Beth Clayton

• Mezzo-Soprano

Reviews

Beth Clayton reviews

“Six feet tall and stunning, the mezzo Beth Clayton is a rare bird: a Carmen naturally able to project the character’s tremendous power and sexiness.” Anne Midgette, The New York Times, November 16, 2007 “The mezzo-soprano Beth Clayton does not need to act to convey tremendous power. Six feet tall and sultry, with a mane of dark hair, she took the stage of the New York State Theater on Sunday afternoon as a Carmen prepared to eat the whole wimpy garrison of soldiers for breakfast… She is a fine, impressive Carmen, and she has the tools to become a truly great one.” Anne Midgette, The New York Times, October 9, 2007 “But the real merit of ?Carmen’ this season is the local debut of Beth Clayton's Carmen. Looking more like a Goya princess than a gypsy temptress, her dark-toned mezzo-soprano is a superb instrument superbly used.” Clive Barnes, New York Post, October 8, 2007 “[I]n Beth Clayton the opera has a fully convincing Carmen. She is at once playful, fanciful, insouciant, headstrong, and completely feminine. Moreover, she can sing…These elements are, of course, central to the opera, and Clayton’s naturalness in all aspects of the role was highly enjoyable and completely convincing.” Kenneth DeLong, The Calgary Herald, April 22, 2007 “Clayton, a 1995 apprentice now enjoying a fastrising and artistically vivid career, fit perfectly into Lars Rudolfsson’s modernistic Carmen production, throwing many new and personal sidelights onto the character. She moved very well and with excellent dramatic concentration, and some of her choices were startlingly simple but quite insightful...Her ensemble work… was top-notch. And she sang the “Card” aria with a controlled yet desperate heat that burned like the core of the sun.” Craig Smith, The Santa Fe New Mexican, August 25, 2006 “From the opening Habañera, the young mezzo displayed a technique that combined dead-on intonation with room-filling projection. Her appoggiaturas were neatly turned, and her tessitura showed no weaknesses.” Marc Shulgold, Rocky Mountain News, November 8, 2005 “Clayton, singing in a limpid, husky voice the Habañera and Seguidilla from Bizet's Carmen, was simply sensational, a brazen seductress in love with love.” Ted Shen - Chicago Tribune, August 2000 BENNETT’s The Mines of Sulphur “As Rosalind, a Gypsy girl who forms the third part of the trio of thieves, mezzo Beth Clayton has the ideal dark, sexy sound, which turns more and more frenzied as fear and remorse take hold of her.” Eric Myers, Opera News Online, November 2005 “Beth Clayton’s sung performance of Rosalind is gorgeous—dramatically convincing…” Jim Lovensheimer, Opera Today, September 25, 2005 “Beth Clayton, the lovesick wayward, handles frenzied vocals well.” Jonas Kover, The Observer-Dispatch, July 24, 2004 HANDEL’s Orlando “All five principals sang and acted with true virtuosity, sure command of Baroque style and consummate vocal expression. Mezzo-soprano Beth Clayton was luscious in the trouser role of Medoro, her voice rich and beguiling in every part of her range.” Jeffrey A.Leipsic, Opera News, Vol 71, No. 3 September 2006