Suor Angelica – English National Opera
‘Campbell Wallace’s voice soared upwards in unearthly pianissimos rewards the heaven to which she aspires’
The Guardian, Tim Ashley
‘….sung with piercing clarity by Sinead Campbell Wallace’
The Telegraph, Nicholas Kenyon
‘There was admirably ardent singing to enjoy, particularly from Sinead Campbell Wallace in the title role….’
The Times, Richard Morrison
‘A towering performance in the title role by Sinead Campbell Wallace’
Bachtrack, Mark Valencia
‘Sinead Campbell Wallace has never disappointed, and this was no exception, that aria a real high point, her concluding dissolve into death stunningly realised’
Seen and Heard, Colin Clarke
‘….. a performance of wondrous vocal and dramatic power from Sinead Campbell Wallace’
The Stage, George Hall
‘At the great of the evening stands Sinead Campbell Wallace as Suor Angelica, who reveals and heavenly voice…’
Opera Online, Sam Smith
‘With a voice of tremendous clarity and power in the top range, Campbell Wallace brilliantly manages the character’s mood shifts….it’s a star turn’
London Unattached, Dr. Adrian York
‘Sinead Campbell Wallace as Suor Angelica is simply spellbinding. Campbell Wallace’s rich, emotive soprano captures the torment and longing of the character with heart rending clarity’
londonology.co.uk
Salome – Irish National Opera
‘A brilliant Sinead Campbell Wallace leads Irish National Opera’s perfectly judged production’
The Irish Times, Michael Dungan
‘Sinead Campbell Wallace is utterly mesmerising as Irish National Opera’s Salome’
The Irish Independent, Emer O’Kelly
‘Sinead Campbell Wallace stole the show as Salome. Possessing an extraordinary range, with her low notes still sounding clearly, she soared effortlessly in the upper register’
Bachtrack, Andrew Larkin
‘Sinead Campbell Wallace stuns….she covered the dramatic gamut of this fearsome role in a way that Strauss would surely have applauded, with an especially terrifying low register and some surprisingly affecting soft singing’
The Arts Desk, David Nice
‘Campbell Wallace was simply outstanding in one of opera’s most notoriously demanding roles’
The Journal of Music, Adrian Smith
‘Campbell Wallace gives a superb performance in a uniquely demanding role’
The Irish Examiner, Alan O’Riordan
Press
“Her Tosca is wry and charming… Her third act aria, “Vissi d’arte,” is delivered by Campbell Wallace with impressive vocal clarity and depth of emotion.”
JOSHUA CHONG, TORONTO STAR
TOSCA – CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY
Tosca – Canadian Opera Company
“You wonder whether Puccini would still have so seriously considered cutting the iconic piece because it “held up the action” if he listened to Campbell Wallace’s devastating rendition.”
Joshua Chong, Toronto Star
“In the title role, Sinéad Campbell-Wallace looked the part and had the requisite vulnerability. She also sang beautifully.”
John Gilks, Bachtrack
“Tosca, Sinéad Campbell Wallace, was in fine form and supplied most of the evening’s vocal thrills.”
RICHARD MORRISON, THE TIMES
TOSCA – ENGLISH NATIONAL OPERA
Tosca – English National Opera
“…the top soars, and she sings with a generosity of spirit that fills the theatre.”
Richard Fairman, Financial Times
“…her vocal command is absolute.”
George Hall, The Stage
“Campbell Wallace’s voice blazes comfortably in its upper registers, but there’s great lyrical warmth in her scenes with Smith, and Vissi d’Arte is beautifully done.”
Tim Ashley, The Guardian
“Campbell-Wallace’s impetuous Tosca is powerful as she persuades Scarpia that she will submit to him, and then kills him. She sings her aria Vissi d’arte strongly as Scarpia literally tightens his grip on her. In the last act she is almost manic in her naïve belief that she and her lover will be free, and her final distraught leap of death is for once a convincing outcome.”
Nicholas Kenyon, The Telegraph
“Soprano Sinéad Campbell-Wallace is Tosca, bringing great rationality as well as passion to the role which she sings magnificently.”
Claudia Pritchard, CultureWhisper.com
“She owns the role of the singer Floria Tosca, consumed with love and with her art; and jealous and brave enough to take on the demonic Scarpia who takes a very hands-on approach to his pursuit of her.”
Adrian York, London Unattached
“…she masters the numerous hurdles within the score in a heightened and technically confident way, touched with girlish fragility.”
MANUEL BRUG, OPER! MAGAZIN
FIDELIO – GSTAAD MENUHIN FESTIVAL
Fidelio – Gstaad Menuhin Festival
“Having appeared in this same role last May in Brussels (our review), this soprano had already shown herself to be a great revelation. A voice of exquisite brightness, roundness of delivery, deep lows and radiant highs: everything contributes to adorn this Leonora with the finery of excellence. At times a woman inhabited by a passionate love wonderfully served by a voice of ardent resonance, at other times a warrior prepared to face death to save the love of her life, this Leonore has everything to draw one in, dramatic intensity and musicality in equal measure throughout her performance, of which her “Wo eilst du hin?” is brimming with gripping affliction and a delicious musicality.”
Pierre Géraudie, Olyrix.com
“At the curtain call, this Irish dramatic soprano received huge applause for both her vocal performance and her committed characterisation on stage, to which she was able to confer both courage and a sense of fragility. The beauty of timbre, homogeneity of the voice over the full range (and we know how steep it is), sustainment of the vocal line, alternation of heartfelt accents and more intimate nuances, the eloquent, deep golden colours of her lower register: this was the revelation of the evening.”
Julian Sykes, Le Temps
“A name to remember. The Salzburg Festival’s tried and tested performer makes a major contribution to the fact that Thursday’s concert version of “Fidelio” sets a strong benchmark with a vocal radiance of the highest order. In Sinead Campbell Wallace’s dramatic, incredibly luminous and creative soprano and her charisma at the head of the ensemble, this quality is a real find.”
Svend Peternell, Berner Oberländer
“With her youthful, dramatic soprano, Sinead Campbell Wallace portrayed a strong yet sensitive Leonore: She was the discovery of the evening! Her voice was jubilant with combativeness in the highs with the aria: “Abscheulicher! Wo eilst du hin? … Komm, Hoffnung, lass den letzten Stern der Müden nicht erbleichen!””
Marcel Burkhardt, OnlineMerker.co
“Sinead Campbell Wallace gave a more than convincing Leonore, not least in the interplay with Andreas Bauer Kanabas as Rocco.”
Gerald Heidegger, ORF.at
“…voice, emotion and humanity all come together with great power.”
MICHAEL DUNGAN, THE IRISH TIMES
TOSCA – IRISH NATIONAL OPERA
Tosca – Irish National Opera
“Central to this production is Sinéad Campbell Wallace’s sensational singing as the title character. Tosca is a demanding role for any artist, as the character’s journey across a wide emotional spectrum from jealous pride to desperate passion requires a richly-textured voice, expressing by turns vulnerability, wit, and strength. Campbell Wallace reflects all of this and more in her perceptive interpretation. Vissi d’arte comes across not as the usual showpiece solo, but begins in the moment, suggesting an inward turn, the sudden softness and gentle colouring of her sound simply heart-stopping.”
Michael Lee, Goldenplec.com
“entirely persuasive Tosca that Campbell Wallace establishes” … “in Tosca’s most famous aria, Vissi d’arte, … voice, emotion and humanity all come together with great power.”
Michael Dungan, The Irish Times
Fidelio – Insula Orchestra Tour
“If I’ve heard Leonore’s stupendous recitative-aria “Abscheulicher! Wo eilst du hin?” sung with greater force and nuance than here, when Campbell Wallace settled into her flickering glimpse of hope, “Komm Hoffnung”, she moved and touched us as some heavier soprano guns do not. …Campbell Wallace bloomed gorgeously in the final duet with De Barbeyrac, “O namenlose Freude” – with a lovely catch in her breath as she pronounced “Florestan”.
Boyd Tonkin, The Arts Desk
“Campbell Wallace’s interpretation of Fidelio/Leonore had real freshness about it. She is a radiant soprano, yet her lower register is so strong. Her voice itself is remarkably free, and absolutely equal to Beethoven’s sometimes cruel demands, her stamina remarkable, the pivotal reveal stunning in its vocal heft. The Florestan/Leonore duet, ‘O namenlose Freude!’, found them both at their very best.”
Colin Clarke, Seen & Heard
“In the roles at the centre of the drama, soprano Sinéad Campbell-Wallace and tenor Stanislas de Barbeyrac gave truly engaging performances. … Campbell-Wallace has a fairly light soprano, but it is generous of colour and strong across the range – her chest voice, which the role challenges, was powerful and rich. The Irish soprano affectingly communicated Léonore’s determination – the angular intervals of ‘Ich folge dem inner Triebe’ were flexibly shaped – and ‘Abscheulicher!’ conveyed a psychological depth that was absolutely persuasive. The conjugal bliss of the reunited pair was fervently expressed in ‘O namenlose Freude!’, but even at this emotional peak there were expressive subtleties that made the intensity feel ‘real’ and human.”
Claire Seymour, Opera Today
“Sinéad Campbell-Wallace as Léonore stands out for her strength of character and her great versatility. The soprano who knows how to give the required vocal richness but also to lighten the range to convey her aspiration for freedom, offers warm yet limpid and swift highs, deep and ample lows. The flexibility of her German diction combines with the ease of her acting, in both the sung and spoken parts.”
Soline Heurtebise, Olyrix.com
“Holden’s words were routinely muffled until Sinéad Campbell Wallace’s attentively sung Mimì finally arrived with her blown-out candle — she’s that rare thing, a soprano who makes every word clear.”
NEIL FISHER, THE TIMES
LA BOHEME – ENGLISH NATIONAL OPERA
La Boheme – English National Opera
“And what a revelation this Mimì is – Sinéad Campbell-Wallace makes her ENO debut, and we are sure to see and hear more of her. Elsewhere, she already as Puccini’s Tosca under her belt, and Tchaikovsky’s Tatyana in Eugene Onegin lies ahead. It’s easy to see why, as she conveys in Mimì both fragility and the gleam in her radiant top notes of a glimpse at a brighter horizon. Remember her name.”
Claudia Pritchard, CultureWhisper.com
“First, there was a fine ENO debut from the Irish soprano Sinead Campbell-Wallace as Mimi, the consumptive neighbour who embroiders flowers. She, though, was no shrinking violet. Tuberculosis could kill anybody, sweet or otherwise, and this Mimi seemed independent, self-assured and somewhat ahead of Rodolfo’s seduction game.
Campbell-Wallace is blessed with a big, bright belter of a voice and one suspects Mimi won’t always be her signature role, given the large repertoire that awaits her.”
Jessica Duchen, inews.co.uk
“… the sickly seamstress Mimi, was beautifully performed last night by Irish soprano Sinead Campbell-Wallace. Her voice has a wonderful clarity of tone and sense of dynamic control”
Adrian York, London-unattached.com
“Sinéad Campbell Wallace’s Leonore has a rich, powerful soprano and transforms spectacularly from watchful man into passionate woman.”
KATY HAYES, IRISH INDEPENDENT
FIDELIO – IRISH NATIONAL OPERA
Fidelio – Irish National Opera
“The story centres on Leonore, magnificently sung by Sinéad Campbell Wallace.”
Fiona Charleton, The Times
“Sinéad Campbell Wallace was superb in the role of Leonore. She struck just the right balance between concealing her true feelings from her fellow jailors while at the same time expressing her anxiety and desperation about the plight of her husband. In the famous ‘Abscheulicher’ aria she sustained the expressive lines beautifully while at the same time delivering the more dramatic material with gusto. I was particularly impressed with her singing in Act II’s great love duet with Florestan where the blazing joy of deliverance really shone through.”
Robert Beattie, Seen and Heard
“As the ‘male’ title character (before long revealed as the female Leonora, undercover freedom-fighter), soprano Sinéad Campbell Wallace returns to this stage in brilliant form. Always an arresting figure in performance, and a marvellous singer, she inhabits this role with riveting intensity and focus, her voice vibrant and true. Is there no limit to what she can do?”
Michael Lee, GoldenPlec.com
“Sinéad Campbell Wallace’s debut with the Irish National Opera is a triumph – both for her and the company. Her deeply internalised performance is spellbinding, colouring the emotional complexity of ‘Abscheulicher, wo eilst du hin?’ ending in her determination to free Florestan.”
Paddy McGovern, No More Workhorse
“The soprano Sinéad Campbell Wallace brilliantly walks the tightrope between selling her Fidelio persona to her fellow characters while providing the audience with a window into her emotional state as the heroic wife, Leonore.”
Michael Dungan, Irish Times
“Soprano Sinéad Campbell Wallace was a thoroughly convincing Leonore/Fidelio. Her voice is on the light side, but that did not stop her pouring out her soul in her “Abscheulicher” set piece, imbuing it with great sensitivity. Dramatically too, Campbell Wallace conveyed the anguish, the desperation and finally the joy of her character marvellously.”
Andrew Larkin, Bachtrack
“Soprano Kelli-Ann Masterson’s (Marzelline) crystal timbre offset by Soprano Sinéad Campbell Wallace’s (Leonore) robust and commanding power.”
Chris O’Rourke, The Arts Review
“The undisputed star of the evening, however, was quite rightly Sinéad Campbell-Wallace.”
NMZ ONLINE, JUAN MARTIN KOCH
TOSCA – THEATER REGENSBURG
Tosca – Theater Regensburg
“Her Tosca vibrated with sensuality, intensity and violence that almost seemed to frighten her. The vocal scale ranged from softly placed pianissimi through a well-articulated middle voice to an electrifying top that resonated powerfully in the space – outstanding.”
NMZ Online, Juan Martin Koch
“Vocally, it was all you could wish for: she has a touching intensity that carried through into her emotional acting.”
BR Klassik, Peter Jungblut
“Sinéad Campbell Wallace was a vocally superior Tosca, totally convincing in all things musical, from the height of jealousy to murder, from the throws of love to suicide.”
Mittelbayerische, Claudia Böckel
“And with a Tosca like Sinéad Campbell Wallace, anything is possible. The more dramatic, the better – that such a level of singer is engaged in Regensburg, speaks volumes for the house; she is indestructible, stunning, thrilling”
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Egbert Tholl
“…the grandiose singing of Sinéad Campbell Wallace in the title role…”
Mittelbayerische, Peter Geiger
“Sinéad Campbell Wallace was captivating as Tosca with initial ferocity above the stave and with delicate pianissimi in “Vissi d’arte”
NMZ Online, Juan Martin Koch