Das Rheingold, 2023
“In a night of extraordinary singing from a large, talented cast, the stand-outs were the refined soprano Amanda Echalaz, who acted with exquisite poise as Fricka and bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee. He and Echalaz were convincing as a supreme couple. ”
—Opera News
“Soprano Amanda Echalaz, in the role of Fricka, wielded a power and amplitude that stood up ably to that of her mate’s. She was tender and warm, with a spin that carried her easily into the upper registers on grand fortes.”
—Texas Classical Review
“Sometimes portrayed as a bit of a nag, Wotan’s wife Fricka here has a caring dignity and a brightly substantive soprano in Amanda Echalaz.”
—The Dallas News
“Soprano Amanda Echalaz applies a gorgeously rich timbre and queenly presence to the role of the goddess Fricka.”
—Onstage TX
La Gioconda, 2022
“The singing is sublime… Amanda Echalaz has incredible power in the title role, her voice going through to your bones. Gioconda was often resurrected for Callas in the 50s and 60s and Echalaz proves she has the emotional weight and timbre to pull it off”
—The Telegraph
“La Gioconda demands charismatic singers in each of six principal roles, and it got them at Grange Park… and above all, Amanda Echalaz burning up the stage as La Gioconda, a Venetian street-singer with an indomitable heart. Pale and impassioned, her voice had the flashing, blinding dazzle of a strobe light”
—The Spectator
“South African soprano Amanda Echalaz sang the role of Gioconda with consummate beauty and sensitivity… A large voice that positively resonated and bounded off the rafters… Her Act 4 “Suicido!” was delivered with much of the same ardent energy that she displayed throughout the evening… her boundless energy and gusto ensured she dominated pretty much every scene she was in, effecting a commanding performance ...the final curtain call bow was all hers”
—Operawire
“In the marathon title role Amanda Echalaz – suitably powerful and richly coloured of voice, and cutting a striking figure”
—The Stage
“As Gioconda, Amanda Echalaz had a big, dramatic, gutsy voice and encompassed the challenges of this big role with ease. She has an attractive resinous edge to the voice which, combined with some very Italian breaks between the registers, gave her performance a distinct sense of colour. Her Gioconda was over the top, big, dramatic and intense, all the things the role needs. This is not a particularly subtle role, and Echalaz embraced that in spades… she was also a mesmerising stage performer, commanding and dramatic, so that we always knew she was there”
—PlanetHugill
“Amanda Echalaz has exactly the right sort of soprano for the title role, a vibrant, punchy sound… Her “Suicidio!” aria was terrific – Act 4 saw most of the cast upping their game – and she commanded the stage with authority”
—Bachtrack
“The young Maria Callas memorably sang La Gioconda, so Amanda Echalaz had a hard act to follow. What a great performance hers was, revealing an exciting top to her voice and a plangent lower register. La Gioconda’s dramatic soliloquy ‘Suicidio!… - there was plenty of impressive intensity here and elsewhere”
—Seen and Heard International
“Of the eponymous heroine, Ponchielli remarked that the role was ‘all rage, suicide, jealousy, poison and hell’ and, making her debut at Grange Park Opera, the South African soprano Amanda Echalaz had the necessary vibrancy to convey the emotional excessiveness of the drama… Echalaz impressively held and dominated the stage. The role is an assault course which requires a singer to leap and zig-zag high and low, and to juxtapose emotions which flash from raging jealousy to tender self-sacrifice, often in successive phrases. Echalaz easily surmounted the dense chromatic orchestration as she embodied the explosive self-contradictions… her Act 4 ‘Suicidio!’ was gripping”
—Opera Today
Macbeth, 2022
“Amanda Echalaz, the South African soprano who has risen to world prominence. It is easy to see why after her astonishing Act 1 aria. As Lady Macbeth she is fierce, formidable and manipulative. In a bravura performance she is the perfect foil for Macbeth, driven by power and greed.”
—New Zealand Arts Review
“Amanda Echalaz as Lady Macbeth evinces technique in abundance, with sure-fire and full-voiced landings upon the D-flats, minutely-stepped running, and unflagging, controlled delivery over the two hours traffic of our stage. Her strength exhorting the mists of hell to arise is palpable.”
—Theatreview
“Amanda Echalaz is a fabulous Lady Macbeth and expresses the ambitious obsessive hunger for power so well. The dinner scene in Act 2 was especially enjoyable and the physical comedy wrapped up in such a powerful soprano banter was amongst the best scenes of the show and of course, who can go see a performance of Macbeth without mentioning the infamous hand washing "Out damn spots" monologue, for which her use of the stage was immaculate.”
—Ambient Light