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  18 Sep 19 VERDI Don Carlo
  Teatro Real de Madrid

  “Mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Semenchuk, a favorite of Teatro Real, has sung three consecutive Verdi roles: Amneris (2018), Azucena (2019) and, now, Eboli (2019). With her round, dark and velvet mezzo soprano voice, she interpreted the Princess wonderfully, scoring another vibrant success.

  Her first appearance in second scene of Act two saw Semenchuk lighten her voice to what almost sounded like a soprano timbre; this enabled her to master all the coloratura and staccato notes that Verdi wrote for this first aria. It is a tricky passage written mostly in the middle register, but with coloratura that ascends repeated to high A naturals which must sound easy and light. Semenchuk managed wonderfully throughout.

  The tessitura of the trio ranges from low B flat to high B natural, and it was here that Semenchuk showed off her potent low chest notes on “Al mio furor sfuggite invano il suo destin,” her strong central register  on “Trema perte falso figliuolo,” and her potent high range with a thunderous high B.

  But her big moment comes in Act four where she reveals her betrayal of the queen and sings her big aria. Throughout the quartet and subsequent scene with the Queen, Semenchuk used all her dramatic resources, coloring every phrase and emphasizing the low notes (this section is really central and low, from high G to low B flat) on such passages as “io stessa avea commesso,” which she ended with a resonant low C. When you heard such insistency in the lower register, you started to question how she might manage the higher tessitura and longer legato phrases of “O don fatale.” But Semenchuk’s control of her voice  is so impressive that she switched from her lower register to her higher one without compromising the quality of  the sound.

  “O don Fatale” begins with an outburst of remorse  and fury with Semenchuk giving all of her potent sound and dramatical input that she coronated with a flawless and powerful high C flat. Then the mood of the aria changes, becoming melancholic and sad. Here the mezzo’s voice sobbed on “O mia regina,” delivering the passage with long phrases and a high B flat that she produced effortlessly. At the close of the aria, Eboli resolves to save Carlo, the music shifting to a more heroic pose. Here, Semenchuk’s voice thundered through the hall and she climaxed with two faultless high B flats, bringing down the house.”

  Mauricio Villa, Operawire, 9 October 2019

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  27 Feb 19 MUSSORGSKY Khovanshchina
  Teatro alla Scala

  “Marfa is a multi-layered character, informed by an interesting backstory. (…) It is a role requiring a singing actress who is able to bring depth to a character, and for this production it fell to the mezzo-soprano, Ekaterina Semenchuk. Hers is versatile voice indeed, and with such a colorful palette, especially in the lower register. She crafted a nuanced reading in which she managed to depict both Marfa’s inner strength, and the emotional torment caused by Andrey’s casual disregard for her, and almost alone among the numerous characters, with the exception of Emma, she is a decent person, who tries to follow a righteous path. It was an expressive performance in which her detailed phrasing uncovered the complexities of her character.”

  Alan Neilsen, Operawire, March 2019

  “(…) the towering personality of Ekaterina Semenchuk, an outstanding Marfa, whose sumptuous voice utterly mastered the demanding score.”

  Silvia Luraghi, The Opera Critic, March 2019

  ” In the excellent female cast the ardent Marfa of Ekaterina Semenchuk was particularly acclaimed by the audience (…)”

  Renato Verga, Bachtrack, March 2019

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  29 Jan 19 BERLIOZ Les Troyens
  Opéra de Paris Bastille

  “(…) Semenchuk, at the end, was without doubt the greatest Dido I’ve witnessed.”

  NPW Paris, February 2019

  “Brandon Jovanovich and Ekaterina Semenchuk also bring a new colour to the royal couple with soft lyrical sweetness that taps into their sensitivities and their past suffering, very much humanising the characters in line with Tcherniakov’s direction and purpose”

  Opera Journal, February 2019