“The young Russian Kristina Mkhitaryan, groomed by the Bolshoi, has a smooth olive-tinted Slavic timbre not dissimilar to that of her compatriot Anna Netrebko. Slender and beautiful in physique, she handles her voice with disciplined technique – no shrieking or wobbling – and a degree of musical imagination that bodes well for her future. In the first act she sparkles gamely through the diamantine coloratura, in the second she rises to noble moral grandeur, and in the third, she sinks to a poignant dying fall – particularly in an Addio del passato spun on a delicate yet eloquent pianissimo….But Mkhitaryan is without doubt a talent to watch and a name to remember…”
Rupert Christiansen, Telegraph, 22 May 2017
“She’s unfazed by the coloratura flourishes of Act I, but more immersed in the text and the draKristina Mkhitaryan is a Russian soprano and a recent graduate of the Bolshoi’s Young Artist Programme, but she is already a Violetta to be reckoned with… The response to Piave’s text and the colour she lavished on Verdi’s music suggested a close study of Maria Callas’s or Renata Scotto’s famous recorded Violettas, spinning unforgettable pianissimo phrases in her final encounter with Alfredo, just before she expires.
In this revival, one is more conscious than before of Violetta’s isolation in “the populous desert that they call Paris”, as she sings in her first big solo, and her transition from popular courtesan to abandoned consumptive is gut-wrenching…His conducting and Mkhitaryan’s sensational Violetta make this a collectible Traviata.”
Hugh Canning, The Times, 28 May 2017
“She sings with dark beauty of tone and a wonderful feel for text and character. Sempre Libera is about emotional veracity rather than display.”
Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 22 May 2017
“The revival of Tom Cairns’s production of La traviata with Kristina Mkhitaryan as Violetta is outstanding…This Violetta has an ordinariness which melts the heart, and her delicately-inflected singing, abetted by Richard Farnes’s sensitive direction in the pit, is a delight.”
Michael Church, Independent, 22 May 2017
“In her vocal richness, athleticism and vivid colouring, she has everything the role demands.”
Edward Bhesania, The Stage, 22 May 2017
“…Kristina Mkhitaryan, who sings Violetta with a Russian diamond of a soprano that cut through the coloratura with precision and traced a fine thread through the death scene.”
Richard Fairman, Financial Times, 23 May 2017
“Kristina Mkhitaryan, a stalwart at the Bolshoi Opera, was a new name to me and she gave a tremendous performance as Violetta, compelling both vocally and dramatically. Pale and clear in voice, she moved from plush confidence in the first act to the thinnest of textures in the third. Vocal control was tight; her pianissimi were particularly fine and there was a cheering purity in the higher register that ensured clean coloratura. Mkhitaryan’s devotion to the role was convincing: from her initial interest in Alfredo to her noble renunciation and to the final tragic moment when she briefly revives, there was a physicality to her performance that provided that extra charge, aided by an obvious understanding of the libretto. Glyndebourne may well have had a preview of a singer who will go on to be one of Verdi’s finest interpreters.”
Dominic Lowe, Bachtrack, 23 May 2017
“More than anything, we watch Kristina Mkhitaryan’s magnificently sung Violetta languish into delirium and death. The closing moments are beautifully conceived and extraordinarily moving.”
Mark Valencia, Whats On Stage, 22 May 2017
“The Russian soprano Kristina Mkhitaryan makes her debut at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in a revival of Tom Cairns’s 2014 production of Verdi’s La Traviata. And she brings to the role of the courtesan Violetta, who gives up the party life for love, a spellbinding range of vocal colour enriched by a giddying technique that takes the voice into the furthest corners of experience and emotion.”
Claudia Pritchard, Culture Whisper, 22 May 2017
“The unequalled star, however, was Kristina Mkhitaryan as Violetta. Combining a luscious, slightly covered soprano with an enviable legato, Mkhitaryan’s performance was a tour de force. Not for a moment did her Violetta sound fragile. But in place of such explicit vocal realism, Mkhitaryan brought moments of ectreme stillness, clearing space amid the production’s realist geastures and symbolic clutter to focus, fleetingly, on the heroine’s expression of devastatingly human emotion.”
Flora Wilson, Opera Magazine, July 2017
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