reviews

"A voice to savor...with a warm soprano tone that had a golden ring in it...Her clear enunciation, flexibility and creamy golden tone shaped the words and conveyed the meaning...McGuinness used gesture and timbre to present the emotional truth of each song...the well-known "Jota" was delivered as well as I have ever heard it sung."
(Independent Coast Observer)

"The Ensemble's performance is both poised and haunting, and is raised to a rarefied realm by lustrous and soaring, songful recitatives executed by the inimitable Nanette McGuinness... [ForAnd] the disc’s dénouement: a rapturous performance of Milosz’s poem which unfolds with poise and sensual fluidity from the lips of the magnificent McGuinness. ( The Whole Note)

"...this album [Surviving: Women's Words] offers four passionate meditations on the Holocaust experience delivered through a unique and highly compelling pair of voices, those of both composer and singer."
(Examiner.com)

"The chilling essence of the first song, “Notturno” (Nocturne), is rendered all the more effective by McGuinness’s skillful deployment of her low range." (SF Classical Voice)

"fascinating...Garner’s music is difficult but compelling, varied and harmonically interesting… [McGuinness] manages the vocal and musical challenges well.”
(American Record Guide)

"The music  [in Surviving: Women's Words] is modern-expressionist, moving, well wrought. Nanette McGuinness is the soprano featured throughout... The heartrending words put both darkness and hope in a poetic light. Garner's music brings out the moods and is extremely well done. Recommended."
(Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review)

"Soprano Nanette McGuinness (accompanied by Dale Tsang on piano and Laura Gaynon on cello) deftly negotiationed Garner's convolutions..."

(Examiner.com)

"...McGuinness brings admirable diction to her execution..."
(Examiner.com)

"... 'Carmen' had some lovely moments with the opera's leading characters-...Nanette McGuinness as Micaëla (a magnetic stage presence and glorious soprano)..."
(Ink Notes)

"McGuinness captured that rhetoric [in David Garner's song cycle "Phoenix"] effectively in her delivery of the texts ."
(Examiner.com)

"The infamous Three Ladies [in The Magic Flute], played by Nanette McGuinness, Nicole Takesono, and Liya Fang, were especially sonorous in the first act, each displaying a noteworthy and individual vocal color and personality."
(Santa Clara Weekly)

"Nanette McGuinness stood out, both for the clarity of her words and for her stamina in the long and difficult part of Nino, Semiramis' son."
(The Daily Californian)

"Soprano Nanette McGuinness ornamented gloriously in the style of the period [in the Lord Nelson Mass]..."
(Daily Republic)

"Act III [in Pilgrim's Progress] further confirmed that wanton is simply more fun...Virtually all the supporting characters get their opportunity to schtik and shine (well, given the context, maybe simmer is better), including...the knockouts Madam Wanton and Madam Bubble (Nicole Takesono and NanetteMcGuinness)..."
(San Francisco Classical Voice)

"The wood nymph trios [in Rusalka], sung by Nanette McGuinness, Sara Lamar MacBride, and Dana Anderson-Williams, were animated and beautifully blended, as fine as one would hear from the most affluent companies. Their playful trios, as they tease their father...were like mystical Bohemian versions of the the Rhine maiden trios from Wagner's Ring Cycle operas."
(Oakland Tribune)

"Nanette McGuinness...[was] a radiant Pamina."
(Hokubei Mainichi)

"Of a good level, in completing the rest of the cast: the charming "Musetta" of Nanette McGuinness...applause for all."
(La Stampa (Italy), trans. McGuinness)

"The role of Despina was sung by Nanette McGuinness...She was excellent; her voice is full and with good enunciation."
(Valley Times)

"With individual singers afforded star-turn solos and then combined in various array, the result was often remarkable in some cases, less so in others. Exemplary of the former[was]....soprano Nanette McGuinness' vibrant 'La Canzone di Doretta' from Puccini's 'La Rondine'."
(San Luis Obispo County Telegram-Tribune)

"The singing by McGuinness as the daughter...[in Gianni Schicchi] exuded credulity."
(Five Cities Times-Press Recorder)

"This [Gianni Schicchi] is truly an ensemble piece, and every one of the scheming mourners deserves mention...Nanette McGuinness...: take a bow"
(San Mateo Times)

"Pretty Nanette McGuinness' attractive soprano [in Puccini's Le Villi]..."
(Five Cities Times-Press Recorder)

"Also excellent are Lisa Edelman, Nanette McGuinness [as Cis], and Edmund Kimbell as the mischievous children [in Albert Herrring]."
(Contra Costa Times)

"Ms. McGuinness' performance [as Musetta] came well up to my expectations: she was secure, reliable and precise, and interpreted her part in a very convincing way."
(Alfredo Corno, Stage Director for La Boheme, Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy)

Photo credits: All photos on this web site except those in the photo gallery, are by Russ Fischella.