Los Angeles
Storey offered a commanding well-knit
voice, displaying heft and clarion tone throughout his considerable range. From
a glorious "Esultate!" all the way to the last ghostly "un altro
bacio" the English tenor was a supreme Otello; he seems poised to take on
Domingo's mantle in the role.
[Opera News]
As
Otello, Storey, a British tenor who started as a carpenter and builder, is
proving that
he
has the bricks and mortar well in place for the foundation of a tremendous
career as an opera great. His characterization is a deeply emotional
interpretation that shakes an audience into visceral belief,
[The
Hollywood Reporter]
Storey, who has
emerged as one of the world’s hot tenor properties during the past year, grew
into his performance as the evening wore on. He emphasized sweet lyricism in his
first-act duet with Desdemona, but as he descended into the depths of madness,
his singing grew more powerful and his portrayal became riveting. If he isn’t
another Domingo, who is?
[Pasadena
Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News]
Standing majestically atop a giant ship’s 35-foot mast in Act I, the
dark/spray-tanned Otello (as is customary of light-skinned tenors in the role)
glares down upon his rejoicing fleet, opening his mouth to a triumphant “Esultate!”
Not many have been able to sing Otello—a role that LA Opera’s General
Director Plácido
Domingo dominated for decades, but the moment he takes the
stage, it is evident that English tenor Ian Storey can do this heroic part
justice. After warming up through the first act, Storey showcases synchronized
Wagnerian rage and Italiante lyricism in his unremitting arias to follow.
[LA2DAY]
British tenor Ian Storey makes his U.S. debut in the title role. It can’t be
easy taking the part under the watchful eye of the company’s general director
, Plácido Domingo, long associated with the role. But there wasn’t any
evidence of a shadow. Storey, burly and athletic, he commands the stage on his
own terms. He possesses the role confidently, brilliantly paces the
character’s gradual derangement, a barely controlled civility masking a
volcanic temper. “Dio mi potevi scagliar tutti mali” was a whirlwind. By the
conclusion, he is as empty and pathetic as one could hope for. A smart,
engaging, powerful performance
[Orange
County Register]
St. Gallen
The
British tenor Ian Storey handled his dramatic tenor economically and by the
fourth act there is no sign of tiredness. His Otello is vocally and dramatically
simply brilliant.
[Thurgauer Zeitung]
Ian Storey, made
his debut as Otello. He gives the impression of a juvenile colossus,....
In this interpretation no versatile
commander is brought down but a weak giant. It is disturbing how he is able to
express vulnerability with his voice, touching how, with his natural, powerful,
well controlled tenor, he draws the psychological portrait of a human being
eaten away by inferiority complexes.
[Tagblatt]
Ian
Storey possesses a muscular tenor which brilliantly masters the fatiguing title
role.
[Blick]
Ian Storey a vocally powerful
heroic tenor as Otello, a dominating figure whom Del Monaco at the end, not
without reason , stylises to a gladiator. Naturally it is more difficult for him ( than for
Desdemona ) to show the complete breakdown and the internal destruction but even
this succeeds, along with the expected brilliance of the tenor voice
and the beautiful refined tones in the love duet and the final " un bacio ,
un bacio ancora".
The
contrast to Ian Storey's Otello, held throughout in thrilling tension and the
impulsive attack with which he masters also challenging passages, could not be
more powerful.
[Der
Landbote]
Ian
Storey debuts as Otello. His tenor voice is well focused in the upper and lower
range, he never needs to force, makes use of the piano, and, contrary to the
overwrought
, he sings the part from the first to
the last note.
Top
Teatro alla
Scala
Ian Storey, Tristan, has remarkable acting skills and stage presence, and
also a voice with a clear and powerful quality, capable of the slightest colour
shades, amazing in rendering all the unconscious suffering of love as a
sickness.
[Del
Teatro]
Anche
Ian Storey, così arduamente impegnato nel raggiungere con la sua voce
importante il possesso d’una parte che affronta per la prima volta, cerca
insieme al suo personaggio, e ne esce un Tristano guerrierone sincero e ricco di
tumulti e pensieri, slanci e sgomento.
Also Ian Storey, with his important voice so
fiercely striving to fully dominate the part he is facing for the first time, is
searching along with his character, and the result is an honest, warrior
Tristan, rich in thoughts, disturbances, urges and desperation.
[Il Giornale]
Ian
Storey è un Tristano baritonale, generoso e musicale.
Ian Storey is a baritonal, generous and musical
Tristan.
[La Repubblica]
Ian
Storey debutta e stravince non solo vocalmente ma per il fraseggio vario,
intenso, di un’espressività capace di reggere la vicinanza con simile Isolde.
Ian Storey debuts and easily amazes not only vocally but also with the
varied, intense phrasing of such expressiveness capable of matching those of
Isolde.
[Il Giorno]
Der britische Tristan-Debütant Ian Storey ist ein
gestandenes Mannsbild – und mit baritonalem, durchschlagskräftigem Tenor ein
neuer Repräsentant jener raren Spezies, die „Tristan“-Aufführungen auf
gutem Niveau überhaupt möglich macht
The British Ian Storey, debuting as Tristan, is
of impressive build – and with his baritonal, strong tenor he is a new
representative of that rare species which makes Tristan performances of high
level possible.
[Die
Presse]
Und singt vor allem so lebendig, wie er spielt. Ian
Storey hat sich von einem ersten Akt, in dem er unauffällig blieb, über einen
zweiten, in dem er durch strahlende Lyrik aufhorchen ließ, bis zu einem
beklemmenden Finale nicht nur gehalten, sondern auch gesteigert.
And above all he sings as lively as he acts. Ian
Storey does not only grow from a first act in which he stayed low, through a
second act, where he demanded attention with his brilliant lyricism, to an
oppressive third act, he also became better and better.
[Der
Standard]
[The
Guardian]
he never forced
it into caterwauling, the cardinal sin of contemporary Wagnerians, and he lasted
the course, with plenty in reserve for the
transcendental agonies of Act III. Barenboim conducts Tristan magisterially
— and the Scala orchestra play wonderfully for their new principal guest —
without disfiguring tenor-cossetting. That
makes Storey’s achievement all the more impressive.
[The Sunday Times]
he combines a warm smooth tenor free
of the reediness of many Tristans - like a baritone that goes up and up - with
enough stamina to give the third act it's desperate due ......... touchingly
honest stage-presence helped Chéreau's
emotion focussed interpretation to work
[Opera]
…..the physically imposing Ian Storey, may not
have a classic Wagner heldentenor , but he sings intelligently, instead
of shouting or barking it as most Tristans do.
[Financial
Times]
Frankfurt am Main
The
British tenor Ian Storey proves that a Wagner-singer can also phrase musically
throughout three long acts. His Tannhäuser shines through in his capacity to
shape the role and his athletic vocal energy, while the voice does not sound
strained or pressed in any register, even later in the evening, during the
murderous Rome-narration, there are no signs of tiredness.
[Hanauer
Anzeiger]
Ian
Storey led the cast as
Tannhäuser
and gave a totally convincing performance. He has the physique and the
histrionic talents to carry the role, and a hefty and unflagging voice to match,
which he is also able to hone down to a fine tone.
[Opera
Now]
Scottish Opera
Most outstanding was Ian Storey as Florestan. His
opening number in Act 2 had a stately purity, a bridled passion, that raised the
whole show to a new level.
[Opera]
But when Ian Storey's Florestan opens his mouth, you
remember what makes opera tick; his dungeon scene transmutes despair into joy,
the voice follows the upward modulations of the orchestra with breathless
yearning, and the transition from melodrama to opera is complete.
[The Times]
The cast were excellent. The Florestan was Ian
Storey, whose fresh-minted tenor voice mesmerised from the first note.
[The Independent]
Ian Storey is an impressive shambling Orson Welles
of a Florestan
[The Herald]
Top
Torino
L'orchestra
sarà importante, ma Puccini senza bravi cantanti non è Puccini: ..... Bene
anche il tenore Ian Storey, nella parte del bandito Dick Johnson (Ramerrez),
voce squillante e ben modulata, zazzera al vento dalla banditesca sprezzatura,
stile e accurato controllo dell'emissione.
[La Stampa]
Top
Perhaps the highlight of
the evening was the mesmerising performance of Ian Storey as John the Baptist.
Looking uncannily like Dorset-based composer John Tavener, it was a majestic and
entirely convincing reading of a mystic whose charisma was great enough to so
unsettle religious leaders that they called for his execution.
Top
Glyndebourne
Ian Storey's José
was one of the best I have heard, whether on stage or record, simply because he
did what the composer wanted. In the duet with Lisa Milne's irresistible
Micaëla he maintained the pianissimo in mixed voice throughout the G major
sections and in the coda, phrasing the lines most sensitively. And he finished
his Flower Song, delivered as if he were 'improvising' both words and notes,
with the pianissimo ending as marked. This, answered by Carmen's dusky
"Non, tu ne m'aimes pas" and uninterrupted by applause, emerged as
Bizet intended as one of the great moments in all opera.
Dramatically, Storey was just as creative. He suggested a character out of place
in Seville, a cut above his fellow soldiers, as foreign as someone from Navarre
would have been in those days, and he showed more spirit than his predecessor.
He sang "Eh bien, soit!" later in the second act not 'avec douleur',
but spat the words out in fury, another shattering moment. Storey started the
(final) scene head bowed, hands in pockets, but this man was plainly deranged,
his hand was on his knife, and you knew perfectly well that he was going to kill
Carmen seven minutes later. A different kind of suspense, just as
valid.
[Opera]
...the promenaders would
surely have loved her (Hellekant), as well as Ian Storey's rough-hewn "big-house"
Don José.
[Sunday Times -
Culture]
Cagliari
L'Anglais Ian
Storey a su faire monter en puissance son incarnation de Don José au fil de la
représentation, sans jamais recourir ´ des effets véristes et restant
toujours dans les limites de cette élégance propre au chant français,
The English
tenor Ian Storey was able to develop the power of his interpretation of Don José
as the opera went along, without ever availing himself of effects of "verismo"
and always remaining within the limits of this particular elegance inherent and
necessary for the French repertoire,
[Opera International]
Top
Bologna
... abbiamo preferito l'Hermann del tenore scozzese
Ian Storey. Qui l'ex allievo del compianto Carlo Cossutta supera se stesso. È
un protagonista maschile intenso, partecipe, musicalissimo e di mezzi vocali che
ci hanno fatto ricordare, con rimpianto, il suo grande maestro.
.... we preferred the
Hermann of the tenor Ian Storey. Here the ex-pupil of the mourned Carlo Cossutta
excelled himself. He is an intense, virile performer, involved, very musical and
of vocal means which brought to mind, with sorrow, his great maestro.
[L'Opera]
Top
Scottish Opera
Ian
Storey, a fine tenor who never screams yet has a ringing top to his voice when
needed
However,
the evening’s most accomplished performance comes from the tenor Ian Storey,
whose Pinkerton is sung with rich and fluent tone and acted with a rare warmth
and understanding. Not a bad chap, this naval lieutenant, more coarse than
cynical, and thoughtless rather than unfeeling. One of the most telling moments
shows him nervously smoking a cigarette as he awaits the consummation of his
wedding night – suddenly the fact that Butterfly is taking all this for real
comes home to him.
[Daily
Telegraph]
It
was a relief to hear the role sung with scrupulous attention to dynamics and
phrasing and acted with a brashness that did not totally alienate belief in this
character and even aroused some sympathetic understanding of his eventual
cowardice. The love duet was sung by him and Dercho with a truthfulness to its
eroticism which never descended into coarseness.
[The
Sunday Telegraph
…..
with physical and vocal acting of the very highest order from Natalia Dercho and
Ian Storey….. Storey’s lustrous singing makes you forget that Pinkerton has
just told Sharpless that he will marry an American wife when he leaves and –
like Butterfly – you are seduced. In McVicar’s production he is not an
unrepentant colonial rapist. He is the Grant Mitchell of the operatic world: an
oversized, handsome thug who weeps in genuine bewilderment at what he has done.
[The
Independent on Sunday]
There
was a moment of rare beauty at the (Edinburgh) Festival Theatre last night. It
came at the end of the first act of Madama Butterfly. As the curtain fell on the
two lovers … audience members held their breath for a few moments before
erupting into applause…..Pinkerton sung with force by the towering Ian
Storey….
Top
Opera North
As
Cavaradossi - a character who actually appears relatively little despite being
the leading tenor - Ian Storey seems to be around for longer and with greater
effect. His voice has power and admirable depth of feeling: most tenors are
content to belt out the big arias and wait for the applause.
[Oldham
Chronicle]
…(who is becoming
associated with Puccini’s heroic roles)… has a laser like intensity up top,
and – unforgettably in Act Three, where he sings of the beauty of Tosca’s
hands – a silvery, intimate quality that draws you in.
[The
Herald]
AND ON A LIGHTER NOTE
Teatro alla Scala
Mr.
Storey exhibited his strong bass-baritone, a resounding roar-like sound with a
beautiful upper-tessitura and a technically proficient ability to create
lyricism while effecting power; a difficulty for some baritones Mr. Storey made
it look as easy as pie. Dramatically affective, Mr. Storey plays a drunken Števa
while the chorus merges in a dancing frenzy that culminates in a wild orgy-like
event.
Mr.
Storey’s musicality and dramatic prowess was eloquently displayed in his
lovely ‘Už
pro tvoje jablúčkovy líce’,
[Opera
Today]
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© 2002 All rights reserved.
Revised: 02 May 2008