Die Frau ohne Schatten | Concertgebouw, Amsterdam | February 2013

‘Good as her colleagues were, whenever Anne Schwanewilms stood on stage one couldn’t take one’s eyes off her. Wrapped in a near-mystical kind of magic, she sang with unerring brilliance. In the second and third acts, her presence was incomparable. When she spoke her decisive ‘Ich will nicht!’ you could have heard a pin drop in the Concertgebouw.’

Operamagazine, Francois van Anker, 18.02.2013

‘(Schwanewilms’s) Empress is in the role’s lyrical tradition, but its dramatic side is in no way neglected. In the great scene where she renounces the shadow she succeeds in finding accents of a tragic magnitude and in the closing ‘Aus unseren Taten’ she truly provoked goose pimples.’

OperaClick, Edoardo Saccenti, 21.02.2013

‘Anne Schwanewilms as the Empress is majestic in both voice and appearance…herclosing monologue is exceptionally awe-inspiring.’

De Telegraaf, Eddie Vetter, 18.02.2013

‘In the title role, Anne Schwanewilms was sovereign, with exceptionally long, sustained tone, however deep in meditation..’

NRC Handelsblatt, Floris Dun, 18.02.2013

‘The singers cast as the imperial couple, tenor Torsten Kerl and soprano Anne Schwanewilms, both fully confirmed their brilliant reputations as leaders in their fields.’

De Volkskrant, Biella Luttmer, 18.02.2013