Reviews
Drusilla & Amore – Monteverdi: L’incoronazione di Poppea, June 2024, The Grange Festival, UK
Photocredits: Craig Fuller
The Telegraph, Nicholas Kenyon, 8 June 2024:
Vanessa Waldhart’s pert doubling of Drusilla with the goddess Amore enabled her both to be a lynchpin of the plot to kill Poppea and the architect of her union with; […] Ottone is a pawn in her hands.
The Guardian, Clive Paget, 10 Jun 2024:
…The rest are outstanding. […] Vanessa Waldhart makes a vivacious Drusilla…
The Times, Rebecca Franks, June 09 2024:
Christopher Lowrey’s easily manipulated Ottone is soft-edged in voice, while Vanessa Waldhart’s Drusilla (doubling as Amore) makes a sharper impression.
Music ОМН, Melanie Eskenazi, 14 June 2024:
Vanessa Waldhart and Christopher Lowrey made a convincing pair of lovers, although it was as Amore that the soprano really shone.
The Stage, George Hall, JUN 10, 2024:
…in addition to her animated Drusilla, Vanessa Waldhart sings Love – most puzzlingly, at one point without any change of costume.
The Article, Mark Ronan, June 16, 2024:
…Drusilla (Vanessa Waldhart) who gladly accepts the proffered love of Ottone, though he really yearns for Poppea, was a delight.
Backtrack, David Truslove, 10 Juni 2024:
Vanessa Waldhart’s Drusilla was keenly sung..
mundoclasico.com, Agustín Blanco Bazán, 21 de junio de 2024:
…an excellent Vanessa Waldhart managed Drusilla and Amore.
Planet Hugill, June 24, 2024:
Waldhart spent a lot of time as Amore, watching over proceedings and this shaded into her performance as a very sympathetic Drusilla, focused and intent.
Opera Today, Curtis Rogers, June 25, 2024:
That is complemented by the colour, even flirtatiousness, of Vanessa Waldhart’s performance in the latter role {Drusilla}, as also in her impersonation of Love, drawing a telling picture of what romantic fidelity might be, compared with Nero and Poppea’s emotional volatility.
SCHERZO, Juan Lucas, 27/06/2024:
…very well complemented by the fresh and sensual Drusilla of the young soprano Vanessa Waldhart.
Vitellia – Gluck: La clemenza di Tito, May 9th, Markgräfliches Opernhaus Bayreuth, Int. Gluck Festival
Photocredits: Beth Chalmers
IOCO, Ljerka Oreskovic Herrmann, 23.05.24:
Vitellia, sung by the Austrian colouratura soprano Vanessa Waldhart, is a strong woman who not only knows how to wrap her Sesto around her finger; her expressive soprano gives the (actually mean) character vocal splendour and the necessary amount of drama…
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Egbert Tholl, 10. Mai 2024:
…Highly expressive colouraturas: Vanessa Waldhart as Vitellia in the concert performance of Gluck’s “La Clemenza di Tito” at Markgräflichen Opernhaus…
Neue Musikzeitung, Roland H. Dippel, 10.05.2024:
Vanessa Waldhart shows perfect colouratura, attack and melancholy blossoms for Vitellia, who is torn apart by love, humiliation and revenge. Without Hofstetter’s noblesse brakes, she would have even more prima donna dynamite for Gluck’s aria explosions. Thus she remains here a bravura soprano on a too short conductor’s leash.
Klassik-begeistert.at / Klassik-begeistert.de, Jolanta Łada-Zielke, 11.05.24:
Vanessa Waldhart is very expressive and technically perfect as the evil Vitellia. All arias in her performance are real gems, and she also has the best diction of all the singers. The soloist also dispels the cliché that colouratura sopranos have a weak middle and chest voice. At the end of the aria “Come potesti, oh Dio!” she sings with a wonderful vibrato in the low chest register.
Kulturfreak.de, Markus Gründig, Mai 24:
…Vanessa Waldhart (Vitellia), for example, was always enveloped in a glowing red colour. The Austrian colouratura soprano impressed not least with the extremely demanding and effective aria “Tremo fra dubbi miei”. This aria could well have served Mozart as a model for his “Höllenarie”.
deropernfreund.de/kulturbrief.de, Frank Piontek, 11.5.24:
…The leading role – in terms of the importance of the character and the number of arias, this is clearly Vitellia […]
The leading role, who sets the complot in motion, is called Vitellia; she is sung by Vanessa Waldhart, who increases her means of expression in the course of the evening: a sensitive revenge fury, whose long, sustained top notes ultimately inspire, of course. She has to sing what is probably the most interesting piece of the opera in terms of genre: “Come potesti, oh Dio!” is one of those arias that break the mould of the dacapo form in that the changes of affect here do not take place within the A and B sections, but in a very confined space. The rift that runs through the woman, who accuses both herself and Sesto, who has fallen for her, also runs through the structure of the aria – it is exciting to hear.
Schabel-kultur-blog.de, Michaela Schabel, 10.05.24:
Vitellia is the most colourful character due to the tension of her emotions. In front of a glowing red backdrop, Vanessa Waldhart becomes the pulse of the production in this role. She vocally and gesturally crystallises Vitellia’s facets between claim to power, seduction, intrigue, insight and truthfulness in a striking way. With lightning speed, she knows how to intonate the most diverse emotions and manipulate Sesto. In the aria “Come potesti, oh Dio!”, inner storms of emotion become audible. Her duet with the oboe is already reminiscent of the mad arias of Romanticism.
Operaversum, Nicole Hacke, 10.05.24:
Alongside Vanessa Waldhart as the power-hungry Vitellia,… the Gluck Festival has engaged a cast of vocal excellence to the illustrious halls of the Markgräfliche Opernhaus.
…the three sopranos, whose graceful voices slip away into beguiling worlds of sound, turn Gluck’s music into a tonal feast for the palate. It is difficult to pick out the vocal sultanas from the cake of virtuosity, as each of them shines winningly with their individual facets.
Opern.news, Stephan Burianek, 14. Mai 2024:
…part of a cast including fine, young and vocal delightful voices…
In the difficult role of the unscrupulous Vitellia, Vanessa Waldhart delivered a moving high range and long sustained, vibratoless tones.
Saarbrücker Zeitung, Oliver Schwambach, 13.05.2024:
Hofstetter has also chosen the soloists for the aria fireworks perfectly. The most important part is sung by Vanessa Waldhart, who as Vitellia serves the intrigues and desire for revenge with crystal-clear top notes.
Bayerischer Rundfunk, Franziska Stürz, 10.05.2024:
The four magnificent sopranos […] also captivate the audience with ever new creative finesse.
FAZ, Robin Passon, 14.05.2024:
Vanessa Waldhart and male soprano Bruno de Sá in main roles as Vitellia and Sesto impressed with clear coloraturas and strong affects…
Opernglas, Y. Han, 7-8/2024:
…among the soloist ensemble, Vanessa Waldhart was able to shine in the aria-rich role of Vitellia – her appealingly timbred soprano mastered all the tasks assigned to it extremely reliably,…
Rosina – Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia, January 2024, Oper Halle
Photocredits: Anna Kolata
Nmz.de, Joachim Lange, 28.01.24:
… Vanessa Waldhart as Rosina is especially impressive with her coloratura which she can usually roll straight from the ramp into the hall…
OperaNEWS, Roberto Becker, 29.01.24:
… Vanessa Waldhart cuts a good Rosina figure in miniskirt but especially shines when she can let her coloraturas roll into the hall…
Adele – Strauß: Die Fledermaus, November 2023, Oper Halle
Photocredits: Anna Kolata
Nmz.de, Roland H. Dippel:
… The Tyrolean Vanessa Waldhart is the ideal Adele…
… Vanessa Waldhart (Adele), […] are perfect in their roles…
MDR-Kultur, Stefan Petraschewsky:
… Three soloists should be highlighted: The maid Adele, Vanessa Waldhart, has very clear, beautiful coloraturas, this is noticeable especially in the couplet “Spiel’ ich die Unschuld vom Lande“…
Concerti, Roland H. Dippel:
… at the top are the two feminine protagonists: […] The Tyrolean Vanessa Waldhart does not play Adele, she is her ideal incarnation. And also self-confident…
Olympia – Offenbach: Les contes d‘Hoffmann, September 2023, Oper Halle
Photocredits: Anna Kolata
Leipziger Volkszeitung, Peter Korfmacher:
… is a very bright, very high, very virtuoso Olympia…
http://hoffmannserzählungen.de:
… She received long and strong applause for her varied coloratura aria…
MZ, Andreas Montag:
… Vanessa Waldhart as the artificially created Olympia, […] sing brilliantly. Especially the killer coloratura trills that are demanded from the perfect machine-woman Olympia and are sung with wonderful soul, keep you in suspense.
Atalanta – Handel: Serse, June 2023, Int. Handel Festival Halle
Photocredits: Anna Kolata
Gerald Felber, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung:
… This was shown, for example, in the never denunciatory disposition of Atalanta, who spiritedly intrigued but also searched for meaning (Vanessa Waldhart with sparkling facility)…
… Scheming grace: Vanessa Waldhart as Atalanta in “Serse”
omm.de, Thomas Molke:
… Vanessa Waldhart plays her scheming sister Atalanta with great comedy and shines with a glowing soprano.
Konzert – Bach: Weihnachtsoratorium, Innsbruck, Dez 2022
Photocredits: Reinhold Sigl
schoepfblog.at, 11.12.22, Thomas Nußbaumer:
… The soprano Vanessa Waldhart, who studied singing in Innsbruck and has been a member of the ensemble of the opera in Halle an der Saale since 2018, complemented the ensemble expressively and with a brilliantly sparkling voice.
Tiroler Tageszeitung, 13.12.22, Markus Schramek:
… An absolute highlight is the duet “Lord, your compassion” by soprano Vanessa Waldhart and bass-baritone Matthias Hoffmann (both Tyrolean by the way) in Cantata 3. There you know: Christmas is coming!
Konzert – Weihnachtskonzert mit der Württembergischen Philharmonie Reutlingen, Dez 2022
GEA, Dagmar Varady:
… Afterwards, Vanessa Waldhart has the opportunity to present her dreamlike soprano voice in all its nuances, silvery, sunlit, precise, in Mozart’s motet “Exsultate jubilate”…
Konstanze – Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Juli 2022, Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg
Photocredits: Uwe Haun
MAZ, 12th July 2022, Regine Buddeke:
…not only the orchestra, but also the singers convince in voice and performance. […] Vanessa Waldhart’s Konstanze meanders with a supple coloratura soprano between plaintive despondency when she pleadingly keeps Bassa at a distance and tragic pride when she would rather endure torment and death than betray her love for Belmonte.
Dorinda – Händel: Orlando, June 2022, Int. Handel Festival Halle/Opera Halle
Photocredits: Federico Pedrotti
Opernwelt, July 2022:
…Dorinda (comedically excellent and vocally touchingly sweet in best sense: Vanessa Waldhart)
O Lia San – Abraham: Viktoria und ihr Husar, November 2021, Opera Halle
Photocredits: Federico Pedrotti
klassik-begeistert.de, Dr. Guido Müller, 21.11.2021:
…Vanessa Waldhart perfect in sparklingly beautifully singing, thrilling in dancing and with playfully charm as O Lia San…
Tochter Zion – Händel: Brockes Passion, October 2021, Opera Halle
Photocredits: Federico Pedrotti
klassik-begeistert.de, Dr. Guido Müller, 04.10.2021:
…Of 106 pieces of music (!) the daughter Zion in costumes of a young puritan […] bears the main brunt […] However, with Vanessa Waldhart, who is always very present in singing and acting, there is no question of burden or even fatigue. Her pearly-crystal clear coloraturas, her cooing eroticism in voice and play, her lyrical emphasis and her ludically easy high notes on point are breathtakingly well sung and soften the hardest puritan heart of her fellow player, the evangelist.
Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, Andreas Montag, 05.10.2021:
…Two characters push ahead the plot dramatically, the daughter Zion (touchingly clear sung by Vanessa Waldhart) …
Tytania – Britten: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, September 2021, Opera Halle
Photocredits: Federico Pedrotti
OperaNow, December 2021:
…Vanessa Waldhart as Titania takes a fearless approach to the most difficult coloratura…
klassik-begeistert.de, Dr. Guido Müller, 20.09.2021:
…His wife Tytania […] is sung by coloratura soprano Vanessa Waldhart with ludically easy and virtuosic heights. Vanessa Waldhart is also able to convince of the strong feminine charisma of the Queen of Fairies…
mdr.de/mdr-klassik, 19.09.2021:
…While Vanessa Waldhart convinces as Queen of elves with elegant coloraturas…
Concert – Naturtheater Reutlingen, Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen, July 2021
Photocredits: Dagmar Varady
GEA, Reutlinger General-Anzeiger, 24.07.2021, Dagmar Varady:
Waldhart was a real delight with her lovely and intense voice. Every single note was affectionated, crystal clear, with the clearest pronunciation and immeasurably light-footed, at the same time beautifully circled and yet flowing…
Alexander Aljabyev’s “Nachtigall” should definitely be mentioned, where Waldhart’s narrative took her into a world of thoughts where she sang every note with pleasure, with a voice full of effortlessness and clarity, floating away into the forest backdrop.
Queen of the Night – Mozart: The Magic Flute, October 2020, Goethe-Theatre Bad Lauchstädt
Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, 12.10.2020:
… A brilliant Queen of the Night: Vanessa Waldhart
(…) Also in Lauchstädt the Queen of the Night is an attraction: Vanessa Waldhart has a cold furor and piercing brilliance for her. Her vocal arrowheads even touched festival director Edda Moser…
Das Opernmagazin, 15.10.2020:
… The young, award-winning soprano Vanessa Waldhart, who has been a member of Opera Halle since 2018/19, appeared in a blue dress with black hair as the Queen of the Night and complained to Tamino her sorrow in her aria “O zittre nicht” with small gestures, safe and tender in the high notes. Waldhart sang the pitifully recited words “ach helft” with crystal clear, certain high notes. Waldhart, who mastered even the most difficult passages with apparent effortlessness, also mastered the coloratura in “Du wirst der Tochter Retter sein” with the greatest of ease.
Vanessa Waldhart as Queen of the Night asked her daughter Pamina to kill Sarastro, her furious aria “Der Hölle Rache” sounded intense, excellent up to the high notes, in a complete frenzy, when she raised her knife threateningly.
nmz.de, 20.10.2020:
… No problem for Vanessa Waldhart. As star-flaming queen she shone with cold furore and piercing brilliance
Agilea – Handel: Teseo, October 2020, Opera Halle
Photocredits: Falk Wenzel
klassik-begeistert, 02.10.2020:
… Vanessa Waldhart sounds the lyrical and expressive arias of her Medea from 1958 with her brightly shining youthful soprano out. With her beautiful voice she leaves the confines of here servant apron from the late Adenauer era behind.
Neue Musikzeitung, 04.10.2020:
… Like Jason, Vanessa Waldhart as Medea 1958 has the opportunity to shine with her performance half a dozen times with baroque agility and emotions.
Zerlina – Mozart: Don Giovanni, February 2020, Opera Halle
Photocredits: Falk Wenzel
klassik-begeistert.de, 01.03.20:
…While Vanessa Waldhart shows all required vocal and stage acting advantages of her beautiful soprano in the role of Zerlina…
Oscar – Verdi: Un ballo in maschera, September 2019, Opera Halle
Photocredits: Anna Kolata
Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, 30.09.19:
Vanessa Waldhart with beguiling coloraturas…
Cleopatra – Handel: Julius Cäsar in Ägypten, June 2019, Opera Halle
Photocredits: Falk Wenzel
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 03.06.19:
…Cleopatra performed by Vanessa Waldhart with great potential in acting and singing
Süddeutsche Zeitung, 12.06.19
…Vanessa Waldhart sings it lovely delightful
Neue Musikzeitung, 02.06.19
Unrivalled is Vanessa Waldhart: Lolita in the Middle East also shows vocally hybrid territorial claims.
omm.de, 02.06.19
Vanessa Waldhart not only enchants visually as Cleopatra. Also vocally she shines with a soprano voice as clear as a bell, which works out the complexity of this figure in all nuances of the individual arias. So at the beginning she shows herself absolutely confident and sure of victory about dethroning her brother and capturing Caesar with her feminine charms. In a tight bikini she also inspires with a split. In the second act she becomes a victim of her feelings and realizes that she has really fallen in love with Caesar. So when she believes her lover has died and she is being imprisoned by her brother she portrays her downfall very emotional.
klassik-begeistert.de, 01.06.19
…she plays with all vocal and physical charms…
Queen of the Night – Mozart: The Magic Flute, February 2019, Theatre Chemnitz
Photocredits: Nasser Hashemi
Sächsische Zeitung, 04.02.19
The Queen of the Night, Vanessa Waldhart, exposed in acting and brilliant in her coloraturas, appears as rock diva.
Kleine Zeitung, 05.02.19
…while the Queen of the Night – outstanding Vanessa Waldhart from Tyrol – rages as a cruel fury…
Theaterförderverein-Chemnitz, 03.02.19
Vanessa Waldhart created her two arias with brilliance and great agility…
Bastienne – Mozart: Bastien und Bastienne, Novembre 2018, Opera Halle
Photocredits: Falk Wenzel
Deutschlandfunk.de., 27.11.18
In Mozart’s “Bastien and Bastienne” especially Vanessa Waldhart stands out with her warm, lightly and flexibly led soprano which is perfect for this lyric part.
MDR Kultur, 25.11.18
Vanessa Waldhart is an eye catcher as Bastienne. She sings the part with a small, fine voice and really convinces in the terms of character-painting…
Neue Musikzeitung
Robert Sellier and Vanessa Waldhart acting with an absence of difficulty which suits perfectly to the music…
Queen of the Night – Mozart: The Magic Flute, April 2018, Nationaltheatre Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Photocredits: Miso Prodanovic
avaz.ba, 19.04.18
The Austrian soprano, Vanessa Waldhart attracted notice and obtained the sympathy of the audience.
Queen of the Night – Mozart: The Magic Flute, March 2018, Castle theatre Schönbrunn Vienna
Photocredits: Barbara Pálffy
Kultur und Wein, 22.03.18
…in the coloraturas of the Queen of the Night (fascinating accurate: Vanessa Lisa Waldhart)…
Blonde – Mozart: The Abduction from the Seraglio, August 2017, Schlossoper Haldenstein, Switzerland
Photocredits: Marco Hartmann
Bündner Tagblatt, 07.08.17
…Vanessa Lisa Waldhart convinced as Blonde from the beginning, she ostensively masters every technical problem, hands down: a pleasure…
Opera World, 27.10.17
…very accurately also the duo of Vanessa Lisa Waldhart (Blonde) and Michael Chacewicz (Pedrillo), fresh, significant voices. The young Austrian soprano and the Polish tenor were ever-present and confident in each vocal performance…