“…the young lady everyone is talking about – Amanda Echalaz. Her Tosca at Holland Park wowed even my most hardened colleagues but this Tosca (Royal Opera House) on the very stage Callas once trod was blessed with a temperament and a completeness that was world class. It’s rare to find a voice of such true spinto colour, dark and plangent with a stonking top…exceptional talent."
Edward Seckerson, The Independent
Echalaz represented South Africa in the Cardiff Singer of the World in 2005 and, in 2008, made her debut at Covent Garden in the world première of Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s opera The Minotaur, as well as singing the title role of Tosca for Opera Holland Park to unanimous critical acclaim. “Amanda Echalaz's Tosca was thrillingly sung. Echalaz is now set to be the leading Tosca of her generation. With unforced, candid tone, elegant movement and expressive face... every note and nuance is true.” Anna Picard, The Independent
In the 2009/10 season Echalaz sang Liù Turandot and the title role of Tosca, both at English National Opera, and reprised Tosca for the Salzburg Landestheater. She also sang the title role of Madama Butterfly for Cape Town Opera and returned to Opera Holland Park to sing Amelia Un ballo in maschera. Sensationally, she triumphed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden when she took over at short notice from an indisposed Angela Gheorghiu in the title role of Tosca in July 2009.
Last season, Echalaz made her debut at the Berlin Staatsoper in the title role of Tosca. She also made some important role debuts, returning to the Berlin Staatsoper to sing Elisabetta Don Carlo, and performing the role of Maddalena, Andrea Chénier at the Bregenz Festival, Austria.
Highlights of the 2011/12 season include Tatyana Eugene Onegin in a new production with English National Opera; a role debut in the title role of Salomé at La Monnaie, Brussels; and the title role of Tosca at the Berlin Staatsoper. Echalaz concludes the season with her US debut as Tosca with Santa Fe Opera. Future seasons will see debuts at the Metropolitan Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Canadian Opera Company, Polish National Opera and l’Opéra national du Rhin, as well as returns to the Royal Opera House and La Monnaie, Brussels. Forthcoming roles include Alice Falstaff; the title roles of Manon Lescaut, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly; and Amelia Un ballo in maschera.
Her concert repertoire includes Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony, the Brahms and Verdi Requiems, Handel’s Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, Strauss’ Four Last Songs and Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder.
Amanda Echalaz is represented by Intermusica.
April 2012 / 426 words. Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material.
Salome / La Monnaie
Cond. Carlo Rizzi / Dir. Guy Joosten
“The cast, too, was first class – and Amanda Echalaz, in her first assumption of the title role, particularly so. Her soprano has the necessary power and endurance and it is also sufficiently clear-cut to ride the many climatic moments Strauss puts her way”
John McCann, Opera, May 2012
“South African soprano Amanda Echalaz's Salome is superb—a carnal, capricious femme fatale alternating between naive desire and ultimate temptress with a twirl of her shoeless ankle. Her rendition of the final aria, "Ah! Du wolltest mich," was electric, drawing on the tension built up throughout the production from the gun-toting guards' initial entry.”
Frances Robinson,
The Wall Street Journal, January 2012
“Vocally, Amanda Echalaz was powerful, and her top notes were passionate and sumptuous, making a strong impression and working wonders.”
La Libre Belgique, January 2012
“The role, one of the most demanding of the entire soprano repertoire, was sung magnificently by Amanda Echalaz, whose voice was especially impressive on the top notes, and who acted the role effortlessly, both when Salomé was simply greedy for sensuality, and when she fell madly in love.”
Liberté, February 2012
“South-African soprano Amanda Echalaz was making her début in the role of Salomé, who in this production was more of an experienced woman and seducer than a depraved adolescent. (…) Her solid top notes carried effortlessly.”
Luxemburger Wort, January 2012
“This was soprano Amanda Echalaz’s début in the role of Salomé. Her top notes were impressive: full, biting and bright all at once.”
Le Soir, January 2012
“British soprano Amanda Echalaz was the complete opposite of the young princess Lolita that we usually associate with Salomé: she had an almost Wagnerian power and presence, and her resolve to get what she wanted was joyfully inflexible, as if she was saying to Herod as he tried to extricate himself from the consequences of a promise which has turned around and trapped him: “Say what you want, old man, I want John the Baptist’s head, and you are going to give it to me!”. Echalaz played the role with a resolution that was full of life.”
Musiq3, January 2012
“Vocally, the premiere was magnificent, with Amanda Echalaz as an adorably gamine Salomé whose voice could overcome any obstacle.”
Crescendo, February 2012
“The long monologue with which the tragedy concluded was the pinnacle of Amanda Echalaz’s performance, despite this being her début in this formidable role. Her incandescent voice had a rich timbre, matching well with the tensions in the orchestral texture, and she established a dramatically gripping dialogue with Scott Hendricks’ Jochanaan (…). Their exchanges were not delusional, but had a certain sincerity and spontaneity, for which we would later discover the motivation.”
Avant-Scène Opéra, February 2012
“As Salomé, Amanda Echalaz’ voice shone with radiant intensity in the high notes.”
BRF Aktuell, January 2012
“For South African soprano Amanda Echalaz, this was both a role début in the title role, and her début at La Monnaie. She is a beautiful, wholesome girl with a rich voice and powerful top notes.”
Webthea, February 2012
Tatyana Eugene Onegin / English National Opera
Cond. Edward Gardner / Dir. Deborah Warner
“Amanda Echalaz, as Tatyana, lifts the lyric power to another level. She is superbly able to give the letter scene its histrionic charge while charting the intimate nuances. One admires the richness of her vocal resources, the brilliant top, the mettlesome timbre. This Tatyana, even at her most vulnerable, is someone to conjure with.”
Paul Driver, The Sunday Times, November 2011
“Audun Iversen’s dark baritone is a good match for Amanda Echalaz’s gleaming Tatyana, who paces her Letter Scene superbly.”
John Allison, The Telegraph, November 2011
“Soprano Amanda Echalaz (Tatyana) has a meaty and full voice, and her top notes ring out roundly.”
Warwick Thompson, Bloomberg, November 2011
“Amanda Echalaz charts the path from dreamy young girl, via lovelorn teenager to grown up princess faultlessly and produces singing of vibrancy and colour to match every mood. Her voice has grown noticeably since she sang Tosca here a couple of seasons ago so it comes as no surprise that she is about to add the role of Salome to her repertoire. Her letter scene was thrillingly voiced.”
Keith McDonnell, What’s On Stage, November 2011
“Amanda Echalaz has been a terrific Tosca (for ENO and Holland Park). As Tatyana she looked endearingly gauche. Amanda was very moving in the ‘Letter Scene’.
The more mature Tatyana of Act Three had some grandstanding passions to vent.”
Peter Reed, Classical Source, November 2011
“The singing is high quality. Echalaz’s heady soprano absolutely nails the Letter Scene.”
George Hall, The Stage, November 2011
“Edward Gardner’s conducting goes hand in glove with Amanda Echalaz’s Tatyana; both are polished and cleanly profiled.”
David Nice, The Art’s Desk, November 2011
“The acting is superb, especially from Amanda Echalaz as Tatyana (her letter song, declaring her love for the feckless Onegin, stopped the show).”
Michael Coveney, What’s On Stage, November 2011
Cape Philharmonic Orchestra / Cape Town Opera Chorus
Cond. Sebastian Lang-Lessing
"Replacing American soprano Deborah Voight, ... Durban-born Amanda Echalaz proved to be an artist more than worthy to share the stage with the illustrious Botha. ...
She deservedly joins the ranks of the many distinguished South Africans now singing regularly abroad. On Sunday night, she must have felt even prouder at the wild reception she received from the normally more staid Cape Town audience. One can only use superlatives and say that her effortless singing came right from the heart. She has the great gift of suffusing every musical phrase with just the right colour and emotion.
Her singing of Vissi d’arte made one realise exactly why she took London audiences by storm when she replaced an indisposed Angela Gheorghiu in a performance of Tosca at Covent Garden. Her duet with Botha from the same opera was so beautifully and magically limned that one felt transported from the opera house to the church of Sant’Andrea della Valle and secretly eavesdropping on the two lovers."
Barry Smith, Cape Times, September 2011
Opera Gala Concert / Artscape Theatre Centre
"Amanda Echalaz, the 34-year-old dramatic soprano who sang in Madama Butterfly here in 2009, not only has a beautiful sound, she surpassed herself on Sunday night.
If this listener had heard only Botha and Echalaz on Sunday night in the scene between Siegmund and Sieglinde in Wagner's Die Walküre (for instance, Winterstürme and Du bist der Lenz) he could have gone home satisfied. In the dramatic musical sketch where the two discover they are twins, Botha's interpretation was fascinating, while Echalaz's voice soared over the orchestra and was nothing less than breathtaking, gaining a well-deserved standing ovation."
Wayne Muller, Die Burger, August 2011
Maddalena di Coigny / Giordano Andrea Chenier / Bregenz Festival
'Amanda Echalaz’s potent soprano took handily to the music of the aristocratic Maddalena... she offered a compelling account of La mamma morte…’
George Loomis, The New York Times, July 2011
Title Role in Puccini Tosca
English National Opera cond. Edward Gardiner
"Echalaz remains the Tosca of her generation, with a tone that trembles with candour"
Anna Picard, The Independent, May 2010
"Amanda Echalaz, the South African star-in-waiting...Echalaz has almost everything — classic Tosca looks and tigress temperament, a big voice with a secure, steel-glinted top C and formidable chest notes — for the title role"
Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times, May 2010
"The strong point of the show is South African soprano Amanda Echalaz in the title role. She looks every inch the diva, and marshals her enormous vocal reserves with subtlety.
Echalaz sounds sweet when dreaming of her love nest in Act 1. Then later in her Act 2 battle with Scarpia, her huge gleaming top notes almost blast the roof off the Coliseum."
Warwick Thompson, Bloomberg, May 2010
"Her beautiful soprano is produced with fluent ease, and her singing is clear in diction and sensitive to musical line. A front-rank international career must now be open to her."
Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph, May 2010
“Echalaz makes good on the excitement the South African singer has generated. She has a big, juicy sound, powerful from its coppery bottom to its glinting top, and she’s fearless with it”
Neil Fisher, The Times, May 2010
“Amanda Echalaz's Tosca is very special, compelling to watch, thrilling to hear, and with the power to reach every corner of the Coliseum effortlessly. The production may not linger in the memory, but Gavin, and especially Echalaz, certainly will.”
Andrew Clements, The Guardian, May 2010
Liu in Puccini Turandot
English National Opera cond. Edward Gardner
“Amanda Echalaz a triumph as slave girl Liu (she got the ovation of the evening)… the voice and stage presence are magnetic and her account of the role is thrilling… Echalaz was certainly the star performer in this production: her vocal technique is secure, the voice in bloom and she can spin the notes effortlessly in the higher register. Her Act One solo drew a spontaneous ovation… this was a Liu to treasure.”
Mike Reynolds, Musical Criticism, October 2009
“Amanda Echalaz sings a world-class Liu”
George Hall, What’s On Stage, October 2009
“The loudest cheers of the night were reserved for the South African soprano… If you have not heard of Amanda Echalaz, then be prepared for what will be a meteoric rise to fame. She possesses one of the most exciting voices in opera today, and her future looks set to be a series of extraordinary successes….Superlatives aside, one could easily spend all day describing the myriad of colours in Ms Echalaz’s voice, as well as that rock solid, powerful spinto sound which rockets through the Coliseum. The name which most readily comes to mind when thinking of a similar timbre and instrument, is the legendary Italian diva, Renata Tebaldi. It is luxuriously warm, steely and thrusting when needed, then subtle, reflective and diminutive as the score changes the demands it places on the singer… Her second aria, “Tu che di gel sei cinta”, was the most glorious piece of singing of the entire evening, you could have heard a pin drop in the auditorium as the voice arced through the Coliseum in glorious waves of sound. Apart from proving herself to be an accomplished vocalist, she is also an intensely moving actress.”
Anthony Lias, Opera Brittania, October 2009
Amelia in Verdi Un Ballo in Maschera
Opera Holland Park cond. Peter Robinson
“A sensational performance from Amanda Echalaz, a chic soprano with a full-bodied voice…The glamorous Echalaz displays ample reserves of vocal power and a real flair for Verdian phrasing as Amelia: she’s a name to remember”
Warwick Thompson, Bloomberg, July 2009
“…The young lady everyone is talking about – Amanda Echalaz. It’s rare to find a voice of such true spinto colour, dark and plangent with a stonking top C…”
Edward Seckerson, The Independent, July 2009
“The highlight of the production is Amanda Echalaz’s Amelia. Hers is a tangibly powerful voice, capable of wide-ranging emotions.”
Edward Bhesania, What’s on Stage, July 2009
Title Role in Puccini Tosca
Opera Holland Park, cond. Philip Thomas
“Amanda Echalaz's Tosca, thrillingly sung. Echalaz is now set to be the leading Tosca of her generation. With unforced, candid tone, elegant movement and expressive face…”
Anna Picard,
The Independent, July 2008
“Amanda Echalaz rightly earned an ovation for a fine portrayal of the diva, flaring up with jealousy at the slightest provocation and rising to impassioned heights in her Act 2 confrontation with Scarpia”
Barry Millington, Evening Standard, July 2008
Kere in Birtwhistle The Minotaur
Royal Opera House Covent Garden cond. Antonio Pappano
“Debut artists Echalaz and Bottone are stunning.”
Anna Picard, The Independent, April 2008
“Amanda Echalaz is excellent as the briefly self-doubting Ker.”
Richard Whitehouse, Classical Source, April 2008
“Vocally and dramatically, Amanda Echalaz’s appearance as the leader of this grisly team is nothing short of sensational.”
George Hall, What’s On Stage, April 2008
Princess Fiora in Montemezzi L’amore dei tre re
Opera Holland Park cond. Peter Robinson
“On opening night no other singer could match Echalaz’s emotional commitment. However much her heart throbbed, the voice stayed musical; and dressed in silky white night things, she looked as passionate as she sounded.”
Geoff Brown, The Times, July 2007
“Amanda Echalez could not have been bettered in the role of Fiora, who is the focus of attention for the three kings of the title (Avito, Manfredo, Archibaldo). Thanks to her physical beauty the sexual contest between the men was entirely viable, but her voice was what made her stand out. Her projection was strong, even over an extensive orchestra, and the stamina of her phrasing was incredible. The only frustration was that Montemezzi has her killed off in the second act, because hers was the stand-out performance.”
Dominic McHugh, Musical Criticism, July 2007
“Amanda Echalaz's doomed heroine, meanwhile, is sensational.”
George Hall, The Guardian, August 2007
Tatania in Tchaikovsky Eugene Onegin
English Touring Opera cond. Michael Rosewell
“Possessed of a fearless, gleaming soprano, Echalaz’s Tatiana delivers the goods, and in the passionate letter scene she pours out all her frustrated longing with limpid elegance and radiant warmth.”
Neil Fisher, The Times, March 2007
Title Role in Puccini Manon Lescaut
Opera Holland Park cond. John Lloyd Davies
“As rich of voice as of presence and command, unafraid to mask her beauty after Manon's downfall, Echalaz steals the show.”
Anthony Holden, The Observer, June 2006
“…sumptuously sung by Amanda Echalaz. I cannot think that the role could be acted or sung more convincingly... Her ability to project her voice is exceptional, with nice long phrases that rode the massive orchestration well.”
Dominic McHugh, Music OMH, June 2006
Title Role in Handel Alcina
English Touring Opera cond. Gary Cooper
“But the evening's most extraordinary performance comes from Amanda Echalaz as the temptress herself, her flamboyant, devil-may-care singing bringing listeners right to the edge of their seats.”
George Hall, The Observer, October 2005
“Amanda Echalaz is wonderful in the title role. Cooing, wooing, ranting, she runs the full gamut of emotions and convinces every time.”
Roderic Dunnett, The Independent, October 2005