BIRKSHIRE FINE ARTS
"She has a dramatic mezzo which she can unleash with control and seemingly at will..."
SYLVIA WOO, INTERLUDE
Saint-Saëns' rarely heard Henry VIII given full reign at Odyssey Opera
BOSTON CLASSICAL REVIEW | SEPTEMBER 2019
"Hilary Ginther made Anne Boleyn into a calculating and complicated social-climber. The mezzo-soprano's darkly projected voice conveyed Anne's ambition to become queen, but her melting lyricism in her Act III duet with Chioldi suggested that the character actually loved Henry. Ginther's radiant lower register also expressed horror, and when Anne had visions of her own death, her lines swelled with intensity."
SCHMOPERA | SEPTEMBER 2019
"...most notable was Hilary Ginther as Anne Boleyn: from the moment she stepped onstage she embodied Anne Boleyn's every beat with. pitch-perfect conviction, and her voice proved both tender and powerful: her Act II aria where she contemplates how Henry is considering making her his new queen very nearly stopped the show and was one of the highlights of the evening."
Written in the Stars
OPERA NOW MAGAZINE
"A powerful, agile bel canto singer, Hilary recently made an engaging debut as Rosina in Florida Grand Opera's production of The Barber of Seville. She has a terrific stage presence, with instinctive comic timing as well as a voice that is unusually flexible and flourid for such a substantial and richly coloured instrument. The handsome, forthright bravura in her voice makes her a natural for trouser roles -- Romeo and Octavian beckon."
Brokeback Mountain by Charles Wourinen
BERKSHIRE FINE ARTS
"Hilary Ginther as Lureen is a find. She has a dramatic mezzo which she can unleash with control and seemingly at will. In her role as daughter of a rodeo impresario she is full of irresistible exuberance. The texture of her voice is lush...she comfortably sings over a wide range, and pins the difficult leaps we have come to associate with contemporary vocal lines."
Saint-Saëns' rarely heard Henry VIII given full reign at Odyssey Opera
BOSTON CLASSICAL REVIEW | SEPTEMBER 2019
"Hilary Ginther made Anne Boleyn into a calculating and complicated social-climber. The mezzo-soprano's darkly projected voice conveyed Anne's ambition to become queen, but her melting lyricism in her Act III duet with Chioldi suggested that the character actually loved Henry. Ginther's radiant lower register also expressed horror, and when Anne had visions of her own death, her lines swelled with intensity."
SCHMOPERA | SEPTEMBER 2019
"...most notable was Hilary Ginther as Anne Boleyn: from the moment she stepped onstage she embodied Anne Boleyn's every beat with. pitch-perfect conviction, and her voice proved both tender and powerful: her Act II aria where she contemplates how Henry is considering making her his new queen very nearly stopped the show and was one of the highlights of the evening."
Il barbiere di Siviglia
FLORIDA GRAND OPERA I 2015
"Ginther was a fine Rosina, a good actress with a strong, agile voice that has true mezzo coloring. She has an easy top with plenty of power...her display singing was mellifluous and expert. She sang all those elaborate roulades in “Una voce poco fa” and especially “Contro un cor” with admirable smoothness and warmth, which fit better with the way she played the character than a purely virtuosic approach would have; in other words, she came across like a real person rather than an ornament. This is a good role for her, and she should be able to repeat it with much success."
PALM BEACH ARTS PAPER
"Ginther displayed a heavier mezzo voice...But her sumptuous timbre was matched by agility and great comic skills. Ginther’s rapport with Abreu was delightful to watch and her music lesson scene was a riot."
SOUTH FLORIDA CLASSICAL REVIEW
Maria Stuarda
MUSICA VIVA HONG KONG
2022
"As Elisabetta, mezzo-soprano Hilary Ginther (a stunning Adalgisa in Musica Viva’s Norma last year), is the kind of performer that lights up a stage before she has even opened her mouth, and when she does, she delivers top-notch singing. With her warm timbre and earthy tessiture, she was reminiscent of both a young Agnes Baltsa and Huguette Tourangeau. Ginther also possesses an impressive evenness throughout the registers, not to mention sensational clarion high notes that soar at will over the ensemble. In a silvery-white gown and glittering ruff (designed by Andrew Cheung), she looked and sounded every inch a queen."
SYLVIA WOO, INTERLUDE
Bellini's NORMA with Musica Viva Hong Kong
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF THEATER CRITICS / HONG KONG
"Dominguez’s performance was already very fine, but as Adalgisa, mezzo-soprano Hilary Ginther proved even more exceptional. Her performance was extremely secure; her placement remained unchanged whether it be in the lower or high registers. Never once did she push, and there was always sufficient volume. All in all, her vocal production was flawless. Moreover, her acting was detailed and full of nuanced shadings and changes, which made her performance all the more moving."
VERISMO HOTSPOT
"Ginther can by turns roar in the top register—e.g. the high B-flat which launches the two-octave descending scale «Ah! no!» immediately before «Mira, o Norma»—and tame her voice for Bellinian discipline, fining down volume without sacrificing tonal substance. The Norma/Adalgisa a due passages were a refreshing match of the two artists' timbres, pitch accuracy, and rhythmic synchronicity. Throughout the role, even in the recitatives' hovering phrase-fragments, she phrased with feeling, wielding the language for expressive purposes. "
ASIAN REVIEW OF BOOKS
"Dominguez was well-matched by Hilary Ginther’s Adalgisa, very much the fetching ingénue. One can (almost) understand the Roman soldier Pollione’s switching his affections from the by now maternal Norma. But it was Dominguez and Ginther’s duets that were arguably the highlights of the evening: the pair’s relative youth added a lightness well-suited to who the characters actually are. Both were likable, and hence believable."
"Ginther is as beguiling with her acting as she is with her voice. When she first appears, it's easy to see why men line the street, waiting for her. She charms them, teases them, leaves them wanting more and they are helpless about it. When she turns her attention to the soldier Don José, played by Joshua Kohl, we know he is incapable of resisting her. Who could? When he takes her into custody, her booking is as Sharon Stone's interrogation in "Basic Instinct. Later, when the two connect, literally Ginther hangs off of Kohl. That she does it while singing is impressive. This is not your parents' park-and-bark-it opera. Even more impressive is her voice. The mezzo-soprano is effortlessly powerful and richly emotive. This artist is well on her way to stardom."
THE FORUM
"Hilary Ginther is what the Italians call «un autentico animale da palcoscenico»—a true stage animal. Not only does she unflinchingly dispatch the staging's athletics all the way to Carmen's gruesome death spasms, her character's body language reads psychologically true as an astutely observed and acutely felt theatrical representation of real-life behavior. Ms. Ginther makes singing look like a natural act, and confident her singing is. She fearlessly scales Carmen's extremes of range and rage, disgorging the grand two-octave A-flat to A-flat gesture «Non! je ne te cédèrai pas!» and ringing out the other high A-flat on «que je l'aime!». Wisely, she abstains from inflating her gentler-grained middle register. Ms. Ginther's French is admirable in pronunciation and phrasing: she sings and gestures sentences, as people do in real life but fail to do on the American opera stage."
VERISMO HOTSPOT
Carmen
FARGO MOORHEAD OPERA | APRIL/2019
JOAN OF ARC: The Maid in New Orleans
RICHARD BALTHAZAR I FEBRUARY 2020
"As the heavenly-inspired peasant girl Joan of Arc, Hilary Ginther completely commanded the stage from the moment of her angelic inspiration through the triumphs, soul-wrenching romance, crushing tragedy and divine enlightenment to her ultimate immolation. This tiny but mighty mezzo Maid filled Mahalia’s huge house with the glory of her prophecies, prayers, spiritual anguish, religious fervor, heroic valor, tender love, and ultimate martyrdom. It is difficult to describe the glorious musicality of Ginther’s performance, but it was a tour de force, a true epiphany. I hope Joan of Arc can become this incredible artist’s signature role, and other opera companies should sign Hilary for many more productions of this masterpiece."
Leonard Bernstein's MASS - The Philadelphia Orchestra
Deutsche Grammophon Album Release 3/16/2018
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts this live, fully staged production from 2015 directed by Kevin Newbury. Ms. Ginther is featured as a soloist/street singer and can be heard on her solo track #22, "Hurry" which is part of the Credo.
Listen on Amazon, iTunes, Spotify, or YouTube Premium.
"This recording was released in 2018 as part of the centenary celebration surrounding the composer’s 100th birthday. The recording, drawn from Verizon Hall four concerts between April 30 and May 3, 2015, has tremendous energy. This recording succeeds by sounding contemporary. Yannick Nezet-Seguin’s theatrical strengths bring the army of musicians together for a cohesive and meaningful performance."
MUSICA KALEIDOSKOPEA
"If you missed The Philadelphia Orchestra’s staging of Leonard Bernstein’s MASS, you didn’t miss a performance: You missed a major, major event."
PHILLY MAG