Wozzeck | Jones Hall, Houston | March 2013

“Low voices often have trouble cutting through; higher ones have an easier time. Anne Schwanewilms, as Marie, certainly demonstrated that. Her bright, clear sound had a purity that helped make Marie – who repents of her sins in one of the story’s most powerful scenes – even more sympathetic. She ranged easily from tenderness to laser-beam brilliance, and I never noticed the orchestra overwhelming her.”

Chron, March 2 2013

 

“Schwanewilms, a lusty Marie, sings with crystalline purity and steely force like a young Birgit Nilsson. She galvanized the stage, radiantly cooing her lullaby to her baby boy, taunting the Drum Major with smoldering sexiness, or nervously confronting Wozzeck with a sad premonition of what is to be. She was a presence to be dealt with.”

Houston Press/Art Attack, March 2 2013