|
|
|
Boston Globe - 10/26/04
Place: Jordan Hall
Referrence: Giulio Cesare, Boston Baroque
Title: Lemos rescues 'Giulio Cesare'
Quote: "Saturday night's performance, attended by an almost-full house, was rescued by an heroic effort by local countertenor José Lemos, who sang five of Caesar's arias from a chair in front of the orchestra while [David] Walker acted the role and delivered the recitatives. Lemos sang with a big, colorful, sexy tone and almost recklessly brilliant coloratura. He sang so well, in fact, that one wished he had offered the other arias that were deleted..."
Le Soir (Belgium) - 10/28/03
Place: Theater of the Chimay Castle
Referrence: 4th. International Baroque Singing Competition of Chimay
Title: The coronation of a virtuosic presence.
Quote: "The First Prize as well as the Audience Prize were given this year to the twenty eight year old Uruguaian countertenor José Lemos. With a Handel aria from the opera Giulio Cesare he seduced us by the dramatic conviction of his interpretation and the precision of his vocal technique. His voice is beautiful and powerful."
The Wall Street Journal - 08/26/03 (Page D5)
Place: Tanglewood Music Festival
Referrence: Rage D'Amour by Robert Zuidam
Title: Opera, Spanish History, Set to New Music at Tanglewood
Quote: "One standout in the fine cast was countertenor José Lemos, doubling as a monk and as Philibert Naturel, who warns Philip to beware poisoners".
The Post and Courier - 06/05/03 (Page 11A)
Place: Piccolo Spoleto Festival USA 2003
Referrence: Recital
Title: Superb Lemos recital leaves audience begging for more
Quote: "Charismatic performance. The Brazilian-born virtuoso reveals passion and dramatic sonority in his contralto tones. Lemos voice, at turns spicy contralto, at others, a shaded, supported soprano, projected a wide palette of emotions. It was a beautiful program bespeaking professional versatility and skill."
El Pais (Uruguay) - 07/10/02
Place: Montevideo (Uruguay) / ArsLirica
Referrence: Recital
Title: A prodigious voice
Quote: "Washinton Roldan had said: 'the Uruguaian - Brazilian countertenor José Lemos has a sumptuous and colorful contralto sound with enormous possiblities for opera and oratorio'...this comment is not only true but now Lemos has added a great deal of power in his large vocal register, specially the robusts lower notes and the perfection of his coloratura in the most difficult high notes. His Brazilian song repertoire becomes a lesson on it's interpretation."
The Post and Courier - 06/05/02 (Page 11A)
Place: Piccolo Spoleto Festival USA 2002
Referrence: Recital
Title: Countertenor Lemos shines in early music medley
Quote: "José Lemos sings with rich resonance, beautiful top notes and an equally controlled low register. Lemos' tones float around as if they would go on forever. He also has remarkable breath control, which he showed to advantage several times on those long baroque lines. Good program notes, excelent stage presence and fine acting abiltiy allowed Lemos allowed Lemos to make the various pieces understandable, though not a word of the program was in English. Lemos is a very versatile performer and is destined to go far in any area of the music world he chooses."
The Post and Courier - 06/06/03
Place: Piccolo Spoleto Festival 2003
Referrence: Recital
Title: Spoleto music ranges from flat to fabulous
Quote: "In all of Mr. Lemos program was his strong theatrical presence and insinuating way with an audience. His voice seemed to me to have developed downward in quality, a clarinet that has morphed into an english horn. In all the pieces there was a remarkable ability to sing fast passages as well as color more contemplative songs as a fine painter colors a landscape. All in all, it was a memorable recital."
The Boston Globe - 07/05/04
Place: Seiji Ozawa Hall
Title: Mark Morris troupe brings the music to life
Piece referred: Vivaldi's Gloria
Conducted by: Craig Smith
Quote: "The orchestra and chorus of Tanglewood fellows were first-rate; so were the vocal soloists, among them countertenor Jose Lemos..."
The Washington Post - 08/28/04 (Page C5)
Place: Inter-American Development Bank Cultural Center
Referrence: Solo recital
Title: Washington, DC Debut
Quote: "Young Brazilian countertenor Jose Lemos brought a surprising program to his recital at the Inter-American Development Bank's attractive Cultural Center Auditorium on Thursday. A couple of Handel arias and the passionate "O Patria" from Rossini's "Tancredi" were the only representatives of the standard countertenor repertoire - music full of ornamental acrobatics and the sort of melodrama composers loved to write for that voice.
The rest of the program was assembled from a lovely collection of songs, most of them transposed from baritone range and most written by 20th-century South American composers, and it was in this repertoire that Lemos sounded most at home. Perhaps his finest singing came early in the program in the three songs by Reynaldo Hahn, a Venezuelan who moved to France early in life and specialized in gentle songs of love and romance. Lemos, whose voice is light and clear and quite agile found just the perfect combination of ardor and restraint for these and communicated the texts with compelling intimacy.
As performers of art songs must - and the best do without apparent effort - Lemos established a new personality and set a new scene for each song.
There was a sense of magic in the three songs by the Brazilian composer Valdemar Henrique, passion in Vicente Ascone's "Como las frutas del monte" and longing in songs by Carlos Guastavino and Osvaldo de Souza. For the three spirituals that ended the program, pieces now almost indelibly identified with voices like Marian Anderson's, Lemos was smart enough to stick with what he does very well - sing them gently, sincerely and lovingly.
A splendid collaborator in this musicmaking was pianist Irina Pevzner, whose clean articulation and keen sense of balance made her a true partner."
The following quotes refer to Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream
Conductor: Stefan Asbury
Orchestra: Tanglewood Fellows Orchestra
Director: David Kneuss - Executive Director at the MET
Design Team: John Michel Deegan and Sarah Conly.
Curtain Up - The internet magazine of reviews 07/28/04 (Dress Rehearsal) By Elyse Sommer
Title: Summer 2004 Dance and Music Diary
Quote: "The predominantly black and white motif at times made you think of one of those grand old movie musicals from the 1940's, a look underscored by a sequin gowned Tytania (Anne-Carolyn Bird) and the very blond Oberon (José Lemos) and Puck (Kyle Barry). Their voices were as splendid as their looks, with Jose Lemos's countertenor especially impressive. The story is so familiar and the voices generally so clear that the super titles were almost superfluous.
The Wall Street Journal - 08/03/04 (Page D8)
Title: A Hard 'Nose' and an Enchanting 'Dream'
Quote: "Standouts in the cast included...As Oberon, José Lemos showed promise as a new addition to the countertenor ranks."
The Republican - 08/02/04 ( Page B6)
Title: 'Midsummer Night's Dream' triumphs over set update
Quote: "The principal singers, TMC vocal fellows all, were fine across the board...The Act I appearance of white clad Tytania attended by a grinning, greasily menacing Oberon (richly sang by countertenor José Lemos)..."
The New York Times - 08/03/04 (Pages B1 and B5)
Title: A Puckish Bit of Mischief by Moonlight
Quote: "José Lemos as Oberon and Anne-Carolyn Bird as Tytania in a Midsummer Night's Dream at the Tanglewood Festival...Stefan Asbury conducted an able and sometimes superior cast."
Designer Blog - Thoughts of a theatrical designer, amateur historian, opera lover and gay father from Boston (wagf@hotmail.com). A blog for the Arts and Gay Issues.
Quote: "Oberon, the suavely sexy but vaguely threatning Brazilian José Lemos, also appeared in evening wear, the countertenor voice reimagined as male contralto in his throat...Standouts in the cast were...Mr. Lemos and Ms. Bird (Tytania) who earned frequently bursts of applause for their singing, dancing, and evident joy in performing.