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Joanna Mongiardo
Soprano

Press Reviews

Joanna Mongiardo chosen in David Shengold's selections for Das Opernwelt's "Best of Year" Issue, 2011: "Joanna Mongiardo als Rosalina in Giordanos "Il Re" am Teatro Grattacielo in New York"

Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi / Therèse in Les Mamelles de Tirésias
"There were many fine performances among the three works, but no singers stood out more than... soprano Joanna Mongiardo. Mongiardo played Thèrese/Tirésias to the hilt."


Rosalina in Giordano's Il Re
"Joanna Mongiardo, who has a voice of impressive size and warmth, as well as a technique with ornament that should give her Lucia, Philine and Zerbinetta to choose from, also has a putty face, capable of expressing several emotions at once and of making fun of herself while expressing them. Rosalina is a star role in the glorious line and Mongiardo brought the hall to its feet. If she is a good girl and doesn't sing Norma or the Ernani Elvira too soon, I foresee a great future for her - and for Il Re, if she cares to remember it. (It's a star vehicle if you've got the star.)" (Click here for full review.)


Anne Trulove in The Rake's Progress
"Ryan MacPherson (Tom Rakewell) and Joanna Mongiardo (Anne Trulove) made a radiantly attractive central couple with real chemistry which lent this (to my tastes) somewhat frosty work some emotional pull... Mongiardo's sunny lyric sound surely won all hearts, and she rose to Anne's famous leap to high C."

"As his faithful lover, Anne Trulove, soprano Joanna Mongiardo is a winning match, her flexible and rounded voice entwines with MacPherson's as convincingly as her acting balances his." (Click here for full review.)

"One of the few readily recognized arias in Rake is Anne's "I go to him", which Joanna Mongiardo turned into a riveting mini-drama, delicately acted and deliciously sung."


Eurydice in Orpheus in the Underworld
"Highlighting the uniformly strong, ebullient cast, soprano Joanna Mongiardo handled the coloratura demands of Eurydice with polished ease. Mongiardo and baritone Matthew Worth made the Act II duo for Eurydice and Jupiter (disguised as a fly) every bit the comic and technical tour de force it should be." (Click here for full review.)

"Other standouts include... soprano Joanna Mongiardo, who nails the coloratura demands of Eurydice." (Click here for full review.)

"Mongiardo is a laugh a minute as the bright, coquettish Eurydice tries to escape her husband's music, which she hates, for her daily trysts with the shepard boy Aristeus (Ryan MacPherson), who turns out to be Pluto. Her vocal acrobatics thrill, one of many delictable confections that fill the evening." (Click here for full review.)

"Eurydice, portrayed by Joanna Mongiardo, is pretty and sexy, and a really good coloratura. She also does a great job of playing up to a series of lovers. Vocally she has a difficult role, and she pulls it off with pizzazz."



Carmina Burana
"Mongiardo's performance of In Trutina was heart-stoppingly lovely."

"Soprano Joanna Mongiardo has the most beautiful song in the work, but also a vocal cadenza that defies description... Will [she] hit it? She certainly did! It was glorious, and she also has an impossibly long note to hold (The children were fascinated)."

"Soprano Joanna Mongiardo brought an appropriately graceful, lilting presence to her simple love poems."

Dona Nobis Pacem
"A beacon of light in this dark work, soprano Joanna Mongiardo's pure, well-rounded voice conveyed both innocence and urgency as she pleaded for peace."


Olympia in Les Contes d'Hoffmann
"Mongiardo's performance, aided by Troy Siegfried's ingenious half-dress, half-puppet costume, was a singularly charming evocation of the character's funny-sad clockwork existence."


Baby Doe in The Ballad of Baby Doe
"Petite, with a theater-filling smile, Mongiardo radiated warmth through her unforced, pearly-fresh timbre. All five arias showcased aptly shimmering tone; she was likeable and moving throughout."

" Joanna Mongiardo is picture perfect as Baby Doe. Her soaring soprano is a joy throughout."
"Soprano Joanna Mongiardo is a radiant Baby Doe, whose smile embraces and disarms not only the other characters onstage (including her nemesis Augusta) but the audience as well. Her much awaited high D in Act One's Willow Song simply shimmers. In addition to shimmering stratospheric notes, her warm soprano carries some heft, enabling her to endow the character with dramatic overtones, as the opera propels her toward its tragic conclusion. This is a Baby Doe that does more than charm-she matures into magnificent adulthood."

"Soprano Joanna Mongiardo showed a particularly pretty lyric tone as Baby Doe. She is a petite and pretty young lady with seemingly effortless high notes. Her Silver Aria was impressively delivered and her final scene-a virtual Liebestod-with the dying Tabor was deeply touching."

"Baby Doe is portrayed by Joanna Mongiardo, who is very young and beautiful, and a perfect match for the part. She sang with ease the very difficult jumps in the music, and her clear soprano is at its most lovely in the simple songs that emphasize her character of sweetness and attractiveness to Tabor."

"The soprano's heart-wrenching tenderness as she cradles a dying Tabor, singing him a lullaby, is most effective. Mongiardo's lovely, clear voice enhances her total performance."

"Joanna Mongiardo handles the vocal demands of the title role with her suitable rich, golden voice. And she is able to effect the fresh-faced innocence and vivaciousness so essential to this take on Baby Doe."

"Mongiardo lit up the stage from the moment she set foot on it. Blessed with a warm smile and high cheekbones, Mongiardo proved equally ravishing in song. There was a subtle sweetness in her first aria, the Willow Song, and a magical mix of tragic pathos and inspiring conviction in that final tribute to her husband, Always through the changing."

"Joanna Mongiardo, an American soprano now a major Mozartian in Germany, made Baby Doe a young woman of such innocence and vulnerability that one never suspected ulterior motives."

"As Baby Doe, Mongiardo is so convincingly innocent and vulnerable that one never asks about her earlier marriage. She brings a stunning voice-and exemplary diction-to this role."

"Beginning with the high D in Willow Song, when Baby Doe sees Horace outside her hotel, until her soulful strains as a destitute widow, Joanna Mongiardo's soaring soprano imbues Baby Doe's love for Horace with an angelic quality that raises the story's premise from a gold digger's ambitions and a middle aged man's identity crisis to a transcendent romance."

"Joanna Mongiardo's Baby Doe was as exquisite and intriguing as ever."


Mozart's Requiem and Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass
"Joanna Mongiardo's supple soprano floated nicely through the solo sections of the Mozart, and brought an appealingly softening touch to the Haydn."


Juliette in Roméo et Juliette
"Joanna Mongiardo's strong, ripe tone traced effectively Juliet's passage from girl to woman. Together or apart, they were also visually ideal for their roles. "

"As Juliette, soprano Joanna Mongiardo was introduced with a series of arpeggios that had her soaring into the coloratura range and back. Mongiardo has a rich, vibrant voice that's full and powerful without unnecessary flutter. She is what all sopranos should be."

"Mongiardo has a solid lyric soprano voice, with a hint of darkness and with assured control even at the top."


Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro
"Joanna Mongiardo, who performs the huge role of Susanna, the chambermaid 'engaged' to Figaro, becomes more adorable as the opera gains momentum. She is a very good actress as well as a strong, hardworking soprano. She is irresistible with her nose crinkling and quicksilver brain ticking away faster than anyone else's. When she and the countess write a letter to the count in the third act during the 'Sull'aria' duet, I could have listened all night."

"Susanna is the key, and Joanna Mongiardo matched singers around her all night. Besides being quick on her feet and agile of voice, she was tireless in her lengthy recitatives (sung speech) through to her last-act aria, the sensitively phrased 'Deh vieni, non tardar'."


Buffalo Philharmonic's "Night in Old Vienna"
"Soprano Joanna Mongiardo, making her local debut, offered the aria 'Ah! Je veux vivre' from Gounod's 'Romeo et Juliette'. Mongiardo's well-projected voice nicely captured the sense of longing in the music's swaying rhythms. In Strauss' 'Voices of Spring', surely a selection that had the audience dreaming, she trilled some dazzling high notes."

Yum-Yum in The Mikado
"Joanna Mongiardo, as Yum-Yum, exhibited exactly the right combination of silvery voice, personal beauty, and spunky character."

"Joanna Mongiardo played Yum-Yum to perfection, singing in magnificent bright voice."

1st Place Winner, 2001 Metropolitan Opera National Council New England Regional Finals
"Joanna Mongiardo, who bears a certain elfin-brunette resemblance to Winona Ryder, has the audience hanging on her every octave skip in her performance of 'Una voce poco fa' from Rossini's The Barber of Seville. She pairs a girlish, pouty interpretation of Rosina with virtuoso coloratura (read: crowd-pleasing) capabilities. The audience begins its applause before Mongiardo finishes singing."

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