ACCLAIM
“Blythe Gaissert was a dignified, vocally assured Dido, who contributed some stylish onamentation and sang her closing Lament movingly.”
-The NY Times, Allan Kozinn
‘...the heart of the piece was the bravura singing of Blythe Gaissert as the panicky prisoner, her smoky mezzo biting into the wide-ranging and relentless vocal part with the violent abandon of a starving shark.”
-New York Observer, James Jordan
”As Walker Loats, mezzo-soprano Blythe Gaissert gave a dramatically powerful, vocally stunning portrait of a woman growing increasingly desperate and delusional from lack of contact with the outer world. Gaissert’s development of Loats’s personality was utterly believable, and she gave a virtuoso performance of this very challenging music.”
-Opera News, Arlo McKinnon
“Sadie has the largest arc to traverse, from the most neglected of the three sisters to bitter and ruthless factory owner. Blythe Gaissert managed the turn admirably, bringing a dark mezzo-soprano to match her complex characterization.”
-New York Classical Review, Eric Simpson
“.. Gaissert is wonderful as Loats, giving herself over totally to the fantasy world that the creators have presented to her, more than holding her own vocally in the powerful and audacious orchestral setting–by turns jazzy, acoustic, electronic, melodic, atonal, soothing, blasting–that the composer has devised.”
-Broadway World
“It is hard to sufficiently praise soprano Blythe Gaissert as Loats, singing tirelessly over the course of the opera’s 70 minutes. Whether shrieking in exasperation or toned down to a hush, her voice was the manifestation of a troubled soul, unable to distinguish between reality and nightmare. Effectively communicating boredom, exasperation, and confusion, her performance made the mind wander to Poulenc’s monodrama, La voix humaine...”
-Musical America
"In the central role of Walker Loats, Ms. Gaissert gave a tour de force performance, using her powerful mezzo to great effect”
-Superconductor
“It was Gaissert who ran away with the show, with a fierce, defiant performance that grabbed my attention all the way in the back row. I'm sure we'll be seeing more of her on NY stages in the months and years to come."
-Feast of Music
"Blythe Gaissert conveyed Dido's sadness ("Peace and I are strangers grown") and precipitous fall with solemn, queenly magnetism. Her voice is strong, supple, almost buttery... "
-BlogCritics, Jon Sobel
"When a performer is as magnetic and intelligent in conveying her artistry as mezzo-soprano Blythe Gaissert is, it may not matter what the selections are on the program. She makes sure to please her audience"
-Gayle Williams, Sarasota Herald
"....a charming mezzo with a rich well-controlled voice and personality to match. Her performance of five of Copland’s beloved “Old American Songs” showed beautifully nuanced singing, excellent diction and a nice sense of humor..."
-Observer, June LeBelle
"Blythe Gaissert, in the title role, becomes the flamboyant Gypsy in every respect. Her vibrant, clear mezzo embodies the aggressive sexuality so essential to opera's femme fatale par excellence. In the opening act her Habanera clearly sets the tone of erotic abandon, and with the Seguidilla she charms her way out of captivity with a steamy sensuality and physical magnetism."
-Albuquerque Journal
"Mezzo-soprano Blythe Gaissert was impossible to ignore as the headstrong Mother Marie. She has a pure, powerful and appealing voice and a forceful stage presence to match."
-Denver Post
"The cast is strong, with Blythe Gaisserts eloquent Lucretia..."
-The London Guardian
"....Blythe Gaissert sung and acted superbly Lucretia...."
-Norfolk News
"Blythe Gaissert fused dignity and sensuality in her Lucretia..."
-London Times on Line
"Blythe Gaissert as Lucretia on the other hand gave a vivid and memorable account of the role. She has a commanding stage presence and made the dramatic transition from assured, in-control mistress of the house to unhinged rape victim in a series of deft stages. Her mezzo has warmth and polish, but also a touch of flint: I enjoyed especially her articulation of the lower-lying passages (in a role made famous for ever by her illustrious predecessor Kathleen Ferrier). Her monotone low B to the words "If it were all adream/Then waking would be less a nightmare" was chillingly effective in the scene leading up to her suicide: in this production with the help of Collatinus's pistol rather than with a knife...."
- Musical Criticism
"The cannibalism aria of mezzo-soprano Blythe Gaissert whetted our appetite too with her
soft-edged voice."
-The SFist Philistine (about Transformations)
"Mezzo Gaissert offered an exquisite low parallel during the “Agnus Dei,” and I enjoyed her full, round sound every time she came forward to sing."
-Duluth News Tribune
"Blythe Gaissert, in the trouser role of Annio from Mozart's "La Clemenza di Tito," was warmly compelling."
-San Francisco Chronicle