Reviews of Alcina with Opera Atelier
“Allyson McHardy takes pride of place in the “trouser role” of Ruggiero, combining authentic swagger with a warmth of tone and a dramatic intensity that are riveting.” (Toronto Star, 24 October 2014)
Read the full review on the Toronto Star website
“Allyson McHardy played Ruggiero with a stunning low and warm tessitura – especially for a mezzo-soprano.” (Musical Toronto, 26 October 2014)
“Allyson McHardy was believable as Ruggiero in both his besotted and heroic modes. With handsome and agile mezzo-sopranos like this, who needs countertenors? Her rendition of Sta nell’Ircana, complete with natural horns, got the biggest hand of the night.” (National Post, 27 October 2014)
“Allyson McHardy, as Bradamante’s love, Ruggiero…was superb, as when she ended the first half of the opera, just before intermission, with 10 minutes of the most sublime performance I’ve heard from anyone in many years.” (Globe and Mail, 24 October 2014)
“Allyson McHardy has a dark mezzo-soprano instrument with a warm vibrato that is just great for a pants role. Her stage presence was also very dashing.” (Mooney on Theatre, 27 October 2014)
“Allyson was definitely the vocal and dramatic highlight for me. She also gets probably the best aria of the piece; a resolution aria accompanied by high horns. Here, of course, the horns are valveless and they were played from the one of the stage boxes. It was an interesting sonic experience.” (Opera Ramblings, 24 October 2014)
“Mezzo-soprano Allyson McHardy created a magnificently conflicted ‘Ruggiero’. Her lust for ‘Alcina’ combined with disbelief of ‘Bradamante’s’ presence made her rage against a perceived rival as terrifying as her swooning at the feet of the sorceress was comic. Beautifully shaped phrasing and the burnished richness of her tone realized the staggering beauty of the music Handel wrote for the part fully. Allyson McHardy’s first half finale of ‘Mi lusinga il dolce affetto’ captured the sublime nature of music and conveyed the pathos of her character with breathtakingly loveliness.” (NoRules-NoLights, 26 October 2014)