PRESS/acclaim
PRESS QUOTES + FEATURES
View press quotes from recent engagements, including Katya Kabanova with the Royal Opera House, Artaserse with Pinchgut Opera, and more.
Denis & Katya
OPERA PHILADELPHIA | MUSIC THEATRE WALES
"This performance benefited from the perfect casting of mezzo-soprano Emily Edmonds and baritone Johnny Herford. Edmonds, fresh-faced and pretty, brought an energetic, almost naive sense of wonder to her various personas. Her almost breathless narratives immediately captivated me, as did her singing."
"Emily Edmonds is an acting mezzo soprano who not only sings richly but delivers her lines with just the right rhythms and cadences."
BERKSHIRE FINE ARTS
SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL
"Edmonds and Herford’s stage magnetism via sensitively handled character portrayals with baritone and soprano delivery keep the hook on the storyline, as do the pairs own individual storytelling qualities."
ENTERTAIN WALES
"The singers, Emily Edmonds and Johnny Herford are beyond praise. Onstage throughout the seventy minutes of the work, and required to talk, speak over each other’s singing, move chairs and change places to exact timings, and eventually sustain long lines of vocal polyphony after an hour of role-playing, they perform with riveting artistry."
THE ARTS DESK
"Johnny Herford and Emily Edmonds …..both give utterly committed and rigorously unsentimental performances."
THE TELEGRAPH
"With such lean performing forces, quality counts, and we get it in spades in Edmonds’ molasses-and-honey mezzo…"
BROADWAY WORLD
"Mezzo-soprano Emily Edmonds and baritone Johnny Herford, already much acclaimed in last year’s Opera Philadelphia premiere, project these with objectivity and passion."
THE GUARDIAN
"Their testaments, and descriptions of the couples’ stream, are spoken and sung in role-play by superb singer-actors, Emily Edmonds and Johnny Herford. With controlled tension they jump-cut between witnesses, framed by four, lyrical London Sinfonietta cellists stationed at corners of a bare stage."
THE STAGE
"At a minute to go the singers, Johnny Herford and Emily Edmonds, enter…. The two singers take the roles of teacher, friend, neighbour, doctor, journalist. Their range and versatility are exemplary."
THEATRE IN WALES
"Herford and Edmonds give blistering performances."
THE SUNDAY TIMES
"Emily Edmonds and Johnny Herford were hugely impressive. … it was the ability to switch between multiple roles and make them sound distinctive which required a more creative and deft artistry."
OPERA TODAY
Katya Kabanova
THE ROYAL OPERA
"With so much inhumanity on display, the very real human instincts and indulgences of Emily Edmonds Varvara and Andrew Tortise’s Kudrjas were a welcome relief. Edmonds was full of zest and freedom of spirit - leaping impetuously (and literally) into Kudrjas arms in the ‘garden’ scene."
"But it is quasi sister-in-law Varvara who is the really flighty bird, here Emily Edmonds, singing beautifully while negotiating the sort of amorous manoeuvres that only exist on the opera stage."
CULTURE WHISPER
OPERA TODAY
"… his lovemaking with Emily Edmonds’s delightful Varvara providing a much-needed dollop of joy in a dark story."
THE TIMES
"Also worthy of high praise is the Australian mezzo Emily Edmonds as Katya’s sister-in-law Varvara..."
THE DAILY MAIL
"Australian mezzo-soprano Emily Edmonds brought a much-appreciated touch of lightness to the opera in the role of the Kabanova's young ward Varvara."
"Emily Edmonds was making her role debut as Varvara, and despite what she had to deal with at times (lying on a brutalist bench instead of rolling about in a garden) she gave a convincing and stylishly sung performance of this pivotal role."
DAILY EXPRESS
MUSIC OMH
"Edmonds makes a spirited Varvara opposite Andrew Tortise’s nerdy Kudrjas, the pair of them very much the voices of reason in an otherwise disordered world."
THE GUARDIAN
Artaserse
PINCHGUT OPERA
“Emily Edmonds added another sparkling portrayal to her string of successes for Pinchgut Opera. As…Semira, she was fantastic. She used her considerable stage presence and stupendous vocal talents across a string of arias."
SOUNDS LIKE SYDNEY
“Semira …. was exquisitely and smoothly sung by Emily Edmonds.”
“Her stillness and expressive reactions were as impressive as her voice.”
AUSTRALIAN BOOK REVIEW, ARTS
“The mezzo role of Semira was sung by another local, Emily Edmonds, surely a star in the making, singing with golden tone and convincing expressivity.”
ARTSHUB
BACHTRACK
“… pure-voiced mezzo-soprano Emily Edmonds (Semira) displayed an appealing range of tone colours.”
THE AUSTRALIAN
Les Enfants Terribles
ROYAL BALLET
"Only mezzo Emily Edmonds (Agathe) finds the depth and range of tone colour to match her dancer-double."
THE SPECTATOR
Jette Parker Summer Performane
ROYAL OPERA HOUSE
"Emily Edmonds was a vivacious Varvara and as Prince Orlofsky she got the party going with a swing. Edmonds won acclaim in her native Australia before joining the JPYA Programme in 2015 and one can see why: her mezzo is full and sensuous, and she has sparkling stage presence.”
OPERA TODAY
Orpheus
ROYAL OPERA HOUSE
"Emily Edmonds … plays the roles of Aglaea and Atropos, and - with her fine mezzo, and leggy, supermodel stage presence - is definitely one for the future."
MAIL ON SUNDAY
Bazajet
PINCHGUT OPERA
“As his daughter Asteria, Australian mezzo Emily Edmonds displays a gorgeous, even voice, making every word count, a standout for attention to detail in recitative.”
ABC LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE
“As Asteria, firm-voiced mezzo soprano Emily Edmonds shrewdly balanced expressive intensity with beauty of sound.”
"Bajazet's daughter Asteria ... was given fervent know-how by Emily Edmonds... rich in technique and expression."
BACHTRACK
“The story really belongs to the spirited and defiant women. Mezzo-soprano Emily Edmonds’ Asteria is heartbreaking in her efforts to kill Tamerlano and save her father.”
THE AUSTRALIAN
AUSSIE THEATRE
"Edmonds is sublime as Asteria."
AUSTRALIAN STAGE
Elektra
SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
"Amongst a fine set of maids... especially Emily Edmonds stood out for vocal power and use of the text."
ABC LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE
Into the Little Hill
SYDNEY CHAMBER OPERA
“Edmonds, in full-toned, creamy voice, is able to capture perfectly the contrasts between the duplicitous politician and his wife while singing the pants off of Crimp’s brilliant language with real engagement."
ABC LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE
Owen Wingrave
SYDNEY CHAMBER OPERA
"Edmonds is quite a force of nature ... The voice is ravishing, and powerful too, and she inhabits the role with a confidence that belies the musical complexity."
ABC LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE
"Against him is arrayed a trio of fearsome women, led by Emily Edmonds as Kate ... Her sound is coloured and thrilling, just as the character is herself chilling."
"...hers is an instrument of, apparently, boundless potency, which goes beyond competence and control, to consummately enrapture."
CRIKEY ARTS REVIEW
"Owen's fiancee Kate is an unlikeable woman, yet Emily Edmonds finds a way to make her understandable and does so with a beautifully produced mezzo that is penetrating without losing its smooth texture."
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
AUSSIE THEATRE
