Category Archives: Reviews

Bellini – I Capuleti e i Montecchi, June 4, 2016
Enthusiastic audience in Belcanto happiness

The Giulietta of Uliana Alexyuk already has her made performance in the first scene with the romance “Oh! Quante volte” – the hit aria of the opera, in duet with the harp, Alexyuk succeeds in a weightless lyric and yet longing way. Alexyuk also plays her part completely and sings it with wonderful piani and bewitching sound; her voice expresses purity, fragility and innocence. The duets – breathtaking, intimate melody, in the death scene it was yesterday utter stillness in the audience. For both main actresses, the many BRAVAS were highly earned.

BNN, Isabel Steppeler, June 6, 2016, June 26, 2016

Belcanto Happiness

Uliana Alexyuk and Dilara Baştar in their trousers role as Romeo have excellently internalized their roles musically as well as performing with charming Piani. Alexyuk’s soprano is warm … and a noble example of design and phrasing. Baştar’s dark, guttural Mezzosopran complements her with irresistible timbre. Very high, his temperament, Eleazar Rodriguez as Tebaldo rises and shines with effortless heights.

“Even without a star-studded cast, however, the Bolshoi assembled a worthy lineup, mostly from the company’s ensemble, that were collectively more convincing that Pizzi’s staidly formal staging. Uliana Alexyuk put her bright, trill-heavy voice to fine use as the sleepwalking Amina. The Kiev-born soprano had a fluent and expressive coloratura and attractive pianissimo. …it was a highly accomplished and sensitive portrayal.”

-A.J. Goldmann
http://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2015/9/Reviews/MOSCOW__La_Sonnambula.html

carmenUliana Alexyuk continues to impress. Her Frasquita brought forth the soaring, consistent vocal production and acting skills that were first seen in her star turn as Gilda in this season’s Rigoletto.

Read more here: http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=9807

Carmen, Houston Grand Opera, Carolyn Sproule and Uliana Alexyuk.

Carmen, Houston Grand Opera, Carolyn Sproule and Uliana Alexyuk.

Likewise, Uliana Alexyuk is appearing in her fifth HGO production this season, and skillfully showcases her ability to hit soprano notes in the stratosphere as Carmen’s friend Frasquita. She is one HGO Studio Artist that will hopefully be gracing Houston stages many more times in the coming years.

Read more here: http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwopera/article/BWW-Reviews-Houston-Grand-Operas-CARMEN-is-Sultry-and-Opulent-20140427

Theater Jones – Chamber music concert

“The quartet was joined by soprano Uliana Alexyuk who made quite an impression as a last minute replacement Gilda in Houston Opera’s production of Rigoletto in January. She negotiated the role’s difficulties with ease and her more lyric voice smoothed out the piping that pepper the performances of many lighter-voiced coloraturas. My review is here. She was every bit as impressive in her selections with the St. Petersburg, in graceful adaptations by Aleksey Aronov. From Glinka’s groundbreaking opera, Ruslan and Ludmila, she sang Ludmila’s aria “Ah ty, dolya-dolushka.” Next came three songs by Rachmaninoff: “Margaritki,” “Daisies” and the best known of the bunch, “Ne poi, krasavitsa, pri mne.” She closed with Alyabiev’s “The Nightingale.” In all of these selections, she spun out a silken vocal thread that ran through every note and connected all of the phrases internally as well as with each other. The Russian diction, which is not as favorable to such legato singing (as say, Italian), did not give her the slightest pause. Admittedly, this is her language, but that alone cannot explain the legato core at the center of her voice. No, that is pure technical mastery combined with a stunning natural gift. It is like a moving stream into which she launches note after note and phrase after phase. This is not to imply that she lacks power or the ability to dramatically drive the voice when that is required. But even here, it is the connecting line that separates her from other singers.”

-Gregory Sullivan Isaacs

Read whole article here

Theater Jones Review – Rigoletto

“Earlier in the opera, back when she was still alive, the Gilda created by Uliana Alexyuk, is vocally amazing. She was a last-minute replacement, borrowed from the cast of The Passenger, which means she sang multiple shows on adjacent days. Consider the challenges presented of singing such diametrically separated roles in two operas that couldn’t be more different. But Gilda is a perfect fit at this stage of her career (and maybe always). The coloratura flights that Verdi wrote for the role are sung like shivers of the exhilaration of first love, rather than showoffy cadenzas. She sings the role so effortlessly, and in such a natural manner, that it’s easy to forget all about of its difficulties.”

-Gregory Sullivan Isaacs

http://www.theaterjones.com/ntx/reviews/20140130140055/2014-01-30/Houston-Grand-Opera/Rigoletto

Houston Chronicle Review – RIGOLETTO

“Soprano Uliana Alexyuk captured Gilda’s sweetness, ardor and vulnerability with her voice’s changing shades, from silky to vibrant to hushed. Alexyuk, a member of Houston Grand Opera Studio, stepped into the role late in rehearsals, replacing Elizabeth Zhdanoff; nevertheless, she dovetailed with the rest of the cast.”

Steven Brown

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/entertainment/arts-theater/article/HGO-s-Rigoletto-captures-tale-of-lust-and-5182834.php#/3

Houston Press Review – Rigoletto

“Alexyuk, poignantly charming as doomed Ivette in The Passenger, has a voice like glass: transparent and crystalline. It cuts through the orchestra and still manages to run up and down the scales with frightening agility and clarity. Her famous coloratura showstopper, Caro nome,” (“Sweet name”) is her apotheosis to first love, a giddy song from her young heart.”

– D.L. Grover

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/artattack/2014/01/rigoletto_at_hgo_has_promising.php

Concertonet Review – Rigoletto

“Uliana Alexyuk, filling in for an indisposed Elizabeth Zharoff, conquered the vocal and dramatic complexities of Gilda. Already impressive in the small role of Ivette in the concurrent run of Weinberg’s The Passenger, Alexyuk’s easy coloratura and commanding stage presence were gratefully allowed to give full flight. If her earliest passages showed the slightest hint of nerves, her exquisite delivery of “Caro nome,” enthusiastically received by the audience, allowed her to blossom in the second and third acts. Indeed her vocal quivers and hesitant pacing at the door of Sparafucile’s inn were spine-chilling.”

-Marcus Karl Maroney

http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=9610