ZAIDE

"There was stylish playing from the orchestra and a chance for Valerie Vinzant to shine as Zaide. A graduate of L.A. Opera’s Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program who has sung small parts with the company, she produces a solid and silvery soprano... the indication was clear that she is capable of much."

 

-Los Angeles Times

 

"Valerie Vinzant sang Zaide with a bright silvery tone. She’s an attractive and interesting performer who was well matched with Andrew Bidlack in the role of Zaide’s lover, Gomatz."

 

-Out West Arts

 

 

Giannetta, L’ELISIR D’AMORE 

"Soprano Valerie Vinzant (in the supporting role of Giannetta) is lovely both to look at and to hear."

 

-LASplash

 

"Valerie Vinzant who sang Giannetta is a promising second year member of the Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program. She made a fine impression on the main stage and we can hope to see more of her as time goes on." 

 

-Music and Vision  

 

"Meanwhile, the average opera-follower was not anticipating the valuable participation of charming soprano Valerie Vinzant, too hard to overlook in the “supporting” role of Giannetta. She’s like the fourth musketeer, the fifth singer in an opera with four juicy roles."

 

-Opera West

 

"We enjoyed our glimpse of soprano Valerie Vinzant who is a second year member of Los Angeles Opera’s Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program. Her refreshing Giannetta will no doubt be the beginning of many more memorable roles to come."

 

-operaonline.com

 

LA Opera Orchestra with Maestro Placido Domingo

"Yet one was especially impressed by Brookhyser’s smooth, richly caressed phrasing and Vinzant’s delectable lyric soprano in the Flower Duet from Delibes’ Lakmé."

 

-Los Angeles Times

 

Papagena, MAGIC FLUTE

"Another Company debutante was Valerie Vinzant as Papagena, whose flirty hip wiggles with Papageno during their fin-de-opera duet about making lots of children greatly amused the audience."

 

-Classical Voice

 

"Here we see Werba with his Papagena (the feisty Valerie Vinzant, making us wish her role was a larger one)"

 

-A Fool in the Forest

 

Bachianas Brasilieras 

 "This occasion the cellists on stage are joined by a performer who could just as easily be mistaken for a Vogue model for her classic beauty. Well she's far too elevated and accomplished for that. Soprano Valerie Vinzant added her beautiful pure silk voice... the audience was entranced with the Aria from Villa-Lobos's Bachianas Brasileiras."

 

-OPF Editor in Chief