Role Reviews
no orchestra could have overwhelmed Plowright’s potent low notes in what was altogether a magnificent performance. John Allison - Opera - Sep 2016
A dazzling performance by Rosalind Plowright as Klytämnestra. Initially dignified, later hysterical and guilt ridden, this was a compelling, breath-taking performance. Martin Šochman - Harmonie Online - June 2016
The most satisfactory performances came from a resonant Orestes (Kàroly Szemerèdy) and a fabulous Klytaemnestra sung by Rosalind Plowright. The confrontation with Elektra was the dramatic highlight of the evening. Her chest notes such as the low G sharp on “Kraft zu jäten” were Resnik-esque. She also showed commendable physical stamina bent over the sink, ostensibly headless, for about 30 pages of the score. Jonathan Sutherland - Bachtrack - June 2016
British mezzo-soprano Rosalind Plowright’s tormented, vicious, yet pitiable and curiously dignified Klytämnestra was sung with opulent, precisely focused tone, yet also with a taut intensity that was indeed bloodcurdling. This too was an important local debut… So wonderful, indeed, was it all that I returned for a third immersion the following week, when Ms. Baird and Ms. Plowright were in even more glorious voice than on the first night. Bernard Jacobson - Seen & Heard International - Nov 2008
The singers, however, are uniformly good—I saw the "gold" cast on opening night and a dress rehearsal of the "silver" cast—though the tour de force belonged to Rosalind Plowright as the desperate and paranoid Klytämnestra. Plowright commands the stage. Stooped and hobbling as if enduring the ancient equivalent of chemotherapy, Plowright is spellbinding as she recounts her guilt-ridden nightmares in a wild-eyed, neurotic rasp: "My body cries out for death...." Christopher Delaurenti - Seattle Stranger - 21st Oct 2008
Mezzo Rosalind Plowright delivers a psychological masterpiece as Klytämnestra, agonized between killing and the ruin of her life. Rosemary Ponnekanti - Go Arts - 19th Oct 2008
After you have met the mother you can begin to see Elektra's point. Klytämnestra is a dragon lady of terrifying prospect, bejewelled in gold, hunched and wielding her cane like a weapon. Her menace is chilling and so is her pitiful vulnerability. Mezzo soprano Rosalind Plowright was a wonder in her scene-stealing portrait of Klytämnestra. Her grand entrance is a spectacle that rivals Cecile B. De Mille for gaudy grandeur as the queen and her garish retinue (brilliantly costumed by Melanie Taylor Burgess) flood Wolfram Skalicki's charcoal set in a burst of color and chaos. Klytämnestra removes her gilded, towering headdress and reveals a frail, spidery woman in torment, pleading with Elektra to tell her what she must do to make the gods release her from her nightmares. Mike Murray - www.heraldnet.com - 24th Oct 2008
The parts of Elektra and Klytämnestra, sung by Janice Baird and Rosalind Plowright, respectively, were tour de force performances. Everyone else in the cast proved more than competent, but the two lead sopranos really rose above all others. www.artdish.com - 29th Oct 2008
The weary, terrorized Klytämnestra is given vivid shape by Rosalind Plowright, who somehow maintains her twisted pride even while grovelling from fear. Thomas May - www.crosscut.com - 27th Oct 2008
...when Rosalind Plowright brought to life before our eyes a creature at once depraved and poignantly regal. See Elektra with Sunday's cast, and you will have an enjoyable experience. See it with Janice Baird and Rosalind Plowright, and you will have an unforgettable one. Bernard Jacobson - Seattle Times - 20th October 2008
...and British mezzo-soprano Rosalind Plowright's tormented, vicious, yet pitiable and curiously dignified Klytämnestra, sung with an intensity that was indeed bloodcurdling Bernard Jacobson - Seattle Times - 20th October 2008
