Manon Lescaut reviews

"The formidable Amanda Echalaz gives Manon her all... her feisty, tigerish reading is supported by spot-on vocal timbre and technique. Sean Ruane is ringing and ardent in his big Act III aria, Ah! non v'avvicinate! Lynton Black's aloof and pompous Geronte is well sung and fabulously well dressed. Under John Gibbons the orchestra copes admirably with Puccini's full-blown melodrama."
The Stage

"From first to last, OHP showed great dedication to their task. The last two acts were particularly moving. This was thanks not least to the superlative and flexible City of London Sinfonia, whose sympathetic accompaniment nearly always showed the singers off at their best. Manon... sumptuously sung by Amanda Echalaz. I cannot think that the role could be acted or sung more convincingly. Her death scene was sung with immense pathos and poignancy. Sean Ruane was the excellent Des Grieux - a sensational performance. Lynton Black was a marvellous Geronte. Tim Carroll's direction was inspired. OHP is rapidly becoming an important place to hear new talent."
Dominic McHugh, MusicOMH.com

"Amanda Echalaz is tremendous as Manon, the girl torn between love for a penniless student and the attentions of a rich old lecher...her harrowing death scene shows a much broader depth of tone and an impressive emotional range."
Bloomberg

"Amanda Echalaz... is clearly in her element, she knows where to place the musical and textual emphases in every phrase, and dramatically she's acute and self-possessed, never glossing over Manon's more disagreeable characteristics. Authentic richness of detail is supplied by conductor John Gibbons, who shows a fine appreciation of the music's style."
George Hall, The Guardian

"Two consecutive evenings that end with the glamorous heroine dying in the arms of her dashing young lover: what is Opera Holland Park trying to do to our fragile hearts? In each case, moreover, the diva manages to turn her femme fatale into a much more lovable character than she really is, lending both finales all the potent poignancy invoked by their soaring strings and emotion-choked voices. As post-interval darkness gradually falls over west London, and the music grows more passionately intense, the audience falls still and two ravishing scores work their tearjerking magic."

"The glorious Amanda Echalaz... as rich of voice as of presence and command, unafraid to mask her beauty after Manon's downfall, Echalaz steals the show from a solid cast led by Ruane's lyrical lover, the resonant Lynton Black as a wily old Geronte and Simon Thorpe as a touchingly concerned Lescaut. It is conducted with passion and pace by John Gibbons."
Anthony Holden, The Observer

"A truly stupendous performance in the title role from Amanda Echalaz - it is easily another hit for Holland Park"
Metro

"Amanda Echalaz's charismatic and vocally audacious Manon. This is a young singer of thrilling potential."
Hugh Canning, Sunday Times

"Echalaz displayed that fascinating knack of being able to colour a note to suggest several emotions at once; combined with her superb acting skills, it made for a very complex portrait of the dying Manon - struggling to keep hope alive, fighting against self-pity, yet still somehow fickle and self-involved. Ruane's performance tugged at the heartstrings... sweeping, Italianate conducting from John Gibbons, and a thrillingly malevolent Geronte from Lynton Black."
Warwick Thompson, Opera