Komische Oper Berlin’s Semele

“Sydney Mancasola shone in the title role, the whole performance building up to a bravura performance of her final air, ‘No, no, I’ll take no less/Than all in full excess!’ That full excess, alas, was to be truly hers, but was also seen and heard to characterize an exuberant performance from beginning to end.”

MARK BERRY, SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

”The vocal set is dominated by Sydney Mancasola's performance in the title role. The American, who has gained a foothold in Europe in recent years (she was a member of the Frankfurt Opera troupe for three years) and who now flies on her own, sings a performance both stage and vocal that must be warmly saluted. Present on stage almost from beginning to end, she embodies a Semele ravaged by pride, doubt, impossible love, despair and then madness. She holds the distance vocally and strings her four consecutive arias to the III thanks to a confounding energy. She is the fire on stage out of the ashes, and closing her eyes (a feat anyway, as Kosky rivets the viewer's gaze on the stage!), we heard accents that reminded us of Daniele de Niese, who a few years ago was a magnificent Semele at the Tec. Her triumph with the public was well deserved. .”

THIERRY VERGER, FORUM OPERA

“Mancasola communicated her ambitions clearly with a lyrical vulnerability”

ZENAIDA DES AUBRIS, BACHTRACK