PRESS REVIEWS
(Click here for reviews in German and French)
L'Amore dei tre Re - Un Ballo in Maschera - La Bohème -
Carmen - Les Contes
d'Hoffmann - L'Elisir d'Amore - Eugen Onegin - Faust - Madama Butterfly - Otello
- Rigoletto - Roméo et
Juliette - La Rondine - Simon
Boccanegra - Tosca - La Traviata - Verdi Requiem
- Le Villi - Werther
ALFREDO in Verdi's La Traviata
Amsterdam 1997:
... the very convincing tenor Marcus Haddock
Het Parool, 10/1997
The tenor Marcus Haddock is a fascinating and vocally more beautiful
and warmer Alfredo than [another tenor] four years ago.
Het Financieel Dagblad, 10/1997
Marcus Haddock grew, the more demanding the performance became...
Haagsche Courant, 10/1997
As Alfredo, Marcus Haddock is a brat with bravura...
NRC Handelsblad, 10/1997
This reprise has its strong sides: Marcus Haddock is a passionate
Alfredo... Again he impressed with his strong voice which he combines with a nice
cantabile...
De Telegraaf, 10/1997
AVITO in Montemezzi's L'Amore dei tre Re
Bregenz 1998 (available
on CD):
American Marcus Haddock, whose tenor has an attractive squillo, was Avito.
Opera News, 10/1998
... impressively sung by the talented and attractive Marcus Haddock.
New York Theater Wire, 8/1998
Marcus Haddock as Avito: a tenor in the lyrical to heroic range with
a very flexible top and compact and expressive diction.
Morgen, 7/1998
Marcus Haddock's tenor masters the high notes and long melodic
arches with unforced streaming legato.
Der Landbote, 7/1998
CASSIO in Verdi's Otello
Bonn 1993:
The excellent Marcus Haddock as Cassio...
General-Anzeiger, 6/1993
... Marcus Haddock an exceptionally good Cassio.
Opera Magazine, 6/1993
Reggio Emilia 1992:
Outstanding ... Marcus Haddock, a very elegant Cassio.
Opera Magazine, 12/1992
CAVARADOSSI in Puccini's Tosca
Washington Opera 2000:
... led by a starry cast... Haddock's performance, which is distinguished by a confident
top voice, presents the painter-lover-rebel as an aristocrat, encountering life with
gloves on.
Washington Post, 2/2000
Marcus Haddock's Cavaradossi is wonderfully sung; his phrasing is
warmly Italianate, and his big, healthy voice opens out thrillingly on high notes.
Washington City Paper, 2/2000
DON JOSÉ in Bizet's Carmen
Houston 2006
... things couldn't get much better when Texas tenor Marcus Haddock poured out his love
for Carmen in Act II's Flower Song. He delivered heart-touching fervor with ringing sound,
excellent phrasing and deep feelings that never became maudlin.
Houston Chronicle, 4/2006
This guy sings and acts with phenomenal passion and musical
precision. Initially enthralled by Carmen's allure and then subsequently crazed at her
final refusal of love, Haddock gives us the dramatic gamut while at the same time
remaining musically focused. His duets with Uria-Monzon are so steamy you'd think they
just got off the dressing room sofa.
Houston Voice, 5/2006
Glyndebourne 2002 (available
on DVD):
(Anne Sofie von Otter's) exciting partners were Texan tenor Marcus Haddock, a Don José
with real metal in the voice, and French baritone Laurent Naouri, an Escamillo with heady
vocal appeal and some serious swagger.
Opera News, 11/2002
The Texan Marcus Haddock, golden-voiced especially on top notes,
made a man of Don Jose, usually cast as a gormless thicko.
Evening Standard, 7/2002
Marcus Haddock's José sang with gentle, warm tone for most of the
first act, so that when he first let fly at the moment of surrender to Carmen, the effect
was shattering. ... Haddock's José is calm, reasonable, while she (Anne Sofie von Otter's
Carmen) is aggressive and sarcastic. You almost feel she deserves what's coming to her.
The Times, 7/2002
The supporting cast also has great qualities, especially where they
are most needed, in the Don José. Here the tenor Marcus Haddock from Texas provides Ms.
von Otter with the superlative musician she needs opposite her. Like her, he eschews all
vulgarity. Even in the intense desperation of the final act, he stays true and sure: a cry
of "Carmen!" is a whole phrase, nicely formed, and all the more touching for
being within the lyrical world that gives the character his existence. Mr. Haddock's sound
throughout is stylish, and his phrasing elegant, yet the result is candid and natural.
New York Times, 7/2002
Marcus Haddock's Don José is ... a knock-out performance. Haddock
shows us a fundamentally weak man in the grip of a passion he cannot understand, let alone
control. The voice is as virile and as secure as they come, but the underlying tenderness
is always there, as well. Don Josés are so rarely believable, but this one is, completely
so. His final scene is genuinely pathetic, a broken man looking for a way out.
The Independent, 7/2002
IL DUCA in Verdi's Rigoletto
Ghent 1998:
Marcus Haddock is an excellent Duke of Mantua.
Matin, Belgium, 1/1998
Geneva 1996:
But above all it is the Duke of Marcus Haddock: the voice perfectly healthy, the technique
sure, the vocal line rigorous, the phrasing just right.
Opera International, 2/1997
Marcus Haddock's tenor is distinguished by an exquisite timbre and
an easy top...
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 12/1996
On the Geneva stage, Marcus Haddock demonstrates yet again his
perfect elegance and a beautiful tenor timbre...
Le Courrier, 12/1996
Verdi composed some of his most beautiful (and difficult) music for
the Duke of Mantua. But his repugnant personality rarely attracts our sympathy. Therefore,
the American tenor Marcus Haddock, at the height of his vocal powers combining beauty of
timbre with a handsome appearance, merits the applause even more.
Culture Journal, 12/1996
FAUST in Gounod's Faust
New York, March 2003:
Tall, dark and handsome Texan tenor Marcus Haddock made his Met debut as Faust on March
21, singing with as much composure as he acted. His tone, if sometimes throaty, never
turned cloudy. "Salut, demeure" rang out as clear as if it were "Oh, what a
beautiful mornin'!," yet its midsection, suavely shaped, caught the poetry of the
moment. If the reactions of Emily Pulley's Marguerite were to be believed, the sincerity
of this Faust worked more persuasively than Méphistophélès's parlor tricks. Haddock
never faltered in his dashing stage manner, despite some dramatically justifiable
stridency during the prison scene.
Opera News, 6/2003
GABRIELE ADORNO in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra
Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London, May 2008:
...the lively American tenor Marcus Haddock as Gabriele.
The Times (London), 5/2008
...American tenor Marcus Haddock brings the requisite resonance and
dash to Adorno.
The Observer (London), May 2008
Santa Fe, July 2004:
Marcus Haddock was excellent as her lover, Gabriele Adorno. His plangent tenor coiled
through Verdi's high-flying lines without qualm, and he showed laudable musicality in the
many duets and trios. His broadly phrased aria, O inferno, was a sonic sun breaking
through clouds.
Santa Fe New Mexican, 7/2004
GUSTAVO / RICCARDO in Verdi's Un Ballo in
Maschera
Philadelphia 2005 (the production used the Boston version)
Tenor Marcus Haddock was impressive as Riccardo... The role of Riccardo was poorly drawn
by librettist Somma - so many questions regarding his motivations are never convincingly
answered - but Haddock's straightforward delineation of the character's emotions filled in
most if not all of the gaps. Plus he sang with exemplary power and projection, especially
in his upper range, and even turned a shapely phrase of lyrical beauty now and then.
News of Delaware County, 11/2005
HOFFMANN in Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann
Los Angeles 2002:
Defying the treacherous tessitura of the title role, tenor Marcus Haddock sounded
impassioned yet lyric throughout. He provided an admirably deranged characterization for
the Kleinzach song, while in the Venetian act he scaled the heights for a magificent
"O dieu de quelle ivresse."
Opera News, 4/2003
Orange 2000:
Opera fans in Orange this summer stayed the course despite a rather chilly wind to enjoy
an excellently cast performance of 'Les Contes d'Hoffmann'... Marcus Haddock drew a
sensitive and stylish portrait of the poet. What other singer can sing Hoffmann with such
a wealth of nuances and musicianship these days?
Opernglas, 11/2000
January 1999 saw the premiere of Les Contes d'Hoffmann based
on the latest Michael Kaye edition at the Staatsoper in Hamburg, including 144 measures at
the end of the Giulietta act never before performed. Marcus Haddock in the title role
scored a huge public - and critical - success:
Hamburg
1999:
For US-tenor Marcus Haddock this was his debut in Hamburg, and he is a revelation as
Hoffmann. This American in Offenbach's Paris unites French mellowness with romantic
strength, all registers of the part are effortlessly at his command, and he was deservedly
celebrated for his songs and arias.
Hamburger Abendblatt, 1/1999
The big discovery of the evening is the young American tenor Marcus
Haddock. Not only is his the ideal timbre for the French heroic roles - compact and
well-focused in the attack, sensual in the lyrical moments, he also gives his all
physically and thus makes Hoffmann's multiple personality come to vivid life.
Der Tagesspiegel, 1/1999
American Marcus Haddock convinced as much with his mellow, caressing
tenor as with his skill as an actor.
Wiesbadener Kurier, 1/1999
... in the lyrical passages he laid a wondrously beautiful,
technically captivating sound track over the biographical scrap heap he was portraying.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 1/1999
Marcus Haddock masters this killer role with unflagging energy...
Tages-Anzeiger, 1/1999
American tenor Marcus Haddock received the biggest ovations of the
evening for his Hoffmann.
Rundschau, 1/1999
The men took top honors of the musical side of the evening: first
and foremost Marcus Haddock as Hoffmann, whose pleasing timbre and virile dramatic tenor
mastered the part effortlessly; who moreover surprised with great stage presence and
histrionic mobility,and who always had the necessary reserves for the central musical
effects of the role at his disposal.
Opernglas, 3/1999
Bonn 1994 (role debut):
Marcus Haddock displayed great acting skills in the part of the poet and impressed with
his beautiful voice...
Opera Magazine, 5/1994
As an actor, Marcus Haddock's portrayal of an extreme character was
phenomenal; as a singer, he projected forcefully, but at the same time he paid particular
attention to the subtleties of the finely drawn lyrical aspects of the role.
General-Anzeiger, 1/1994
As Hoffmann, Marcus Haddock is an excellent actor and equally
excellent as a singer, with a good top...
Opernwelt, 3/1994
LENSKI in Tchaikovsky's Eugen Onegin
Lausanne 1994:
American tenor Marcus Haddock sang and acted with melancholy grace as Lenski.
Opera News, 1/1995
Marcus Haddock - the veritable revelation of this performance -, is
a lyrical Lenski, of perfect musical line, his demeanor perhaps a little unpolished for a
poet, but sincere.
Opera International, 11/1994
NEMORINO in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore
Bordeaux 1988:
L'elisir is often revived just as a vehicle for some international star; here we had a
mainly young cast, good actors all, in whom it was easy to believe, and the comedy worked
like a charm. Nemorino was the American tenor Marcus Haddock, who was invited back after
making a successful debut in the festival's Salieri Falstaff. Honeyed charm is not the
strong point of his singing, but he mastered the high tessitura with something of a heroic
ring and gave a most convincing performance into which his 'Una furtiva lagrima' fitted
naturally, rather than as a show-stopping number.
Opera Magazine, 8/1988
PINKERTON in Puccini's Madama Butterfly
Royal Opera House, London 2003
... as Pinkerton, Marcus Haddock, whose full-bodied, Italianate tenor soars above the
orchestra without a hint of strain, is a singer to watch out for.
The Guardian, 9/2003
Washington 2001
Pinkerton's scene outside Butterfly's house in Act 3 was played just for the music, and
the music revealed substantial vocal talent. Marcus Haddock's Pinkerton was smoothly sung
without braying or strain.
Washington Post, 10/2001
Geneva
1998:
... Marcus Haddock as Pinkerton is [Chen Sue's] excellent, eminently musical partner; his
well-balanced tenor has the top demanded by this role, his vocal portrayal is subtle and
without resorting to affected pressed notes.
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 6/1998
ROBERTO in Puccini's Le Villi
Bonn 1992:
... this tenor should be watched ... he is endowed with fine vocal material which is
likely to develop in the direction of the Zwischenfach.
Opera Magazine, 1/1993
RODOLFO in Puccini's La Bohème
Fort Worth 2006
Sandra Lopez and Marcus Haddock made FWO's most recent 'La Bohème' a work of art. ... The
first cast featured a top-notch tenor for the romantic lead of Rodolfo. Fort Worth-born
and Lubbock-raised Marcus Haddock regularly performs with major opera companies in America
and abroad. (With the Dallas Opera in recent seasons, he was the Duke in Rigoletto and
Alfredo in La Traviata.) His bright, robust instrument carries effortlessly over the
thickest ensembles, and his easygoing stage presence is engaging. In his local debut this
past weekend, he easily won new fans here.
Fort Worth Weekly, 3/2006
Tenor Marcus Haddock as poet Rodolfo has the pure, booming voice
that makes it clear why Mimi falls for him so quickly.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3/2006
Bath 1992:
For Mimì, the company had secured the services of Renée Fleming. ... There was little
about this Mimì that was frail or unassuming, least of all the resounding chest register
... But then she did have to deal with a fairly pushy Rodolfo in Marcus Haddock, another
American guest. The macho stance with which he went about his courting suggested not so
much the sensitive poet as a predatory lover, self-confident, with singing to match,
long-breathed, robust, the voice bristling with tension. Together they looked a very
modern couple with little time for 19th-century mores.
Opera Magazine, 10/1992
ROMÉO in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette
Geneva 1996:
It would be hard to imagine a more convincing young couple than Marcus Haddock and
Leontina Vaduva. Haddock goes from strength to strength: he is good-looking, musical and
accurate, and brings a nicely understated sense of lyrical rapture. The voice ... is clean
and true, and is filling out well.
Opera Magazine, 8/1996
Marcus Haddock as Roméo overwhelms with the beauty of his tenor:
the mellowness, the noble roundness, the resonance. The phrases are spun with long legato,
whereby his voice responds easily and is capable of unforced emphasis; his performance his
distinguished by an enormous spectrum of expressivity which mercifully excludes any
tendency to sob or other vocal exaggerations.
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 4/1996
Leontina Vaduva, a pretty Juliette with a voice of milk, lost
Roberto Alagna (too bad for him!) but she gained with Marcus Haddock a Roméo who was
phenomenal on all points, a matchless stylist, a credible actor, a tenor generous with
colour and text, whose timbre has become more substantial since his Lenski and Rodolfo
last season.
Journal de Genève, 4/1996
Vocally, the Roméo of Marcus Haddock dominated the stage with his
luminous timbre, the solidity, the limpidness, and the intensity of his singing. A
first-rate tenor...
Tribune de Genève, 4/1996
... Marcus Haddock confirmed ... his place among the great tenors of
the future.
Le Courrier, 4/1996
RUGGERO in Puccini's La Rondine
Los Angeles 2000:
Haddock's vocal intertwining of strength, tenderness and yearning restlessness
proves a good mate to Vaness' anxious passion.
Los Angeles Daily News
Washington 1998 (telecast on PBS in December 1999):
Most nearly perfect in this generally excellent cast were tenor Marcus Haddock as the
heroine's young lover Ruggero, and soprano Inva Mula as the maid Lisette. It is time to
stop fretting about who is going to be the "fourth tenor," or for that matter,
the next three when the current three wind down. And never mind those highly-hyped
contenders cranked out by the publicity machines; as long as talents as convincing and
unmistakably authentic as Marcus Haddock come along - and without unrealistic fanfare -
opera lovers have nothing to worry about. Even if Haddock (along with everybody else) had
not been visually believable as Magda's student lover, his singing would have been a glory
in any production. The clarity and beauty of his voice - and his shapely phrasing of the
beautiful melodies - were a constant joy. There were moments when his voice rang out with
the kind of stabbing passion that opera lovers dream about, moments that shivered the soul
and did sweet justice to Puccini's melodic genius.
Classical Singer, 2/2000
Marcus Haddock's passionately sung Ruggero began tentatively, but
the tenor built the character both musically and dramatically in convincing fashion.
Opera News, 6/1998
His voice is unusually deep, with a certain hard intensity more
commonly identified with the lower register. He sang the role with a mixture of ardor and
clarity...
Washington Post, 3/1998
Bonn 1995:
... Ainhoa Arteta and Marcus Haddock, who provided vocal magic in the love scenes.
General-Anzeiger, 12/1995
... the radiant tenor of American Marcus Haddock as Ruggero.
Welt am Sonntag, 12/1995
... in recent years his lyric tenor has gained enormously in
brilliance and power.
Bonner Rundschau, 12/1995
TENOR PART in Verdi's Messa da Requiem
Paris 1996:
... the young American Marcus Haddock possessed all the necessary qualities, the velvet as
well as the strength, the timbre as well as the valor, the color of the high notes as well
as the vocal solidity. The Ingemisco had a proud allure.
Le Figaro, 6/1996
WERTHER in Massenet's Werther
Bonn 1993:
Marcus Haddock... debuted in the demanding title role of Massenet's Werther. His rather
lyric, beautiful and very "romantic" tenor fitted this idealistic dreamer like a
glove.
Orpheus, 10/1993
... with Marcus Haddock, Bonn has an interpreter of the role who can
hold his own both vocally and as an actor, and who, on account of a healthy mixture of
intelligence and ecstasy and wise use of his enormous vocal creative resources, is on his
way to the very top.
General-Anzeiger, 7/1993
Werther on CD
Uria-Monzon/Haddock/ Massis/Azzaretti/ Marliere/Lille National Orch/Casadesus (Naxos, 2
CDs)
By Edward Greenfield, The Guardian (U.K.), January 3, 2003
No opera is luckier on disc than Massenet's Werther. With nine first-rate versions already
on the stocks, it is bold of Naxos on its bargain label to offer yet another. Happily, the
result is a great success.
As with the excellent Naxos set of Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande, the company went to
Lille, and there in the impressive 20th-century baroque opera-theatre recorded a series of
performances live, editing the results together.
As with Pellèas, the conductor is Jean-Claude Casadesus, and again his direction is
totally idiomatic. He draws not just from the excellent line-up of soloists but from the
whole ensemble a performance that in its urgency leads you magnetically through the
unconventional yet moving plot based on Goethe's novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther.
If only a generation ago the clear first favourite among Massenet operas was Manon,
Werther - more complex, more problematic - has taken over, thanks above all to the
involving way Massenet presents the hopeless love of the poet Werther for Charlotte, and
her agonising responses.
Where Gounod's Faust is a travesty of the Goethe original, this other gallicising of
Goethe is fully worthy of its model, offering a profound challenge to the two principal
singers. In the title role, the American Marcus Haddock gives an ardent performance, using
his clear tenor sensitively, never simply belting. The mezzo Beatrice Uria Monzon, one of
the few French singers currently on disc in this role, is even more impressive.
Her rich, sensuous voice contrasts well with the fresh tones of Jael Azzaretti as
Charlotte's teenage sister, Sophie; and the baritone, Renè Massis, as Charlotte's
husband, Albert, is convincingly youthful too, not the stolid figure he can be.
How then does this new set compare with the classic versions already in the catalogue? It
is true that Placido Domingo, for example, in his 1971 live recording from Munich on
Orfeo, is more creatively imaginative than Haddock, and Angela Gheorghiu, in her 1999
studio recording for EMI, caresses the ear with ravishing pianissimos impossible on stage.
There is also an earlier Naxos version in its historic series, which was recorded in 1931,
with Georges Thill and Ninon Vallin in the central roles as models of style.
Yet this latest Naxos set is more than just a bargain alternative, offering a powerfully
enjoyable experience, made the more involving by the tensions of a live staging. Though
the recording level is rather low, the voices are very well balanced, with words
exceptionally clear - and, unlike most bargain versions of opera, this one has a complete
libretto in French, plus a detailed synopsis in English.
Marcus Haddock is represented by CAMI |
