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  26 Mar 19 WAGNER Die Walküre
  The Metropolitan Opera

  “They are twins — Sieglinde, bittersweetly sung by the soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek, and Siegmund, the leonine tenor Stuart Skelton — separated in childhood. It is their combustible, transgressive love, sparked over that first sip of water, that plants the seeds for the end of a world built on rules, power and greed. Mr. Skelton and Ms. Westbroek were bright stars in a cast led by the blazing soprano Christine Goerke as Brünnhilde. The conductor Philippe Jordan presided over the orchestra, where he whipped up voluptuously sulfurous playing from the Met players.”
  Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, The New York Times, 26 March 2019

  “Westbroek also exposed her vocal qualities slowly over the evening, also giving Sieglinde an emotional arc from a vocal perspective. Submissive and gentle in the opening moments, her singing was equally subdued and quiet. If you hadn’t heard the soprano in “La Fanciulla del West” earlier this season, you wouldn’t know how massive her instrument could be. This approach, however, emphasized her perceived weakness and fear, and also made the perfect foil for Gঢ়nther Groissbock’s vicious and loud interpretation as Hunding (his repetitions of “Wölfing” were deliciously condescending). ”
  David Salazar, Operawire, 26 March 2019

  “In the latter role, soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek had to contend at first with her character’s downtrodden state (and drab attire and makeup to match), but blazingly discovered passion with Siegmund by the act’s curtain, and gave anguish full voice during the tragic action that followed. And her triumphant high A’s in Act III, delivered face front, downstage, were the very definition of “Wagnerian.”
  David Wright, The New York Classical Review, 26 March 2019

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  05 Oct 18 PUCCINI La fanciulla del West
  The Metropolitan Opera

  “But it’s the second half of the Act where Westbroek really stole the show. At the very moment where it is revealed that Ramirez has been lying to her, you could immediately sense the change in Westbroek’s Minnie. The innocent romantic we had seen in the love duet was suddenly gone and in her stead was pure anger. Just watching her body language as she wandered about the stage, trying to control herself and not give her lover away, was pure tension. While the other men were talking and relating their discovery, it was her that your attention was drawn to. When the men leave, Puccini gives Minnie the line “Vieni fuori” in the lower part of her voice and Westbroek filled it with anger, disappointment, bitterness, and pain, her glare growing by the second.

  And then there was the card scene, where Westbroek battled for her life, throwing off the predatory advances of Rance with aggressive vocal fire, staring him down during their climactic card game; she was his equal every step of the way and you sensed Minnie growing stronger by the minute. The final utterance of “Tre assi e un paio” was pure catharsis as was the powerful stream of sound on “E mio” that closes the act, her voice blasting over the orchestra.
  David Salazar, Operawire, October 5 2018

   

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  14 Apr 18 SHOSTAKOVICH Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
  The Royal Opera House

  “Eva-Maria Westbroek’s Katerina feels even more of a knockout than before. She charts the rise and fall of this modern Lady Macbeth with heightened intensity, from the hunched, empty husk of a woman at the start, through glamorous exultation, to a frightening self-knowledge at her tragic end.”
  Richard Fairman, The Financial Times, April 14 2018

  “Vocally, also, Westbroek was never anything other than totally committed, heart-meltingly smooth in her aria “The foal runs after the filly”, hard-edged and credible in the faster passages. Her voice has a rare quality of projecting to the back of the hall regardless of the volume level employed. ”
  David Karlin, Bachtrack, April 14 2018

  “Eva-Maria Westbroek brings a hint of Salome to Katerina, without diminishing any of the pathos and beauty of her arias, the first being a yearning call for companionship, the last a greeting to the still, chill waters which will swallow her up.”
  Michael Church, The Independant, April 13 2018

  “The production, however, hangs on the performance of Eva-Maria Westbroek as Katerina. She sang the role here in 2006; her soprano now sounds even more gloriously incisive and full-bodied, and her interpretation has only deepened. Thanks to her we get to marvel at the way in which in this opera Shostakovich so brazenly and lovingly hands the moral high ground to a murderer, and keeps you rooting for her until the very last note.”
  Erica Jeal, The Guardian, April 16 2018