Reviews
'Emily Van Evera delivers to Orfeo the news of [Euridice's] death with audible pain, and in doing so renders her beautiful soprano pale and full of hushed intimacy, utterly drained of vibrato: it is a great dramatic moment, this brutal entry of death into a blissful, idyllic life. Later, as Proserpina, she beseeches Pluto with a melting soprano to give Orpheus one more chance: a truly protean, versatile artist.’ — Oberbayerisches Volksblat. Concert performance of Monteverdi L’Orfeo, Herrenchiemsee Festpielen, July 2012
‘an uncommonly versatile singer... a luminous, clear, natural voice in which classical vocal production is barely perceptible. She combines intelligence and sensuousness in her singing, and is able to sound at once tender and thrillingly beautiful. This was put to powerful effect’ — Basler Zeitung
'In performances this fine, Monteverdi challenges the mind, stirs the heart and caresses the soul, which is about all you can ask of music... in both locales the shining soprano of Emily Van Evera stood out.’ — The New York Times. Selecting two Taverner Consort programmes as ‘Best Early Music Events of the Year’
‘the most phenomenal program I have heard in the 16 summers I have been in the audience... a once-in-a-lifetime concert. ...Van Evera's crystal clear soprano brings a new vibrancy to music that so often collects dust on the shelves of history. ...The effect was simply as clear and powerful as chamber music can be.’’ — Duluth News Tribune. Mahler Symphony No. 4, 1921 chamber orchestra version, arias by Handel and Arne, August 2010
‘A dream of a Bach soprano.’ — Salzburg Nachrichten
‘Emily Van Evera showed herself to be a world class artist… an imaginatively gifted composer demands extraordinary interpreters who leave nothing to be desired in range, security of intonation in large leaps and virtuosity in audacious melismas… Here, such an expert was on hand in the form of soprano Emily Van Evera… she has at her command a radiant and well-projected voice…deeply impressive.’ — Thurgauer Volkszeitung
‘As a freelance record critic, I do too much of listening via CDs… Nothing could have shaken my loyalty to CDs more than this reflective and entertaining evening.’ — Early Music Review, Eric Van Tassel writing about a Recital of English lute songs with Anthony Bailes, Cambridge, October 2004
‘Unsurpassable are her security of intonation, the immaculately clean command of the voice which blooms magnificently…and the heart-penetrating shaping of the text: every word has the right emphasis… moves listeners most profoundly.’ — Thurgauer Zeitung
‘Beautiful singing from Emily Van Evera… instinct for graceful phrasing… perfect ease and naturalness… an extraordinary display of vocal virtuosity’ — The Houston Post
‘The auditorium glowed with tenderness… as [the] final concert of this season softened several hundred hearts… Van Evera, with her clear and gentle lyricism, sang songs from the 13th to the 20th centuries… [With] her wonderful voice, Van Evera reached out and touched the longings… that exist in most hearts. What joy!’ — Duluth News Tribune writing on a programme of Vaughan Williams, Charles Ives, Bach, Perotin, Arne, Schubert and Irish traditional song [arr. Van Evera], May 2004