New production „The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein“ Semperoper, Dresden, premiere: 29 February 2020

„The title role was played by the great Anne Schwanewilms. For the vocal parts, she used her soft, light-hearted soprano as we know her. With much self-irony she masters the tightrope walk between dignity and embarrassment with a great stage presence.“

opernfreund.de, Thomas Thielemann, 1 March 2020

„Anne Schwanewilms surprised in the title role as Grand Duchess. Musically unchallengeable – whether powerful or affectionate, she shone everywhere unerringly with her bright, vital soprano.“

Michael Ernst, Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten, 2 March 2020

„Anne Schwanewilms in a red-golden uniform with pink accents, Marlene hairstyle and visor cap sings a man-crazy vamp, who can barely keep her eyes and hands off the object of desire. (…) Schwanewilms and von Bennigsen unfold a broad spectrum of singing, from seductively tender to characterizing, especially in the ensembles, full of energy.“

Jens Daniel Schubert, Sächsische Zeitung, 2 March 2020

„Anne Schwanewilms, who has made a name for herself worldwide as one of the most important interpreters of the works of Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner and Gustav Mahler, slips here into the role of the Grand Duchess, a spoiled not-so-young lady who loves strapping soldiers in smart uniforms, but since her country is far too insignificant for warlike conflicts, she likes to „attack“ elsewhere – in red silk uniform. At the Semper Opera she could be seen as Arabella, Chrysotemis („Elektra“) and Marschallin („Der Rosenkavalier“), now she is here on her way in a completely different direction to open up a new role in which she can show a completely different side of her singing and acting skills. „Wagner and Strauss exclude light music like operettas“, she says, and „if you have an affinity to Wagner and Strauss, Offenbach means real work“. „It is a long, long way to go …“, but if she continues along this long path, she could even become the incarnation of this role. Her stately stage presence as a youthfully mature, blonde-curled woman, her appearance and charisma, and not least her voice, which left nothing to be desired in the heights, enable her straight to do so. Admittedly, she was still a bit reserved now, because after all she was entering „new territory“ (…). A softly sung tone disturbed less than a „slipped down“ one. But she should have enough personality and potential to get into this role and make it one of her signature roles.

Online-Merker, Ingrid Gerk, 5 March 2020

Recital at the Elbphilharmonie, 23 October 2019

„Wow! (…) To set a tone in a delicate pianissimo and then take it back a little further, to the edge of silence, without the voice crumbling or losing its brilliance – and still keeping an eye on the great arch and the flow of language. What Anne Schwanewilms conjured into one’s ears in „Zwielicht“ from Robert Schumann’s „Liederkreis“ sounded like a textbook for the highest art of song singing. Because the soprano, supported by pianist Malcolm Martineau, was able to detect even the finest nuances of the songs and could always rely on an astonishing voice control. (…) With a wide range of sound shades, she and the splendid pianist Malcolm Martineau conjured up the flight of the soul on a starry moonlit night, they told of secret tears of melancholy or mourned about a beloved who had long since died.”

Marcus Stäbler, Hamburger Abendblatt, 25 October 2019