Arabella | Frankfurt Opera | January 2009

“Schwanewilms was ideally cast…with her radiant, iridescent voice…”

Opera

“Anne Schwanewilms’s role-debut as Arabella is a sensation. Her acting is sensitive and subtle, the slender voice-production and brilliant expressiveness entirely convincing. Her freely flowing soprano combines tenderness with intensity and is the emotional focus of the whole evening.”

Hanauer Anzeiger

“In Anne Schwanewilms as Arabella and Britta Stallmeister as Zdenka, the Frankfurt Opera has singers who not only fulfill the immense demands of their own roles brilliantly, but also harmonize with each other to perfection. The famous duet of the two sisters, “Aber der richtige…”, was the first magical moment of many which made this performance musically so exceptional. In the closing scene of the first act (‘Mein Elemer!’) Schwanewilms made credible the basic theme of Hofmannsthal’s libretto, Arabella’s transformation from frivolous and pleasure-seeking girl into openly loving woman. Her performance dramatised Arabella’s ever-deepening maturity, turning her finally into a younger sister of the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier. She began the evening using a deliberately light, almost dry tone and saved her most blooming legato for the great scene of forgiveness at the end.”

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung