opraquots

OPERA REVIEWS: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE JE NE SAIS QUOI

The purpose of this file is not to show off what great things were said about me, but rather to show that it doesn’t really matter how well you perform: most reviewers are in the business of making themselves look clever, intelligent and knowledgeable. Often their very attempts to demonstrate these qualities show just the opposite, and equally often their tastes don’t reflect the opinions of the audiences they are part of. Enjoy.
I have sorted them according to opera and role rather than date, because the date doesn’t matter. Once you’re good, you’re good.

Role	Opera	Composer	Date	Company	Conductor	Director	Review title	Author	Publication	Quote	Comments
Alfred Allegretto	The Amazing Adventure of Alvin Allegretto	Bruce Adolphe	1/31/1995	Metropolitan Opera Guild	Steve Crawford	Mel Marvin	Young Rebel With a Cause: He Doesn't Want to Sing	Edward Rothstein	The New York Times	Mr. Adolphe's score gently alludes to Despina and "Don Giovanni" while making certain that the singers – including Judith Engel, Adam Klein, Gregory Sheppard and Laureen Vigil – could be clearly understood by listeners alien to Harmony.	Before I made my tenor stage debut at the Met proper, I was hired by the Met Guild to do this opera for kids. Through it I met Steve Crawford, one of the smartest and most musical people I know; he also knows more jokes than I do. I also learned that according to some people I look good in yellow, and that most people don't.
Alfredo	La Traviata	Giuseppe Verdi	4/4/1995	Opera Theater of Connecticut	Elizabeth Hastings	Alan Mann	Opera Theater of Connecticut's 'La Traviata proves a triumphant finale for annual event	Frank Wagner	Islander, Sanibel FL	Adam Klein's Alfredo was near perfection, not only in his vocal prowess but also his acting ability. It abounded in great truthfulness and a sincerity of purpose that is quite rare for opera performers.	I hate Alfredo. I had a cold when I sang this performance. My mom came over from Virginia to see it and did some nice paintings in John "Ding" Darling State Park. I saw an American Crocodile there. The Gastone was Brian Scott, with whom I'd done The Tempest at IU. I taught him to play jaw harp. He died soon after that. Crying shame.
Alfredo	La Traviata	Giuseppe Verdi	3/3/1996	Austin Lyric Opera	Louis Salemno	Joe McLain	Weak acting, singing mark Austin Lyric's production of 'Traviata'	Jerry Young	Austin American- Statesman	Although her tone was heartbreakingly gorgeous, Zambalis lacked the vocal power to project that vitality. It was especially noticeable alongside the effortless singing of tenor Adam Klein, who played her lover, Alfredo… Ironically, as Violetta's flower faded, Zambalis' vocal powers rose… Her phrasing was exquisite and emotionally charged… she captured Verdi's old-style, catch-in-the-throat emotionality without sacrificing credibility.\ The same was true for Klein's Alfredo. He looked the part of an irresponsible kid who leaves home and falls in love with a beautiful courtesan, bringing shame upon his family. This came across especially well at the end of the second act, where he is admonished to return home by his father, Giorgio, sung by Kimm Julian… Like Zambalis, Klein's strengths resided in his rich sound and his ability to project his character through his voice, neither of which he sacrificed for sheer volume. It was the right choice because he kept his character in sharp focus. But he paid the price from time to time, especially when he would find acoustically dead spots from which it was hard for him to be heard.	No one told me about the dead spots. And Stella was fantastic. I saw Bobby Brubaker at the Met several years after this production, and a short time after his debut in Austin as Siegmund. He relayed a story about me that he heard while in Austin. It is said that during Traviata I fell in love with a chorus member and took up residence with a homeless community on the banks of the river there. Neither is true. I was already in love with someone whose father lives in Austin, I became good friends with my dresser who later became a member of the chorus, and I took long day-hikes along the river. Opera thrives on rumors. I'm glad that most of them are harmless. From my sponsor there I learned that the people of Austin knew Rock Hudson was coming there to visit a guy years before the rest of the country heard he liked guys. The world is full of facts like that. Get to know the place you're in: it'll probably surprise you.
Alfredo	La Traviata	Giuseppe Verdi	11/11/1997	Opera Roanoke	David Wiley	Craig Fields	'La Traviata' superb	Seth Williamson	The Roanoke Times	Which brings us to the other reason you want to see this show, which is tenor Adam Klein. Visually, his Alfredo is perfect: handsome, sympathetic, imperially slim and moving with practiced ease across the stage. Add to that an instrument that is possibly the best tenor voice I've ever heard in an Opera Roanoke production and you've got an opera star the likes of which isn't heard frequently on a regional stage. Yeah, he once reached for a high C that he didn't quite nail to the wall — but then, it was an octave above what Verdi called for in the first place.	This was my last, I hope, Alfredo. You can have it. Not only is it really hard to sing but it's also thankless — except when you get reviews like this one. Thanks.
Alfredo	La Traviata	Giuseppe Verdi	6/15/2000	Mira Yang	Steven Lay	Mira Yang	'Traviata' Plays Well in Church	Joseph McLellan	The Washington Post	The most impressive voice was that of tenor Adam Klein as Alfredo. His singing was warmly emotional, responsive to each of the opera's quickly changing situations, rich in tone and precise in pitch and diction.	This was a semi-staged concert version with one violin in the third act and the rest of the music was played by Steven Lay at the piano.
Arturo	Lucia di Lammermoor	Gaetano Donizetti	3/21/1992	Indianapolis Opera	James Caraher	David Pfeiffer	Saffer is a 'diva' in title role	Charles Staff	The Indianapolis News	With his individualized timbre, tenor Adam Klein is obviously too good for the small role of Arturo…	I’m sorry, I thought there were no small roles.
Arturo	Lucia di Lammermoor	Gaetano Donizetti	3/22/1992	Indianapolis Opera	James Caraher	David Pfeiffer	'Lucia di Lammermoor' solid, radiant	Jay Harvey	The Indianapolis Star	As Arturo, tenor Adam Klein immediately made a good impression on his second act entrance– something his character is eager to do as well in raising the spirits of the friends and followers of Enrico.	Oh yes, I came in pressing the flesh like a politician. My favorite part of it was mock flirting with Tom Woodman the Enrico. –During rehearsal breaks, not performances.
Arturo	Lucia di Lammermoor	Gaetano Donizetti	4/1/1992	Indianapolis Opera	James Caraher	David Pfeiffer	'Lucia di Lammermoor' sombre opera	Charles Epstein	Jewish Post & Opinion	Adam Klein as the bridegroom had a brief but substantial appearance. He was quite effective in his portrayal.	I try.
Bacchus	Ariadne auf Naxos	Richard Strauss	7/7/2001	Lake George Opera Festival	Daniel Beckwith	Marc Verzatt	Opera season opens on fine note	Geraldine Freedman	The Post-Star	[Ariadne's] paramour, Adam Klein as Bacchus, more than held his own with a strong tenor voice.	Well, at least I got mentioned in this one.
Bacchus	Ariadne auf Naxos	Richard Strauss	7/7/2001	Lake George Opera Festival	Daniel Beckwith	Marc Verzatt	'Ariadne' holds audience rapt to open Lake George Opera Festival	Mae G. Banner	The Saratogian	Opposites attract in Richard Strauss's "Ariadne auf Naxos." A high- minded composer and a coquettish comedienne are magnetically attracted to each other. Then, in the composer's opera-within-an-opera," the desolate, death-seeking Ariadne meets joyous Bacchus, the god of wine, and they fall under each other's spell.	Banner gets a bit of kudos for putting the "s" on "Strauss's", but the opera is not within an opera. There is the prologue, then there is the opera. But the best part of this review was the photo of Mary Ann McCormick as the Composer, with the caption "Baritone Stephen Lusmann plays the Music Master in LGOF's "Ariadne auf Naxos."
Canio	Pagliacci	Ruggiero Leoncavallo	3/25/2003	Dicapo Opera Theater	Louis Salemno	Michael Capasso	National Lyric Opera transports audience with "I Pagliacci"	John R. Murelle	Hyannis newspaper	Adam Klein sang Canio, a part made famous by Enrico Caruso. Klein's credits include New York City Opera and the Metropolitan Opera. He was the undisputed star of the performance. His singing is healthy, beautiful, dramatic and free. This role can overtake a singer, and he can get carried away vocally. Klein always stayed within the confines of his vocal technique while still delivering a riveting performance.	Gee, thanks, John.
Cassio	Otello	Giuseppe Verdi	10/24/1990	Pittsburgh Opera	Theo Alcantara	Tito Capobianco	Pittsburgh	Gladys Blews Wilson	The Times (Pittsburgh)	The supporting cast performs effectively. Adam Klein as Cassio and Patricia McAfee as Desdemona's maid, Emilia, deserve special recognition. Although both singers are young, they demonstrate technique that is not eclipsed by Atlantov, Johnson and Milnes.	This is the same show that the Opera News reviewer Robert Croan saw. (q.v.)
Cassio	Otello	Giuseppe Verdi	3/16/1991	Pittsburgh Opera	Theo Alcantara	Tito Capobianco	Pittsburgh	Robert Croan	Opera News	Adam Klein's student-level Cassio proved embarrassing in this company.	See the quote from Gladys Wilson.
Cassio	Otello	Giuseppe Verdi	10/3/1999	Virginia Opera	Peter Mark	Robin Guarino	Evil Iago steals Virginia Opera's "Otello"	Lee Tepley	The Virginian- Pilot	In an important secondary role, tenor Adam Klein was a youthful, somewhat naive Cassio. The bright clarity of his voice was refreshing.	I’ll leave that alone.
Cassio	Otello	Giuseppe Verdi	10/15/1999	Virginia Opera	Peter Mark	Robin Guarino	'Otello' puts some stellar voices on display	Daniel Neman	Richmond Times-Dispatch	Special care was also taken in the casting of some of the secondary characters. With a ringing tenor, Adam Klein (Roméo in last year's "Roméo et Juliette") is particularly noteworthy as the wronged Cassio.	I spent my offstage time playing Talking Heads tunes on the banjo.
Cavaradossi	Tosca	Giacomo Puccini	3/14/1993	Nashville Opera	Kenneth Schermerhorn	Whitfield Lloyd	'Tosca' delights lovers of Puccini's grand opera	Henry Arnold	Nashville Banner	To begin with, there were some splendid voices singing Puccini's passionate melodies. Soprano Nova Thomas in the title role, with tenor Adam Klein as her lover, Cavaradossi, and baritone Duncan Hartman as the villainous Baron Scarpia, headed a strong cast… Klein, too, sang with tremendous satisfaction. His final aria, E lucevan le stelle (When stars were brightly shining), sung just before his death, was as moving a moment as one is likely to experience in opera.	One would think, with a review like this, that Nashville Opera would have had me back. But for some reason which the new directors of the company will not reveal, neither I nor Duncan Hartman will tread the stage of the Tennessee Performing Arts Center anytime soon. I feel I have a right to know, at least, what I possibly could have done to deserve this treatment– not that engagements in Nashville will make or break my career. While I was there for this Tosca I got to attend, in my off-time, the recording sessions of my brother Moondi's band Chesapeake's first album, Rising Tide.
Cavaradossi	Tosca	Giacomo Puccini	3/14/1993	Nashville Opera	Kenneth Schermerhorn	Whitfield Lloyd	Soprano delivers a riveting 'Tosca'	Alan Bostick	Nashville Banner	Tenor Klein, whose voice was often overwhelmed in Act 1, saved his best singing for the enchanting late E lucevan le stelle ("And the stars shone"), delivered with great tenderness.	This was my first Cavaradossi and this reviewer was being kind. I figured a lot out during the rehearsals, but didn't have it all down by performance time. It was surprisingly difficult to get my voice to be unaffected by the emotions I was feeling during E lucevan le stelle– not helped by a concurrent sad chapter in my personal life. One major issue for singing actors is disconnecting the vocal production from the emotional production and still managing to do both: it's one of the challenges that keep me interested.
Cavaradossi	Tosca	Giacomo Puccini	7/2/1998	Central City Opera	John Moriarty	Marc Astafan	Opera stages '3 tenors' 'Tosca' act	Wes Blomster	Boulder Daily Camera	And then there's Adam Klein, who — like the rabbit out of the magician's hat — flew into the state to make Wednesday's matinee something of a second season opener. For Klein, originally scheduled to "become" Cavaradossi for the second half of the CCO season, is an exceptional singer. His is a tenor voice cut from the cloth usually reserved for baritones. His voice, both rich and resonant, has a timbre that makes him a dream-come-true in this role.	Again with the baritone timbre. Listen. It's almost all technical. If you sing in the yawn position, you're almost guaranteed to be perceived as having a vocal color at least one category deeper than what you actually are. This gig showed me why relative height is taken into account when making casting decisions. Sheila Smith (the first Tosca) is six foot one, and I’m barely five foot ten. With lifts both inside and under my boots I was still looking up at her. Peter Riberi, whom I replaced for shows 2 through 7 before my official run started with Pam South (five foot one or so) would have seen her eye to eye. A correction: I didn't fly into Central to do these shows. I drove, as usual, taking three days from New Jersey.
Don Curzio	The Marriage of Figaro	Wolfgang Mozart	8/8/1991	Chautauqua Opera	Gary Magby	Joshua Major	'The Marriage of Figaro' is first-class	Hugh Fraser	Chautauquan Daily	(no mention was made of my character or of me in this review, but I was in the photo that accompanied it.)	It was a job. I was an apprentice. I got to be funny.
Don José	Carmen	Georges Bizet	2/2/1991	Skylight Opera Theatre	Richard Carsey	Francesca Zambello	Streamlined 'Carmen' exudes intensity	Tom Strini	The Milwaukee Journal	Next to [Diane Lane], Adam Klein's Don José is thin and weak, but that's the point. Unlike Carmen, Don José knows not who or what he is. In this he is the opposite of the dead-sure Carmen, and her complement. He is inevitably drawn to her and consumed by her. He does not kill her in anger or frustration, but because his pale, helpless destiny is only to complete Carmen's meteoric vision of herself.	Thin and weak. Hmm.
Don José	Carmen	Georges Bizet	2/2/1991	Skylight Opera Theatre	Richard Carsey	Francesca Zambello	Skylight's perplexing 'Carmen' has Pandora's box of questions	Nancy Raabe	The (Milwaukee) Sentinel	As Don José, Adam Klein possessed even less range; he was bland and ineffectual, for the most part, and we understood neither how he could fall so obsessively in love nor be driven to so heinous a crime.	Bland and ineffectual. Hmm. I'd like someone to explain to me why so many people need logical reasons why anyone falls in love with anyone else.
Don José	Carmen	Georges Bizet	2/21/1991	Skylight Opera Theatre	Richard Carsey	Francesca Zambello	Intimate, simple 'Carmen' pleases Grand audience	Jaye Anderson	Oshkosh Northwestern	The most outstanding, riveting performances of the show were given by the two lead characters – Diane Lane as the gypsy, Carmen, and Adam Klein as her lover, Don Jose, a soldier caught between duty to family and his desire for Carmen and her wild life… Klein gave a quiet but intense performance, expressing his character mostly through subtle expressions and intense emotion. His singing was lovely and precisely controlled, even in difficult high ranges.	Was this the same show in which I was thin, weak, bland and ineffectual? Not in Oshkosh, apparently.
Don José	Carmen	Georges Bizet	5/10/1991	The Pennsylvania Opera Theater	Barbara Silverstein	Dona D. Vaughn	Pennsylvania Opera comes up with freshly scrubbed 'Carmen'	Robert Baxter	Courier Post (Cherry Hill, NJ)	Only a cast of important singers is missing from this production… Kidwell and her Jose, Adam Klein, do not rise to the furious duet that climaxes the opera. Here, Vaughn missteps, urging both singers on to histrionic excess. Kidwell postures outrageously as Klein throws her around the stage before Jose stabs Carmen. Their overwrought acting and undernourished singing undercut this climactic scene… Klein's good looks and appealing, if monotonously colored, voice serve well in the first act. His singing, however, lacks the weight in mid-range and the security on top for Jose's fierce outbursts in the final two acts.	But Thea Diamond said I was especially convincing in Act Four!
Don José	Carmen	Georges Bizet	5/10/1991	The Pennsylvania Opera Theater	Barbara Silverstein	Dona D. Vaughn	Pa. Opera closes with a 'Carmen' staged as personal tragedy	Daniel Webster	The Philadelphia Inquirer	The singing of the central roles did not, however, match the general ingenuity of staging and lively orchestral playing that was the norm. By choosing intimacy and tragedy as the focus, the dimensions of Don Jose became crucial. Adam Klein, a lyric tenor who often sang gracefully, had little gift for suggesting the impassioned figure. He tends to stroll or roll his eyes as if this were a domestic comedy.	Domestic comedy. Hmm. There is a reason that this company had standing orders not to discuss reviews during the run of the show.
Don José	Carmen	Georges Bizet	5/16/1991	The Pennsylvania Opera Theater	Barbara Silverstein	Dona D. Vaughn	Pa. Opera Theater presents 'Carmen'	Pat Gibbons	Suburban and Wayne Times	Adam Klein, [Carmen's] hapless lover, did not seem up to the role. Winning Don Jose seemed too easy – where was the challenge?	I got the best applause, except for Micaela, in all three performances. Everyone but the critics must have been idiots.
Don José	Carmen	Georges Bizet	5/17/1991	The Pennsylvania Opera Theater	Barbara Silverstein	Dona D. Vaughn	Opera Theater's 'Carmen' aflame with power, passion	Michael Caruso	Chestnut Hill Local (Philadelphia, PA)	T-POT's cast for Carmen was one of the best it's ever offered… Tenor Adam Klein efficaciously communicated Don Jose's desperate love for Carmen, a love that would inspire him to abondon everything he has always held dear and drive him to murder, but he made poor use of the fine voice nature has given him by swallowing rather than freely projecting his tone. He simply doesn't sing well.	And Michael Caruso got his vocal degree where?
Don José	Carmen	Georges Bizet	5/17/1991	The Pennsylvania Opera Theater	Barbara Silverstein	Dona D. Vaughn	Pennsylvania Opera Theater: Carmen	Gary L. Day	Philadelphia Gay News	Less successful as an actor was Adam Klein as Don José, Carmen's tragic lover. Klein's strengths lay more in his vocal talents. Throughout the piece, Klein was at least good, and there were times when his rich tones truly resonated. However, as an actor he was somewhat limited, but overall that did not diminish his effectiveness significantly.	But Peter Burwasser said my character was good and the voice was thin and hard! Which should I believe??
Don José	Carmen	Georges Bizet	5/22/1991	The Pennsylvania Opera Theater	Barbara Silverstein	Dona D. Vaughn	A Draggy 'Carmen', A Bouncy 'Flute'	Thea Diamond	Welcomat Philadelphia, PA	Tenor Adam Klein played Jose like a petulant little boy who is always furious with his older sister for teasing him. Klein is not assisted by the dialogue… Whereas spoken dialogue gives us a chance to "get to know" the characters, the 19th-Century diction is stilted and trite. After Carmen tosses a carnation at Jose, he confides, "Her flower struck me like a bullet." Later, he muses, "She's like a cat–if you ignore her, she comes." These conceits need to be delivered with raw feeling in order to avoid sounding hackneyed and laughable. But Klein said his lines without even a flush of agony; nor did his body language confess to any inner torment. Which forces me to conclude that reintroducing spoken dialogue is fine and dandy–as long as your singers can act. Otherwise, stick to the music. Klein never failed to emote when he is singing. He was especially convincing in act four, when, tortured by unrequited love, he goes to pieces in song and murders Carmen.	Give me lines that can be acted and I'll act them. This translation sucked.
Don José	Carmen	Georges Bizet	5/31/1991	The Pennsylvania Opera Theater	Barbara Silverstein	Dona D. Vaughn	Opera Queens: Carmen at the PA Opera Theater; The Magic Flute at the Academy of Vocal Arts	Peter Burwasser	Philadelphia City Paper	The lead singers, however, compromised the ultimate impact of this Carmen. The Don Jose of Adam Klein was, for once, suitably boyish, making the naiveté of the soldier/country bumpkin especially believable. But vocally, this was a thin, hard tenor, lacking the bloom at the big moments that audiences take for granted. Jody Kidwell has an attractive voice, but her impersonation of the sultry gypsy was simply underplayed. In her final moments, when Klein skillfully displayed a sense of menace maddened by passion, Kidwell seemed more annoyed than threatened. It was a sort of Carmen the Yenta: "Oy, Don Jose, you give me such a headache with your kvetching, already."	But Gary Day said my strengths lay in my vocal talents! Who is correct??
Don José	Carmen	Georges Bizet	6/7/1991	The Pennsylvania Opera Theater	Barbara Silverstein	Dona D. Vaughn	TPOT's 'Carmen and her country boy of a lover, Don José	Monroe Levin	Jewish Exponent (Philadelphia)	Pennsylvania Opera Theater's recent "Carmen" production had one feature not likely to have been seen before in the opera's 116-year history: a Don Jose who looks, moves and speaks like a shy, unsophisticated country boy – like someone, that is, who might very well have listened to his mother and married Micaela if Carmen had not danced her "Seguidilla" for him. Adam Klein was the owner of this unusual stage presence, as well as of a tenor voice with sweetness on top and ample power when called for. It was fascinating to watch him change from bumpkin to brute under the music's compulsion, even if the brief hold he had on a girl like Carmen was less than credible.	This was one of the only reviews of that time that had something useful for a press kit, and amid so many scathers too. Thanks, Monroe.
Don José	Carmen	Georges Bizet	10/14/1993	Whitewater Opera	Charles Combopiano	Nelson Sheeley	Sorg scores coup with 'Carmen'	Alma Jean Smith	The Middletown Journal	Among the soloists, Adam Klein stands out for his thoughtfully-conceived and movingly sung portrayal of Don Jose. The growth and change in this character throughout the show is evident. Is "Flower Song" is clearly the most memorable moment of the evening.	This is a review of the performance at the Sorg Opera House in Middletown, Ohio, which despite its name is across the Indiana border from Whitewater. Paul Sorg was a magnate who built this opera house for the good people of Middletown to use, and it's an excellent house, as is the one in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. This one, however, had its pit filled in with cement when the theater was converted to a movie house, and someone like Sorg should now come forward and fund the pit's re-excavation.
Don José	Carmen	Georges Bizet	7/29/1995	Portland Opera Repertory Theater	Bruce Hangen	Dona D. Vaughn	Home-grown 'Carmen' performed brilliantly	Nick Humez	Portland Press Herald	As her feckless dragoon lover Don Jose, Adam Klein displayed a fine tenor voice. His poignant lyricism in the feminine-ending appoggiaturas of "La fleur qui vous m'avez jetee" (Act II) was as moving as his distracted lethality in the final murder scene.	Feminine-ending appoggiaturas, very good. Too bad he or the typesetter got the relative pronoun wrong (should be que instead of qui) in the aria quote. I also don't get why newspapers so often fail to include the accent marks that are required in languages like French.\ This was performed at the State Theater in Portland, where many kinds of music were featured, including my brother Moondi's band Chesapeake, who had signed the wall in the dressing-room area. I signed the wall next to Auldridge's dobro drawing.
Don José	Carmen	Georges Bizet	8/4/1995	Portland Opera Repertory Theater	Bruce Hangen	Dona D. Vaughn	Carmen seduces the men and her audience	Robert Newell	Maine Times	Tenor Adam Klein, the easily manipulated Don Jose, displayed a fresh, virile voice that sometimes slipped into declamation rather than following the vocal line. Nonetheless, his La fleur que tu m'avais jetee was delivered with the requisite pathos that melts Carmen – for the moment. Further, Klein has a youthful exuberance that spanned the footlights easily.	Singers have declaimed where notes are printed since day one. I too am guilty. But I go farther: I'll stay on pitch but be more talking than singing, like sprechstimme. I don't remember when or if I did that in Portland, but I must have done something.
Don José	Carmen	Georges Bizet	9/26/1995	New York City Opera	Andreas Delfs	Christian Smith	New Young Voices in City Opera's 'Carmen'	Anthony Tommasini	The New York Times	Making his debut as Don José was Adam Klein, a young tenor who not so long ago was singing the boy soprano role of Yniold in a Metropolitan Opera production of Debussy's "Pelléas et Mélisande." Sunday's City Opera debut surely represented an exciting arrival for this New York native. Mr. Klein has a sweet voice and musicianly instincts. He moves comfortably on the stage and does not overact. He gave a creditable performance of this taxing role and won a big ovation from the audience.\ But for Mr. Klein to be singing Don José in this house at this stage of his career is at least a stretch and perhaps a miscalculation. He doesn't yet have the vocal weight to support the role. Too often his voice seemed perilously pushed. His soft legato singing, so comfortable in midrange, was full of effort at the top. It is not that his performance was trouble-plagued; merely that there are signs of trouble ahead if Mr. Klein is not careful. His lovely, light voice should be nurtured, yet the company has cast him later this season in an even heftier role, Mario in Puccini's "Tosca."	This fixation on my young age (35!) has puzzled me ever since the review came out. Typing this into my computer it occurred to me that Tommasini might have thought I sang the Met Yniold in the 80s, not the one in 1971. That would have made sense of the "not so long ago" comment, since my bio didn't specify which production I was in. Anyway, he did go on, didn't he. For the record, the role of José has never been taxing for me, this was my fifth production as José, and I'm now singing roles much heavier than José or Mario.
Don José	Carmen	Georges Bizet	11/2/1999	OperaDelaware	David Lawton	Bill Fabris	'Carmen' captivates on strength of players, musical score	Rick Mulroney	The News Journal	For his part, Klein used his strong yet supple voice and expressive manner to maximum effect in his sympathetic portrayal of the anguished desire that drives José to the story's murderous climax.	I think this was done on the same set that Chautauqua Opera used in 1985, when I was in the chorus. And I sang choral concerts under David Lawton in the late "1970s" at SUNY Stony Brook.
Don José	Carmen	Georges Bizet	10/7/2000	Virginia Opera	Peter Mark	Michael Ehrman	This gypsy evokes lust, not love	Clarke Bustard	Richmond Times-Dispatch	Chianakas' dark, throaty mezzo-soprano voice fits the role of Carmen, at least until she starts spitting tone at Klein. His tenor is urgent and virile, almost too heroic for the part, and his stage movements have an unaffected physicality that several of his costars should study carefully.	It should be spelled, "Chianakas's". Unless it's plural, you need the "s".
Don José	Carmen	Georges Bizet	10/8/2000	Virginia Opera	Peter Mark	Michael Ehrman	Va. Opera offers a playful 'Carmen'	David Nicholson	Daily Press	And what could be more pathetic than this version of Don Jose, whose obsession for Carmen drives him into a downward spiral. When tenor Adam Klein appears in Act IV, his appearance filthy clothes, erratic movements and crazed eyes — is a shocker. It's obvious that Don Jose has been pushed way over the edge… Klein did a fine job portraying Don Jose as an innocent who's bewitched by this exotic gypsy. His tenor voice carried well through most of the opera though he pushed its limits in the final emotional scene.	I like to make them think I'm working hard. One of the exciting things about listening to Leyontine Price was that it was so wild-sounding you didn't know whether she'd make it to the end, and for me it was thrilling to hear her actually get there. I guess for some people it's worrying, though. But if they can't tell from hearing my basic technique that I'm going to be all right, then they don't know enough about singing.
Don José	Carmen	Georges Bizet	10/8/2000	Virginia Opera	Peter Mark	Michael Ehrman	Virginia Opera starts with high-energy "Carmen"	Lee Tepley	The Virginian- Pilot	Klein's voice has a deep, almost baritone quality that served the lower ranges of his part well. Higher notes did not seem to trouble him either, either with full power or with even more interesting soft notes. His acting and singing made him a sympathetic figure. By the last scene, after Carmen had completely destroyed him, Klein's visual transformation and acting were truly alarming.	Color and weight in a voice, as in life, are not the same thing. I have never been a baritone because my voice is not that weight.
Don José	Carmen	Georges Bizet	10/10/2000	Virginia Opera	Peter Mark	Michael Ehrman	"Carmen" with the Virginia Opera	John C. Shulson	WHRO-FM	As her lover, Don Jose, tenor Adam Klein nicely handles the task at hand. He's been cast as a Dudley Doo-Right kind of guy. A blonde-haired, prim and proper mama's boy. His character is so pure that one can easily see why Carmen targeted him for seduction. Dramatically, he progresses well enough from good guy to outcast. If there's a quibble in his characterization, it rests with his transformation into what seems to be a slightly psychotic soul at the end. I suppose he was the image of a man defeated in love who gave up everything and ended with nothing. But he appeared to be dazed or on drugs, staggering about the stage, wild-eyed. While he obviously loses his dignity in the proceedings, somehow this bit of craftsmanship seemed a little over the top. Nevertheless, as a spider-in-her-web portrayal, he made an appropriately fine partner for his Carmen and vocally did the role justice. In particular, Klein deserves commendation for handling the demands of the demanding Flower Song with sensitivity and for meeting the challenges of its heights successfully, although not without strain. As the evening progressed, his upper register seemed to take on a forced quality that makes one a bit apprehensive over the extra performances added to this opera's run.	Oh, he knows how it should go, doesn't he. And as with the City Opera production, I had no vocal trouble with any of the 9 performances we did, which by the way were originally ten, then knocked down to eight, and bumped back to nine as the tickets sold. Contracts were amended.
Don José	Carmen	Georges Bizet	10/17/2000	Virginia Opera	Peter Mark	Michael Ehrman	Carmen More Than Lives Up To Her Reputation	B. J. Atkinson	Port Folio Weekly	Tenor Adam Klein, a controlled and well-paced actor, convincingly portrayed Don Jose's psychological unraveling from a wuss under the iron control of his mother (truly a player in this story, though not an actual character) to a broken man who stalks and murders the cause of his ruin, the object of his obsessive love, the defiant Carmen.\ Klein sang not only with ringing high notes, but with a warmth in the baritone range that tenors sometimes lose. Jose's famous aria, "La fleur que tu m'avais jetee," brought an expected ovation.	Well, well, something useable for once. Whether true or not. (True, of course.)
Don Ottavio	Don Giovanni	Wolfgang Mozart	10/5/1984	Scovasso Opera Company	Stephen Scovasso	Stephen Scovasso	Don Giovanni	Jennie Schulman	Back Stage	"Don Ottavio in the person of Adam Klein possessed a tenor of such magnificent timbre that his rendition of "Il Mio Tesoro" stopped the show for quite a spell."	I got this part because Al Tepedino couldn't make the dates.
Duca	Rigoletto	Giuseppe Verdi	2/24/1995	Opera Saskatchewan	Tyrone Paterson	Irving Guttman	Rigoletto shines	Bernard Pilon	The Leader-Post, Regina	The first of Verdi's three enormously successful operas takes place in Mantua, home of the Duke of Mantua (Adam Klein)… The final heart-wrenching pathos wouldn't have moved a soul had the principals been poor.\ They were superb.\ As Tyrone Paterson elicited fine music from the Regina Symphony Orchestra, Dietsch and Klein and Zhang took turns stunning the crowd. They, along with Milne and Stilwell and Watson, turned out virtuoso performances	This little Rigoletto, my second, took Regina by surprise. Many first-timers had no idea live theater could be so hot, specifically the Duke-Maddalena scene. Jean Stilwell and I are inhibition-free actors. This was also the place I discovered curling and met Sandra Peterson, later Schmirler, then Canadian and World Champion and later Olympic Champion, then killed by cancer. I was a major fan.
Duca	Rigoletto	Giuseppe Verdi	2/24/1995	Opera Saskatchewan	Tyrone Paterson	Irving Guttman	Rigoletto shines	Bernard Pilon	The Leader-Post, Regina	The first of Verdi's three enormously successful operas takes place in Mantua, home of the Duke of Mantua (Adam Klein)… The final heart-wrenching pathos wouldn't have moved a soul had the principals been poor.\ They were superb. As Tyrone Paterson elicited fine music from the Regina Symphony Orchestra, Dietsch and Klein and Zhang took turns stunning the crowd. They, along with Milne and Stilwell and Watson, turned out virtuoso performances.	This little Rigoletto, my second, took Regina by surprise. Many first-timers had no idea live theater could be so hot, specifically the Duke-Maddalena scene. Jean Stilwell and I are inhibition-free actors. This was also the place I discovered curling and met Sandra Peterson, later Schmirler, then Canadian and World Champion and later Olympic Champion, then killed by cancer. I was a major fan.
Duca	Rigoletto	Giuseppe Verdi	6/21/1995	Opera Saskatchewan	Tyrone Paterson	Irving Guttman	Regina	Richard Ewen	Opera Canada	Adam Klein (the Duke) gave a portrayal more noble than lascivious. He was in good voice and delivered his arias with gusto.	We opened some Saskatchewan eyes with the Maddalena scene. They didn’t know that sort of thing could be seen in opera. They ate it up. And in my offtime I discovered the great sport of Curling.
Duca	Rigoletto	Giuseppe Verdi	7/8/1996	Central City Opera	John Moriatry	Adelaide Bishop	Evil lurks in CCO's exciting 'Rigoletto'	Wes Blomster	Daily Camera	And to make sure that [Gilda's innocence] doesn't [survive], CCO artistic director John Moriarty has engaged a Duke designed to be the anti-hero of women's liberation.\ Adam Klein – the third CCO debut on Saturday – has a bright, slightly metallic tenor that is at its very best in the score's many ensembles. And in this most unjust of all possible worlds, Klein employs his charisma to make clear that the Duke will spend the rest of his days unpunished, bouncing from bed to bed with the elasticity of a bungee jumper.	Ask anyone: I'm a diehard feminist. One of the reasons I liked doing the Duke was that there really are rascals like that out there, and I like my art to be a mirror that reflects the audience on themselves. If I get them to hate me in a role like this I'm satisfied I've done my job.
Duca	Rigoletto	Giuseppe Verdi	7/8/1996	Central City Opera	John Moriatry	Adelaide Bishop	'Rigoletto' a drama without drama	Marc Shugold	Rocky Mountain News	Most of the blame must be pointed at Bishop, who allowed this story of curses, vengeance, thoughtless crimes and courtly tomfoolery to unfold in lifeless fashion… Adam Klein was a handsome Duke but proved leaden in his portrayal of this complex, potentially interesting hero/villain. Neither his big hit mentioned earlier nor the earlier Questa o quella raised the pulse.	"Withering" doesn't begin to cover it. I can assure you the audience disagreed.
Duca	Rigoletto	Giuseppe Verdi	7/9/1996	Central City Opera	John Moriatry	Adelaide Bishop	'Rigoletto' voices strike it rich	Glenn Giffin	Denver Post	And the Duke? This was tenor Adam Klein who can deliver his moments of vocal glory with fullout abandon. HIs voice has the masculine quality that sounds virile, yet soars to the high notes without strain and a nicely ringing quality. Physically, this is a Duke who has hot hormone flashes almost constantly. One would have liked to see more of him, but the opera presents only a stereotype. Klein deserves better.	Despite these accolades for me, this review criticized the production, mostly the stage direction. But the review was rife with errors. This prompted me to email the following to the Denver Post, which they partly printed. Parts not printed are in brackets. [To the Editor.] I wish to point out some factual errors in Glenn Giffin's review of the Central City Opera production of RIGOLETTO. [First,] Mr. Giffin writes that the opera demands that Rigoletto be a crippled hunchback. Not so: only a hunchback is required. Rigoletto's movement isn't required to be impaired to the point of crippling him. The hump is on his back, not his feet. [Second, the soprano aria is printed as "Caro Nome." The convention when printing Italian aria titles is to capitalize only as it is capitalized in the libretto, and not, as in English, to capitalize all but words like "and" and "the". Thus the proper printed title of this aria is "Caro nome."] [Third, Mr. Giffin] He also states that Monterone curses Rigoletto and not the Duke, and that this is "to real life as potato chips are to nutrition" and "one of those black holes that dot opera." Incorrect: Monterone first curses the Duke and Rigoletto together, then curses Rigoletto alone. Mr. Giffin's attention must have been elsewhere when Monterone sang, "Jester and Duke now hear as I curse you." When he returns in Act 2 on the way to his execution, Monterone sings, in this translation, "In vain did I break on your revels to curse you; O Duke, live contented, I die unavenged." He makes no reference to his curse on Rigoletto, so it should be clear, [though evidently not to Mr. Giffin,] that the curse which Monterone thinks more important is the one he laid upon the Duke. [Incidentally, potato chips, as snacks foods go, are extremely nutritious.] [This may seem trivial to some, but these errors of Mr. Giffin's throw doubt on the rest of his review - favorable and unfavorable opinions alike - for those familiar with the opera, and augments the ignorance of those not so familiar. Ignorance, on any subject, is not trivial, I would think, for a newspaper, whose business it is to keep the reading public informed.] [The fourth error (or fifth, if one counts the one about potato chips) is the statement that RIGOLETTO "will be given five additional performances through Aug. 4." In fact, there will be eleven other performances through Aug. 10. I have no idea how Mr. Giffin came up with this inaccuracy.] (The Post substituted the following for this last paragraph, in the process making another error: Lastly, 11 more performances of "Rigoletto" will be given through Aug. 4, not five as stated in the review.) [By the way, on your Opinions page, where you print the address for LETTERS, you print "Letters of 200 words or less are preferred..." Grammatically, "200 words or fewer" is the accepted phrasing, as "less" refers to quantities without plurals, such as water and sand, while "fewer" refers to divisible quantities like people, cars and words. It's rather humorous that you follow this incorrect construction with "all letters may be edited for length, grammar and accuracy." If you and your reviewers are prone to such mistakes as I have listed here, your ability to edit letters received from the public at large is rather suspect, is it not?] [Yours] Adam Klein (The Duke in RIGOLETTO) Central City
Duca	Rigoletto	Giuseppe Verdi	7/11/1996	Central City Opera	John Moriatry	Adelaide Bishop	Rigoletto's heart is in its performances	Kay Turnbaugh	The Mountain-Ear	Treachery comes from Adam Klein as the lecherous duke. His tenor voice soars and entreats, it beckons with abandon, and he's at his best in the famous aria, "Woman is fickle," and in duets with Gamberoni. He is dashing and seductive, and it's understandable that women fall for him like aspen leaves.	For those of you who don't know, aspen is about the only broad-leaved tree in great swaths of Colorado. Also, this paper gets the prize for Most Awful Pun Masquerading As Publication Name.
Duca	Rigoletto	Giuseppe Verdi	7/19/1996	Central City Opera	John Moriatry	Adelaide Bishop	A Rigoletto that is a production for our times	Bob and Anne Hunter	Weekly Register-Call	Adam Klein's "Duke" is a sleazy character preying on women for his own delight. Too bad for Gilda such a bum has such a beautiful voice and handles it so very well. He is a real talent, although physically slight and less commanding than one would expect from a nobleman.	My first Central City gig. It's not so much the thinness of the air that makes it hard to sing (because less breath can be taken in and used per phrase), it's the lack of oxygen (because less oxygen is available to the muscles around the vocal folds to replenish their supply as they work). It takes three weeks for your body to manufacture the extra red corpuscles to compensate for it. Then again, people with breathy techniques will suffer more at 8500 feet than others will.
Duca	Rigoletto	Giuseppe Verdi	7/25/1996	Central City Opera	John Moriatry	Adelaide Bishop	Come As You Aria	M. S. Mason	Westword	Lovely soprano Kathryn Gamberoni as Gilda projects innocence and affection with admirable clarity, and Adam Klein's nasty Duke is both insidious and masterful – a real thrill to hear.	Kathryn Gamberoni quit opera a year or two after this production. She was a very good singing actress, but she'd had enough of the business.
Duca	Rigoletto	Giuseppe Verdi	9/1/1997	The Opera Company of El Paso	Ted Taylor	Marc Astafan	EL PASO	Jaime Castañeda	Opera News	With Adam Klein's forward enunciation, especially in the lower register, the Duke's cynical intentions were made vivid.	Because of this gig I learned that the first Europeans, not counting Vikings, to enter the territory now claimed by the contiguous United States were not Pilgrims but Spaniards, and they came through El Paso. They celebrate "first Thanksgiving" there on a different date than Turkey Day. Because of this gig I got to: explore Carslbad Caverns; learn that in Mexico as well as in Chinese food markets, the smell of the food is an important selling point, whereas in American ones they try to make everything seem so sterile that you can barely even smell the cheeses; and discover Tang sabor Durazno, or Peach flavored Tang, the best processed-sugar powdered drink on the planet. (See the article on Tang elsewhere on this website.) Kudos goes to Señor Castañeda, who among a sea of incorrectness uses the word "enunciation" to describe how well my words came across, instead of the usual "diction," which though millions use it that way doesn't just mean enunciation but also choice and use of words — so "enunciation" is the unambiguous, hence preferable, choice.
Elemer	Arabella	Richard Strauss	12/23/2001	The Metropolitan Opera	Christoph Eschenbach	Stephen Pickover	Off-Peak Performance	Peter G. Davis	New York Metro	The supporting cast is also first-rate: Raymond Very (Matteo) and Adam Klein (Elemer), winning interpreters of two tenor roles with few rewards for much hard work; Eric Halfvarson and Judith Forst, vocally and visually impeccable as Arabella's low-living parents; and Laura Aikin, a Fiakermilli whose cork-popping coloratura in the party scene is positively awesome.	Yaa, awesome, dude!
Erik	The Flying Dutchman	Richard Wagner	11/18/1985	IU Opera Theater	Thomas Baldner	Ross Allen	Lessons in 'The Flying Dutchman'	Peter Jacobi	The Herald-Telephone (Bloomington)	There's a splendid tenor developing in Adam Klein, the Erik, and a strong one, too.	Erik at age 25, and then for fifteen years no one thought I could sing Wagner.
Erik	Der Fliegende Holländer	Richard Wagner	10/25/2002	The Atlanta Opera	William Fred Scott	Nicolette Molnàr	‘Dutchman’ comes together marvelously	Pierre Ruhe	The Atlanta Journal- Constitution	“The Flying Dutchman, handsomely directed by Nicolette Molnar and sung by a thoroughly solid cast, opened Thursday at the Fox Theatre — the single most cogent and skillfully assembled production I’ve experienced from this company — and is warmly recommended… The Daland, too, cut a three-dimensional figure, as Kurt Link’s bass had an antique timbre to it, a touch bitter. Adam Klein made Senta’s luckless suitor, Erik, a vivid, tormented fellow.	What, pray tell, is an antique timbre?
Faust	Faust	Charles Gounod	7/14/1993	Brevard Music Festival	Henry Janiec	Paul MacPhail	Conductor Janiec offers solutions to 'Faust' opera	John Bridges	a paper in Asheville, NC	Adam Klein as Faust showed a big, dramatic voice which was a baritone in quality, not tenor. He produces his top with force of will and his continual covering of his top robs it of "ping" or brilliance. His high B natural in Act 1 and C in the garden scene he wisely attacked in head voice and swelled them slightly.	French opera is not about loud high notes. Both notes Bridges writes about here come over a pianissimo orchestra and destroy the intended effect if sung loud. Not that any tenors will ever listen to me about this.
Faust	Faust	Charles Gounod	7/14/1993	Brevard Music Festival	Henry Janiec	Paul MacPhail	Brevard's production of opera 'Faust' looks to original	Dawn D. Wilson	The Mountaineer, Waynesville NC	Adam Klein, who had the title role, brought dynamic emotion to the stage by the forceful way he took charge of the role. Klein, who has performed at the Met, is a talented tenor whose high, soaring notes were displayed incredible vocal control.	This is a review of the same show John Bridges saw (q.v.). Too bad the second sentence has an extra verb in it.
First Armored Man	The Magic Flute	Wolfgang Mozart	9/16/1989	Indianapolis Opera	James Caraher	Robert Driver	'Magic Flute' a musical treat	Charles Staff	The Indianapolis News	…The singing, not to mention the acting, was good down to the smallest part. Quite near the end, for instance, tenor Adam Klein made a significant impression as the First Man in Armour, no stellar role by any means.	If it’s not a stellar role, why do heldentenors the world over get hired to do it? He has the best vocal line in the whole opera. This was my first solo mainstage role after completing grad school.
First Armored Man	The Magic Flute	Wolfgang Mozart	9/16/1989	Indianapolis Opera	James Caraher	Robert Driver	City opera opener delights audience	Jay Harvey	The Indianapolis Star	Other characters appear in twos and threes. As one of the men in armor with tenor Adam Klein, Denis Ryan Kelly seemed more secure than he had as a rather wooly-voiced Speaker of the Temple earlier.	I had a lot of fun with Denis. He taught philosophy, of which he said, “It’s not that philolophy is an imprecise discipline: It’s just that its precision has a high degree of generality.
Georg (Erik)	Der Fliegende Holländer	Richard Wagner	6/11/2002	Spoleto Festival USA	Emmanuel Villaume	Chen Shi-Zheng	From Chen Shi-Zheng’s Theatrical ‘Dutchman’ to a South African ‘Carmen’	Heidi Waleson	The Wall Street Journal	Adam Klein made Georg (usually Erik), Senta’s boyfriend before she got involved with demons, the one realistic character in the show.	This was such a fun production. The spinning chorus wore beanie hats fixed up with big sail-like triangles. One of the few times I've seen a "modern" interpretation of an old opera work. I think it's because it was coordinated and committed. Don't do things half-assed. It won't work. But not only that: Shi-Zheng didn't go against the music as so many directors do. He found a way to stylize the action such that it happened along with the music but still maintained its own integrity, and both music and visuals were complemented and enhanced. I wish I'd kept the review from the local paper, which about me said something like, "Adam Klein achieved what is almost an operatic impossibility by musically defining Georg."
Grimoaldo	Rodelinda	George Frideric Handel	2/6/2000	Virginia Opera	Peter Mark	Lillian Garrett-Groag	Visual effects enhance Handel's "Rodelinda"	Paul Sayegh	The Virginian-Pilot	Garrett-Groag was particularly successful in creating human characters. For instance, the director elicited from tenor Adam Klein a performance as the villainous Grimoaldo that not only exhibited the character's evil side, but also the inner lack of self-confidence that eventually would cost him the throne… Klein's voice seems to have grown in power and size since his appearances as Romeo, although he may have sacrificed some evenness of tone in the process. His singing was strong and heroic, although his fast music emerged somewhat rough-sounding.	You sing it.
Grimoaldo	Rodelinda	George Frideric Handel	2/8/2000	Virginia Opera	Peter Mark	Lillian Garrett-Groag	Rodelinda: Music And More	Vince Brown	Port Folio Weekly	Tenor Adam Klein brings life to Grimoaldo, the conflicted usurper with a conscience. Bass Michael Meraw makes his Virginia Opera debut as Garibaldo, the manipulative scoundrel concerned only for himself. Both Klein and Meraw have rich male voices that provide a strong timbrel foundation.	I would think a foundation made of timbrels would be unsteady at best. Spelling matters. Also, Michael Meraw is a baritone.
Grimoaldo	Rodelinda	George Frideric Handel	2/9/2000	Virginia Opera	Peter Mark	Lillian Garrett-Groag	High note of Virginia Opera's 'Rodelinda' is strong singing	David Nicholson	Daily Press	Michael Meraw had the right degree of sinister edge as Garibaldo, but Adam Klein seemed uneasy as the duke, Grimoaldo. His voice contained too much weight for this role.	Evidently Peter Mark disagreed, since he hired me and was pleased, as were all I spoke to, that a voice the size of mine was also so agile as to be able to negotiate the coloratura. And really, does Nicholson think that baroque opera voices were small? When Farinelli had a contest with a trumpet player to see who was louder and could sustain a longer note?
Grimoaldo	Rodelinda	George Frideric Handel	2/10/2000	Virginia Opera	Peter Mark	Lillian Garrett-Groag	Rich music, stunning duet make 'Rodelinda' worthwhile	Lucia Anderson	The Free Lance-Star	Adam Klein is also in top form as Grimoaldo, the usurper. Klein, who was an unusually rich tenor voice, sweeps the audience away with his skill and passion.	My coloratura’s not bad either.
Grimoaldo	Rodelinda	George Frideric Handel	2/18/2000	Virginia Opera	Peter Mark	Lillian Garrett-Groag	Musical revenge is sweet	Clarke Bustard	Richmond Times-Dispatch	All the principal voices — soprano Sujung Kim (Rodelinda), mezzo-soprano Charlotte Paulsen (Eduige, the sister-in-law), male alto Alejandro Garri (Bertarido, the deposed king), tenor Adam Klein (Grimoaldo, the usurper) and baritone Michael Meraw (Garibaldo, Grimoaldo's gray eminence) — sing with such intensity and theatrical flair that the listener is rarely conscious of the repetitiousness of baroque da capo aria.	Well, that and the fact that the repeats are ornamented, so the lines are not really repeated, though the text is.
Judge Danforth	The Crucible	Robert Ward	8/3/1987	IU Opera Theater	Thomas Baldner	Ross Allen	Sight, sound merge to give 'Crucible' its force	Peter Jacobi	The Herald- Telephone (Bloomington)	But to return to the singers, one must point also to Frances Franklin who put edgy fanaticism into her portrayal of Abigail, the woman that initiates all the trouble with her schemings, and to Adam Klein with his deep and rounded vocalism and his energetic approach to the role of Danforth, the judge blinded by a misguided faith, unable to see right or wrong or even his God even though he and only he can see everything clearly.	Robert Ward offered to come to IU for the production in case anyone had any questions to ask the composer, but the producers declined his offer. So I wrote to him personally with questions about a passage for Danforth which in the score seemed to have three ossias, but it wasn't clear which Ward would prefer the singer use. His answer was to do whichever one I preferred, and that the Danforth on the original recording wasn't all that great. In his humble opinion
Judge Danforth	The Crucible	Robert Ward	8/5/1991	Chautauqua Opera	Cal Stewart Kellogg	Albert Takazauckas	'The Crucible' is 'moving production'	Robert Palmer	Chautauquan Daily	(no mention was made of my character or of me in this review.)	Robert Ward saw this production and told me that my Danforth was the strongest he'd seen since Robert Nagy at the Met. And Ward pronounced "Nagy" as a Hungarian would. I was impressed.
Judge Danforth	The Crucible	Robert Ward	7/13/1998	Central City Opera	John Moriarty	Michael Ehrman	'The Crucible,' a tragedy for all times	Wes Blomster	Daily Camera	Ryan Allen, the music master of the season's "Barber of Seville," and Adam Klein, Cavaradossi in the summer's "Tosca," make outstanding contributions as Reverend Hale and Judge Danforth.	Yes, but how were they outstanding?
Judge Danforth	The Crucible	Robert Ward	7/14/1998	Central City Opera	John Moriarty	Michael Ehrman	Central City gambles, wins with 'Crucible'	Marc Shugold	Rocky Mountain News	First-rate performances from Lori Brown Mirabal (Tituba), Barbara Morehouse and Andrew Krikawa (the Putnams), and Adam Klein (Judge Danforth), among many others. As consistently fine a cast as we've seen at Central City.	See the Jeff Bradley quote for this production.
Judge Danforth	The Crucible	Robert Ward	7/14/1998	Central City Opera	John Moriarty	Michael Ehrman	Central City 'Crucible' glows	Jeff Bradley	The Denver Post	And it was a mistake to make Judge Danforth (thrillingly sung by Adam Klein) such a thick-headed villain. His righteousness is misguided but that is his motive, not blood lust or vindictiveness. As the Rev. Hale, bass Ryan Allen sang unsteadily, and so did rich-voiced mezzo Lori Brown Mirabal, the slave girl Tituba and tenor Bradley Schuller as the victim Giles Corey.	See the Marc Shugold quote for this production.
Judge Danforth	The Crucible	Robert Ward	7/18/1998	Central City Opera	John Moriarty	Michael Ehrman	The Crucible from the Central City Opera	David Sckolnik	KCME-FM/ Colorado Springs Independent	Tenor Adam Klein twisted his way through the role of Judge Danforth, producing an eerie beauty as his being and the house were filled to capacity with hard-edged vocal pronouncement.	Okay… that means what again?
Judge Danforth	The Crucible	Robert Ward	7/23/1998	Central City Opera	John Moriarty	Michael Ehrman	Bewitched	Lillie	Westword	And as vigorously sung by Adam Klein and a stouthearted chorus, Judge Danforth's lyrical Act Three exhortation (which echoes Act One's ominous "Jesus My Consolation") becomes a haunting battle cry of persecution instead of a clarion call for redemption — which, ironically enough, is the same sort of twisted morality that prompted playwright Miller to craft his own form of alchemy in the first place.	Miller's writing the play as a response to McCarthyism is not ironic. Persecution is the very point. In any case, there is no chorus part in Danforth's Invocation, which is what I must assume Lillie means by "exhortation".
Luigi	Il Tabarro	Giacomo Puccini	9/18/1993	Greater Buffalo Opera	Charles Peltz	Gary Burgess	Emotional 'Suor Angelica' is high point of 'Il Trittico' operas	Herman Trotter	The Buffalo News	As Luigi, tenor Adam Klein sang with compelling passion, but like Lawes kept going in and out of focus and out of balance with the orchestra.	I don't know which spelling is correct, Laws or Lawes. (Rebecca Lawes; see the Opera Canada review.) Shea's Buffalo Theater has terrible acoustics and audibility was mentioned several times in this review.
Luigi	Il Tabarro	Giacomo Puccini	12/21/1993	Greater Buffalo Opera	Charles Peltz	Gary Burgess	Buffalo	Paula Citron	Opera Canada	The major roles were assigned to coming professionals. The standout was soprano Rebecca Laws (Giorgetta and Suor Angelica) who has a soaring voice, stunning good looks and dramatic presence. Adam Klein (Luigi) also made a notable impact with his passionate and intense delivery, and one regretted that he was not assigned Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi as well.	This was my first Puccini role. The order in which I debuted in Puccini roles is Luigi, Cavaradossi, Pinkerton, Rodolfo, Des Grieux. Whatever. If you don't know what the usual order is, you have some homework to do, unless you're not a tenor, in which case it matters not a quark.
Martin	The Tender Land	Aaron Copland	6/24/1995	Chicago Opera Theater	Larry Rapchak	Carl Ratner	Sensitive touch lets 'Tender Land' sparkle	John von Rhein	Chicago Tribune	Adam Klein, a good romantic lead if rather pale tenorally, handled Martin's high tessitura with musicality. Chris Owens was suitably hearty as his sidekick, Top.	One could have a conversation over who's whose sidekick.
Martin	The Tender Land	Aaron Copland	6/27/1995	Chicago Opera Theater	Larry Rapchak	Carl Ratner	'Tender Land' Lacks Drive, Power	Wynne Delacoma	Chicago Sun Times	Rita Harvey's Laurie was a major asset… With her warm, dark voice, Dorothy Byrne as Ma Moss was a strong point of focus. Arnold Voketaitis skimmed the surface of the dictatorial Grandpa Moss, but Adam Klein was believable as the introspective Martin, who falls for Laurie. Chris Owens' Top was a potent portrait of oafish menace.	Dorothy Byrne, by the way, grew up in western Pennsylvania in a little town that had its own curling rink. Having discovered the game a few months before this gig, I was very intrigued by that. I don't see the name of this town in the USCA listing of clubs, though.
Martin	The Tender Land	Aaron Copland	6/30/1995	Chicago Opera Theater	Larry Rapchak	Carl Ratner	Unclaimed Melodies	Sarah Bryan Miller	Chicago Reader	Chicago Opera Theater's production is about the best presentation one is likely to find of this minor work. Soprano Rita Harvey made an attractive, empathetic Laurie; her voice isn't large, but it's very pretty. Tenor Adam Klein, who sang well, was likable as Martin and believable in his anguish over leaving Laurie. Baritone Chris Owens made the most of the role of Top, the appetite-driven drifter with the "hakuna matata" mentality. The evening's best performances came from mezzo-soprano Dorothy Byrne as Ma Moss and Arnold Voketaitis as Grandpa Moss…	Nicknames for this opera: Tenderloin. The Tender Gland. Carl Ratner made this show work with what he had the women do in the last scene, and also what the little girl did at the very end. Thank you, Carl, you made it worth coming to do the show.
Monostatos	The Magic Flute	Wolfgang Mozart	8/10/1991	Chautauqua Symphony	Uriel Segal	Marty Merkley	'Magic Flute' performance was musical miracle	Robert Finn	Chautauquan Daily	Among the secondary parts, special honors went to tenor Adam Klein for his fine singing in the comically villainous role of Monostatos.	This was a staged concert version. I don’t get to do comedy often enough – at least get paid to do it.
Narraboth	Salome	Richard Strauss	9/21/1994	Greater Buffalo Opera	David Effron	Gary Burgess	Buffalo	Neil Crory	Opera Canada	The singing, too, was generally modest in scope. Veterans Joann Grillo (Herodias) and George Shirley (Herod) executed their roles with a certain aplomb, but some of the most appealing singing came from two promising young American artists: tenor Adam Klein (Narraboth) and baritone Duncan Hartman (Jochanaan).	My own review: George Shirley was excellent. I had actually worked with him once at the Met when he stepped in for Stuart Burrows in Die Zauberflöte. I even took a polaroid of him. He didn't remember me. A few years later I ran into him again in Aspen when Central City Opera personnel came there to play a softball game against the Aspen Music School. George was their captain. We got creamed. They played every week and we had people who'd never played before. I just wish they'd continued to keep score but they gave up after they passed 30 runs or so.
Old Grandfather	The Legend of Tsar Saltan	Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakoff	5/18/1987	IU Opera Theater	Bryan Balkwill	Nicola Rossi-Lemeni	MUSICAL EVENTS: Marvels Unfold	Andrew Porter	The New Yorker	The large cast was strong. Janet Williams (Militrissa), Karla Fredell (an incisive Babarikha), and Adam Klein (the garrulous gaffer of the crowd scenes) deserve special mention.	Sung in English, as all IU operas were at the time.
Otello	Otello	Giuseppe Verdi	11/1/2001	OperaDelaware	David Lawton	Stephanie Sundine	Dramatic 'Otello' by OperaDelaware	Caryl E. Huffaker	The Kennett Paper	Adam Klein as Otello is an outstanding actor with a marvelous tenor voice. His performance was excellent, particularly in the third act in his sorrowful lamentation song, even though he sang while slightly under the weather.	I had a very nasty chest cold and I was lucky to get through the show; indeed I surprised myself at how well I sang in Act 2.
Peter Grimes	Peter Grimes	Benjamin Britten	11/16/1987	IU Opera Theater	David Itkin	James Lucas	Only a few flaws mar difficult 'Peter Grimes'	James Underwood	The Herald- Telephone (Bloomington)	The cast of Peter Grimes, diction aside, was good enough. Adam Klein, as the troubled outcast Grimes, was excellent. His voice is rather sweet, and this led to some poignant moments, particularly between him and Ellen Orford, the woman he is enamored of. Marilyn Taylor played the latter, and both she and Klein deserve credit for some excellent work in the second act. Both deserve to be heard from again at IU, in leading roles.	Peter Grimes was the last role I did at IU, and I was already done with my degree. In fact I stayed that extra year just to do Grimes, and I ended up being second cast to a Harshaw student, meaning I got to do only one performance instead of two, despite the fact that I was the only tenor who showed up to audition for the part the previous spring.
Peter Quint	The Turn of the Screw	Benjamin Britten	10/5/1996	New York City Opera	Robert Duerr	Mark Lamos	The Horror, The Horror	Peter G. Davis	(a magazine)	As the loathsome Peter Quint who tries to lure the boy into serving his own unspeakable ends, Adam Klein is all smooth diablerie, spinning out his seductively purling melismas with oily beauty.	I had such a good time doing this show. I was really angry when they didn't ask me back when they repeated it a few years later.
Peter Quint	The Turn of the Screw	Benjamin Britten	10/5/1996	New York City Opera	Robert Duerr	Mark Lamos	It's a 'Turn' for the Better	Terry Teachout	Daily News	Premiered in 1954, "The Turn of the Screw" is the finest opera written after World War II, and very possibly the best English-language opera ever composed. Brilliantly adapted by Britten and Myfawnwy Piper from Henry James' famous novella, it tells the tale of Miles and Flora (Zachary Wissner-Gross and Robin Leigh Massie), two children apparently under the spell of a malevolent pair of ghosts (Adam Klein and Christine Abraham), and the governess (Lauren Flanigan) and housekeeper (Alexandra Hughes) who discover their dark secret.	My dad Howard was a music critic for the New York Times in the "1960s" and while there he heard the definition of a good review: you are mentioned and your name is spelled correctly. So this one was good.
Peter Quint	The Turn of the Screw	Benjamin Britten	10/5/1996	New York City Opera	Robert Duerr	Mark Lamos	Governess rules as City Opera stages eerie 'Turn of the Screw'	Mark Adamo	Newark Star Ledger	Yet the music's an elegant, inventive, arching design made from tiniest segments, and Robert Duerr's orchestra breathes like a living thing. The siren-songs of Adam Klein's Quint, the swooning coloratura of Christine Abraham's Miss Jessel, the rich-voiced denials of Alexandra Hughes' housekeeper, the spookily clear voices of Zachary Wissner-Gross and Robin Leigh Massey as the children — all make magic.	Well well. You’d think they’d have asked me back when they reprised it two years later.
Peter Quint	The Turn of the Screw	Benjamin Britten	10/5/1996	New York City Opera	Robert Duerr	Mark Lamos	Shadows of a Ghost Story	James Keller	Newsday	Tenor Adam Klein deserves special mention, more for the evocative scene-setting of the prologue than for his later portrayal of the ghost Peter Quint, and the 13-member chamber ensemble, led by Robert Duerr, provides excellent support from the pit.	I think in a sentence with multiple subject-predicate sections, at least one of which contains a comma, the sections should be separated by semicolons. Otherwise, you know, it tends to run on.
Peter Quint	The Turn of the Screw	Benjamin Britten	10/8/1996	New York City Opera	Robert Duerr	Mark Lamos	Art Bending the Tyranny of Reality	Allan Kozynn	The New York Times	The rest of the cast matched her intensity perfectly. Adam Klein, doubling as the speaker in the prologue and an urbane, brooding Quint, has the agility to negotiate the chromatic filigree that Britten wrote into the role.	Ah, that chromatic filigree.
Peter Quint	The Turn of the Screw	Benjamin Britten	10/8/1996	New York City Opera	Robert Duerr	Mark Lamos	Lincoln Center's Troupes Warm Up	Heidi Waleson	The Wall Street Journal	Mr. Klein (who also sang the prologue) and Ms. Abraham were steely and frightening as the ghosts; Alexandra Hughes, as the housekeeper Mrs. Grose, wobbled.	Well, the housekeeper is a weeble part, after all.
Peter Quint	The Turn of the Screw	Benjamin Britten	10/10/1996	New York City Opera	Robert Duerr	Mark Lamos	Hail Return of 'The Screw'	?	Westsider	The ghosts Peter Quint and Miss Jessel were flavorfully sung and interpreted by tenor Adam Klein and debuting soprano Christine Abraham — the latter made up to resemble Vampira in the legendary horror movie "Plan 9 from Outer Space."	I think that's probably "Planet 9". Other reviews likened Jessel's look to Bride of Frankenstein. I'll leave it at "bizarre".
Peter Quint	The Turn of the Screw	Benjamin Britten	10/11/1996	New York City Opera	Robert Duerr	Mark Lamos	Real Turn-on at City Opera	Shirley Fleming	New York Post	The cast is splendid. Lauren Flanigan's Governess conveys the nervousness and intensity of the part wonderfully. Alexandra Hughes, making her debut as Mrs. Grose, creates a warm and motherly presence, and Adam Klein's Quint is a model of sinister control. Christine Abraham's debut as Miss Jessel was faultless, and the children — Zachary Wissner-Gross and Robin Leigh Massey — were entirely believable.	Robin Leigh Massey had long left childhood by the time of this production. Also, there was another Miles who alternated with Zach W.-G.: Zachary London, who was really good — but mid-production he decided to take voice lessons with the same person Lauren, Alexandra and the other Zach did, and his natural chest-voice boy soprano was flipped up into his head voice for his entire range and he lost most of his volume. The opening Night Zach was a boy alto, so singing in head voice was fine for him in the range of this part.
Peter Quint	The Turn of the Screw	Benjamin Britten	10/14/1996	New York City Opera	Robert Duerr	Mark Lamos	Splat! Music Season Opens With Brahms, Czech Schmaltz	Charles Michener	The New York Observer	The ravaged white panels of John Conklin's set, at once suggestive of jagged ice, classical ruins and tortuous bedsheets (surrounding a luminously nasty "primrose path" of chartreuse); the grave hysteria of a beautifully paced cast, led by Lauren Flanigan's grandly wounded Governess, Adam Klein's magnetic Peter Quint and little Zachary Wissner-Gross as their spirited victim Miles; the exquisitely hushed playing of Britten's endlessly "screwy" (and scary) music by a 13-piece orchestra led by Robert Duerr, all this contributes to a night at the opera of theatrical magic that is definitely not for the kids.	See? Semicolons! (see the Newsday review)
Peter Quint	The Turn of the Screw	Benjamin Britten	10/26/1996	New York City Opera	Robert Duerr	Mark Lamos	Opera in English	Kevin Filipski	Westside Resident	It's a musically satisfying evening; conductor Robert Duerr brings out Britten's minute variations well. But vocally, the results are mixed: An occasionally shrill Lauren Flanigan is otherwise fine as the governess; Adam Klein successfully conveys the drama of the Prologue and is appropriate as the ghostly caretaker Quint.	Oh yes, typecast.
Peter Quint	The Turn of the Screw	Benjamin Britten	1/11/1997	New York City Opera	Robert Duerr	Mark Lamos	NEW YORK CITY	William Weaver	Opera News	As the prologue/Peter Quint, tenor Adam Klein performed with suave, insinuating menace, while Alexandra Hughes was a sound Mrs. Grose, and in the role of the ghostly Miss Jessel, Christine Abraham was icily evil.	Opera News is the magazine of the Metropolitan Opera, for those of you who don't know. People from the Met came and saw this show, including Fabrizio Melano, who directed the GIANNI SCHICCHI my brother Moondi was in in the 70s. He was very complimentary, but I got no auditions or job offers from the Met due to this contact. It wasn't until I got my new agent Peter Randsman that I was hired by the Met, because he asked them what they thought of my voice, and we then presented me to them in line with what they thought I should be singing — which, I might add, is almost exactly opposite what the head of another large opera company thinks I should be singing. Target marketing is so, so important.
Pinkerton	Madama Butterfly	Giacomo Puccini	5/19/1996	Indianapolis Opera	Günther Bauer-Schenk	Adelaide Bishop	Vocals in Madama Butterfly make it a production to cherish	Charles Staff	Indianapolis Star	And in Klein, Thomas had an almost perfect Pinkerton, charismatic and vocally secure — an actor who just happens to have a fine voice or a fine singer who just happens to know how to act. It works both ways.	Yes indeed it works both ways. Or should.
Pinkerton	Madama Butterfly	Giacomo Puccini	5/19/1996	Indianapolis Opera	Günther Bauer-Schenk	Adelaide Bishop	IO's Final Production Ends Season On High Note	Greg Crawford	Martinsville Reporter/ others	Along with the soprano, Madama Butterfly featured Adam Klein as Pinkerton. Previously seen here in IO's Rigoletto and La Boheme, Klein brought his splendid tenor stage center, making real "The Ugly American's" presence in the exotic Far East. His best moments were in a duet with Thomas, "Viene la sera."	I thought the duet with Sharpless was pretty good, personally.
Pinkerton	Madama Butterfly	Giacomo Puccini	3/17/1997	Edmonton Opera	Grzegorz Nowak	Michael Cavanagh	Powerful acting by Riel helps Butterfly take wings	D. T. Baker	Edmonton Journal	In a way, it's as if this production doesn't give its audience enough credit. Nearly every facet of the story is overstated — from grandiose and needless miming of words as they are sung, to the "important" lines being oversold. Nowhere is this more apparent than with the lead tenor. As Pinkerton, Adam Klein comes of as little more than a post-adolescent kid in a candy store. Mind you, he's a kid with a big voice, one he really pushes out. Projection he's got — subtlety is another matter. For nearly every top note he went for, he posed as he hit it — all a bit much.	A post-adolescent kid in a candy store is exactly what we were going for. As for posing for high notes, if you are going to hold them for a while, whatever you're doing while you're singing it is going to look like a pose.
Pinkerton	Madama Butterfly	Giacomo Puccini	3/17/1997	Edmonton Opera	Grzegorz Nowak	Michael Cavanagh	Madama Butterfly magnificent	John Charles	Edmonton Sun	Under Michael Cavanagh's direction the staging is immediately vivid and cleanly acted. Klein is totally convincing ass the young American naval officer who thinks he's walking into a few months of exotic fun mistakenly labelled "marriage." With any other geisha girl that might be the case, but Butterfly believes in eternal love. Thus the tragedy stems from her character: she is what she is and can be no other.\ Klein has a very good tenor voice and his acting is dead right.	"Labelled" is neither a typo nor a misspelling: it's the Canadian way to spell it, like "jewellery".
Pinkerton	Madama Butterfly	Giacomo Puccini	11/10/1998	Manitoba Opera	Karen Keltner	Michael Cavanagh	Subtle shading gives Butterfly fresh look	Andrew Thompson	Winnipeg Free Press	Adam Klein sang the role of the American naval officer with chilling effect. The role of Pinkerton, coloured as it is by swaggering cruelty and racist condescension, demands all of the strength of a romantic Italian tenor with very little of its attendant romance. Klein captured this character's arrogance while still managing to make the sentiment of his final exit in Addio, Fiorito Asil seem genuine.	They liked me in Canada. And I liked Canada. Irving Guttman was artistic director of the Edmonton, Winnipeg and Regina companies and hired me for all six of my jobs there from "1995" to "1999", and when he retired from those companies I wasn't hired back.
Rodolfo	La Bohème	Giacomo Puccini	5/6/1995	Indianapolis Opera	Günther Bauer-Schenk	Malcolm Fraser	'La Boheme' production needs a little more emotion	Charles Staff	The Indianapolis News	Tenor Adam Klein's characterization of Rodolfo was always intelligent though his somewhat covered or swallowed sound is an acquired taste – one, I'm happy to say, I acquired before the evening was over. I might prefer a more "Italianate" sound, more "head" or "mask" resonance in my Rodolfos, but Klein is a singer who is a musician.	Some Italian tenors to remember: Enrico Caruso, Bruno Prevedi, Giuseppe Giacomini, Franco Bonisolli, Aureliano Pertile, Carlo Cossutta, Franco Corelli, and Mario del Monaco. All these had dark timbres, though some of them had the brightness still associated with the "Italianate" sound. But they all seem to be forgotten, especially Caruso, since Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras became the only three tenors anyone knows about. Pavarotti is at most a lyric tenor and was best in Donizetti and Bellini roles; Domingo and Carreras are of Spanish descent, not Italian, and are spinto tenors. One does not hear about Italian dramatic tenors these days. The current fashion in the USA favors tenors with a light color and lots of edge for the standard Italian repertory, keeping voices like mine out of it. This Rodolfo I sang was a replacement gig and I've only otherwise sung the role in western Canada and Portland, Maine, and only for Portland did I get the job by audition.
Rodolfo	La Bohème	Giacomo Puccini	5/7/1995	Indianapolis Opera	Günther Bauer-Schenk	Malcolm Fraser	Not even this fine production of 'Boheme' can save Mimi	Jay Harvey	The Indianapolis Star	Klein's Rodolfo looked the part of a bohemian intellectual, rail-thin and brooding in expression when he wasn’t being transfigured by love or laughter. His singing blended thrilling freedom with admirable accuracy and self-possession. It was not his fault such qualities elicited a noisy demonstration of approval after Che gelida manina, the tenor's famous Act 1 aria.	Not my fault? Was the word supposed to be "disapproval"? The applause for that aria, on opening night, lasted thirty seconds. I've noticed that applause after arias generally lasts ten seconds, so any more than that shows something past politeness from the audience.
Rodolfo	La Bohème	Giacomo Puccini	5/11/1995	Indianapolis Opera	Günther Bauer-Schenk	Malcolm Fraser	Thunderous Applause, brilliant music marks IO's La Boehme	Greg Crawford	The Perry Township Weekly	Best received, as was made obvious by thunderous opening night applause, was Adam Klein, a late-minute substitution as Rodolfo. His better solo, "Che gelida manina," was among the most romantic of La Boheme. Sung to Deborah Raymond (Mimi) as he comforts her in the cold, Klein's every note was crystal clear and poignant to the extreme.	Well well, thanks, Greg. Too bad you couldn't proofread the paper before it went to press and get rid of that title typo.\ This was the only opera that I've been in so far where the actors did improv to get into the character. It was fascinating and frustrating to watch ourselves paraphrase our lines in English with Charles Boyer/Inspector Clouseau accents and French gestures, only to become Italians again in bind and body when we sang it. We finally broke the habit and looked like Frenchmen singing in Italian, but it took a while.
Rodolfo	La Bohème	Giacomo Puccini	6/7/1995	Indianapolis Opera	Günther Bauer-Schenk	Malcolm Fraser	An IO opera to die for	Charles Epstein	Jewish Post & Opinion	Adam Klein was equal to the task of providing Mimi love. His portrayal of Rodolfo was perfect. His singing was brilliant. Klein is another performer who should be heard from in the near future.	I was heard the next season in Madama Butterfly, and not after.
Rodolfo	La Bohème	Giacomo Puccini	4/27/1998	Manitoba Opera	Louis Salemno	Linda Brovski	Opera season ends on high note	Greg Crawford	Winnipeg Free Press	Rodolfo's Che gelida manina was impressively judged by tenor Adam Klein. And Monique Page's response in Mi chiamano Mimi was a perfect example of why her portrayal of this consumptive seamstress worked: it was gentle, simple and beautifully lyrical.\ In the duet O soave fanciulla, Page and Klein proved to be well matched, their vocal chemistry complemented by their persuasive physical interpretation of what is admittedly a very quick courtship!	It's Monique Pagé, not Page. Spelling matters. In the Indianapolis production, we were asked to be as inventive as we could in coming up with French gestures and stuff. In this production every suggestion made by a singer was answered with "Can I be the director now?"
Rodolfo	La Bohème	Giacomo Puccini	4/29/1998	Manitoba Opera	Louis Salemno	Linda Brovski	Manitoba Opera's La Boheme visually stunning	Matt Bellan	The Jewish Post & News	Tenor Adam Klein, baritone Theodore Baerg as Marcello and bass Phillip Ens as their philosopher friend, Colline are superbly cast.\ They sing some of the opera's arias together, and when they do, their awesome vocal range creates thrilling harmonies. Klein is also dramatically credible as the earnest poet Rudolfo, falling head over heels for Mimi, and visibly pained when she leaves him.	Ted Baerg actually painted the painting of the Red Sea that we used, in the original production that used this set.
Rodolfo	La Bohème	Giacomo Puccini	4/30/1998	Manitoba Opera	Louis Salemno	Linda Brovski	Edmonton	John Becker	Opera Canada	American tenor Adam Klein, also in his debut with Manitoba Opera, played but did not overplay the poet Rodolfo. His character was youthful and romantic, and his performance was impressively loyal to the libretto and the score.	Impressively loyal means, where other tenors sing "La-a spe-----------ranza," I sing "La dol-l-ce-e--------- speranza," including the original text while retaining the interpolated high C, which is not in the printed score. This was the gig where I bought 4 used curling stones from Thompson Broom to use on my pond in the winter. I was almost disappointed that the border inspectors didn't ask about them when I came back to the States. They also forgot to corfiscate my Canadian-bought lemon.
Rodolfo	La Bohème	Giacomo Puccini	2/1/1999	Edmonton Opera	Tyrone Paterson	Michael Cavanagh	Old friend La boheme still delights	D.T. Baker	The Edmonton Journal	Tenor Adam Klein as Rodolfo was the night's most frustrating presence. While his voice did warm up a bit as the night got on, it arrived too late for Che gelida manina, which came off dramatically all right, but with a voice that broke occasionally and a top end that seemed insecure all night. His acting made Rodolfo quite sympathetic, but the fluid lines Puccini gives the character to sing had some rough water here.	Ever heard of RSV? Respiratory synchrotrile virus, I believe, is the spelling. Really nasty chest infection. The wards at Children's Hospital were overflowing with kids afflicted with it, and Monique and I caught it a week before the show went up. They had someone on standby in case I didn't think I could make it through Opening Night, and without guaifenesin I wouldn't have. ( I learned during this that Canadian generic guaifenesin is a different taste from the ones in the States, utterly revolting, and it's better to stick to the well-known brand name.) The next week the following letter was published: "We disagree with D.T. Baker's review of the opera La boheme. When our class went to the dress rehearsal, we knew Rodolpho (Adam Klein) had a cold and, to us, he was not a “frustrating presence." Wouldn't it have been better to research the facts on the singers before making such a harsh statement? Grade 6 class Rio Terrace School Edmonton" Thanks, kids.
Rodolfo	La Bohème	Giacomo Puccini	2/1/1999	Edmonton Opera	Tyrone Paterson	Michael Cavanagh	La Boheme is powerful	John Charles	The Edmonton Sun	Oh yes, the singing! Klein seemed to have a cold, and occasionally sounded a tad hoarse, but otherwise he was splendid, forthright and passionate, with many warm, firm high notes. This is his third Edmonton appearance and he's a dynamic, appealing presence. His unfortunate wig, however, has saddled him with a permanent bad-hair day.	Bad hair day?? I used my own hair!!! One of the rare times I didn't wear a wig. But in the Winnipeg production the year before, the wigmistress wanted to use my own hair but the director insisted on a wig. That thing was frightful. Then I experienced poetic justice when on Opening Night during the pillowfight in Act 4 one good boff to the head removed my wig from my head, right before running off to help Mimi up the stairs. I got the stocking-cap off and Monique spent the beginning of "Sono andati?" pulling bobby pins out of my hair, so it magically grew about 6 inches. My mom, who was watching, thought it logical, since some months had passed since Act 3.
Rodolfo	La Bohème	Giacomo Puccini	2/2/1999	Edmonton Opera	Tyrone Paterson	Michael Cavanagh	The bohemeian way: La boheme starts 1999 off right	Melanie Gall	The Gateway	The four bohemians were warm and amusing, with clever banter. The few scenes where all four were together were the most entertaining throughout the production. Adam Klein sang his arias beautifully, with a clear, lyrical voice. Edwand Albert did a fantastic job as Schaunard. His strong baritone commanded the character's personality.	Didn't notice the cold, it seems.
Rodolfo	La Bohème	Giacomo Puccini	7/24/1999	Portland Opera Repertory Theater	Bruce Hangen	Dona D. Vaughn	'La Boheme': Better than 'La Traviata'!	Christopher Hyde	Portland Press Herald	Both singers, Adam Klein as Rodolpho and Pamela Armstrong as Mimi, make the opening aria, familiar as it is, fresh and powerful. Isaak Dinesen said that joy is finding in oneself an excess of strength. Their voices fill a large hall effortlessly. Adam Klein was a good Don Jose in the company's initial production of "Carmen," but he has developed even more since then.	Isaak who?\ Notice that in the title, the colon and exclamation point are outside the quotes, but in the review the comma is within the quotes. Why?
Rodolfo	La Bohème	Giacomo Puccini	7/28/1999	Portland Opera Repertory Theater	Bruce Hangen	Dona D. Vaughn	PORTLAND OPERA DOES PUCCINI PROUD	Susan Larson	Boston Globe	As Rodolfo, Adam Klein displayed fidgety energy and an exciting tenor, imbued with a natural boyish sweetness and ductility that he did his darndest to choke off in favor of an overly darkened and thickened production. Less Domingo and more Bjoerling in his singing wouldn't hurt. Klein played Rodolfo as a self-mocking observer, a sort of Jerry Seinfeld whose smart-guy poses must melt under the warmth of Mimi's love. Except they didn't. Commitment Time came and went in the final acts; Rodolfo held himself aloof from his beloved when Puccini was practically screaming for him to fall into her embrace. What was the director thinking?	I don't get the impression that Susan Larson has heard many heldentenors. I wonder what she'd write about Hans Hopf.
Roméo	Roméo et Juliette	Charles Gounod	10/4/1998	Virginia Opera	Peter Mark	Michael Ehrman	Romeo et Juliette a rare balance of voice and set	Paul Sayegh	The Virginian-Pilot	In the end, though, a performance of Gounod's opera stands or falls by its two principals, and here Virginia Opera succeeds. Adam Klein and Nathalie Morais were not only dramatically believable, but also vocally well-suited to their roles.\ Tall and handsome, Klein successfully captured the passion and youth of Romeo. His lower voice had a slightly covered, baritonal sound that carried up into his middle range and gave his tenor a very strong and masculine quality. His high notes were secure and powerfully projected, but it was the smoothness and attractiveness of his voice that was noteworthy.\ Klein sang with much sensitivity, as at the end of the first-act aria, when he made a crescendo on the final high note, rather than belting it out, as most tenors would. His French diction was also excellent.	Nathalie Morais was my Juliette, and I don't care what anyone thinks: she was a perfect Juliette, vocally and otherwise. I’m very sad she quit the business. Compare this quote to the one from Joe Banno, however.
Roméo	Roméo et Juliette	Charles Gounod	10/19/1998	Virginia Opera	Peter Mark	Michael Ehrman	A spirited 'Romeo'	Joe Banno	The Washington Post	In the title roles, Adam Klein and Nathalie Morais may not fulfill all demands, but they're ingenious performers. Klein, while not the most nuanced actor, cuts a virile profile and sings excitingly. Unfortunately, that excitement comes across as too loud too much of the time and vocal heft that undercuts Romeo's callowness and Gounod's lyricism.	This was a first: an opera singer being too loud too often! However, this was a performance in a hall twice the size of the other hall we'd been in up to then, and I thought I needed to project more. See the quote from Lucia Anderson from the same performance.
Roméo	Roméo et Juliette	Charles Gounod	10/22/1998	Virginia Opera	Peter Mark	Michael Ehrman	Virginia Opera's 'Romeo & Juliette' is sublime	Lucia Anderson	The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA)	Nathalie Morais makes a glorious Juliette. She is young, she is winsome, and her voice is pure gold… Adam Klein is also impressive as Romeo. Not only does he look like a romantic hero (a comparative rarity among operatic tenors), but his singing ability equals Morais's. Their duets are heartbreakingly lovely. Both singers have unusually rich voices for their vocal range, and each soars confidently through Gounod's high notes without skimping the lower notes. They are also convincing actors.	Of course, being from Fredericksburg, this review isn't as important as the one from D.C., is it?
Roméo	Roméo et Juliette	Charles Gounod	10/23/1998	Virginia Opera	Peter Mark	Michael Ehrman	'Romeo and Juliet' a high hurdle for composer	Clarke Bustard	Richmond Ties-Dispatch	The Romeo, Adam Klein, fully invests a big tenor voice and considerable acting skills in his role, and Morais is a sightly, if not vocally ideal, Juliet.	Nathalie Morais was my Juliette, and I don't care what anyone thinks: she was a perfect Juliette, vocally and otherwise. I’m very sad she quit the business. See the quotes from Paul Sayegh and Lucia Anderson.
Sam	Susannah	Carlisle Floyd	7/14/1997	Central City Opera	John Moriarty	Michael Ehrman	'Susannah' flaunts America's rich cultural trove	Wes Blomster	Boulder Daily Camera	Adam Klein is an interesting combination of power and weakness as her brother Sam, and James Daniel Frost movingly portrays the fragile Little Bat, the incarnation of absolute good in the work.	Yes, Little Bat who in his infinite goodness confesses to the Elders that Susannah “let him love her up.”
Sam	Susannah	Carlisle Floyd	7/14/1997	Central City Opera	John Moriarty	Michael Ehrman	'Susannah' an opera masterpiece	Marc Shugold	Rocky Mountain News	(Among the singers, only Diane Alexander and Andrew Wentzel were mentioned in the published version of this rave review. But Shugold sent the company an email of the entire review, outlining the following and other parts which were mistakenly cut:) Susannah's two allies were marvelously shaped by Adam Klein (Sam) and James Daniel Frost (Little Bat). In his acting and singing, Klein nobly captured the big-brother humanity of Sam.	The title should be "operatic masterpiece". In Shugold's defense, I should point out that reviewers don't generally title their reviews, the editors do.
Sam	Susannah	Carlisle Floyd	7/15/1997	Central City Opera	John Moriarty	Michael Ehrman	'Susannah' hits jackpot at Central City	Jeff Bradley	The Denver Post	Susannah's liquor-loving brother, Sam, is more sympathetic than normal, thanks to tenor Adam Klein's intelligent acting and radiant singing. Sam becomes much more than a powerless drunk. He's a loving brother who understands human failings ("It's about the way people is made, I reckon") and simply doesn't know how to protect his sister. He even plays the bones to accompany the "Jaybird" folk ditty he sings for Susannah.	Two things: it's intriguing how reviewers so often blame, but in cases like this praise, the singers for the characters they portray, when so much of that is due to the director's concept of the piece. And John Moriarty is responsible for my playing bones in this show. He'd heard me accompany myself on them at an Après Opera evening the previous season, and suggested to Michael Ehrman that I play them during "Jaybird". If only the tune were longer, I could have done some real playing — but people talked about this for a long time.
Sam	Susannah	Carlisle Floyd	7/20/1997	Central City Opera	John Moriarty	Michael Ehrman	Central City's 'Susannah' hits high notes with the best	Jeff Bradley	The Denver Post	How good is Central City Opera's current production of Carlisle Floyd' "Susannah"?\ In some ways it's superior to the recording of the opera recently issued by Virgin Classics with Metropolitan Opera soprano Cheryl Studer in the title role, tenor Jerry Hadley as her brother Sam and Kent Nagano conducting the Paris Lyon Opera.\ In Central City, Diane Alexander fits the lead part better than Studer (who sings out of tune on the CDs), and tenor Adam Klein's Sam is free of the strain you hear from Hadley. Also, conductor John Moriarty's American chorus and orchestra are more idiomatic than Nagano's French forces.	Mee-yowww. I've enjoyed keeping track of the tenors I've been compared to. Mostly this is done by audience members I've talked to after the show, and the names include Richard Tucker, José Carreras, Placido Domingo and Nicolai Gedda. Or I get comments like this: "I hate tenors. But I liked you." "Idiomatic"? In terms of language, this was not the case. Floyd has written much of the dialect into the words of the score, and it's a dialect that I speak: the southern mountain dialect I learned from the inhabitants of Poor Valley, Virginia, in my old Old-Time/Bluegrass days. Because of that experience I've heard much music sung in this dialect, and I consider it a very pretty one to sing in. In Central, we had Canadians and USA citizens, all singing in their own brand of English. It made some of the wives sound like mail-order brides. Surprisingly, no policing of the dialect came from director or conductor, so I was the only one who sang in the dialect. James Daniel Frost was from Texas and he did an authentic accent: it just wasn't the right one for the region. Imagine my chagrin when I asked the composer at the opening night party how he preferred the accent be done and he answered, "As little as possible. It's an ugly accent." I'm afraid this is one rare instance where I must disagree with the composer. It's a beautiful accent. Listen to Sara or Janette Carter sing in it and decide for yourself.
Sam	Susannah	Carlisle Floyd	7/21/1997	Central City Opera	John Moriarty	Michael Ehrman	Central City Opera's 'Susannah' by C. Floyd	David Sckolnik	KCME-FM	As her brother Sam, tenor Adam Klein gives us a real mountain man, with an unforced musicality that never dispels belief.	When I arrived in Central for Rigoletto the previous season, I had a beard grown over 3 weeks hiking in the Southwest. John Moriarty told me if I hadn't shown up looking like that he'd not have thought of me for Sam.
Sam	Susannah	Carlisle Floyd	10/1/1997	Central City Opera	John Moriarty	Michael Ehrman	CENTRAL CITY	Glenn Giffin	Opera News	Adam Klein managed to make Susannah's brother, Sam, winsome and feckless rather than shiftless and no-account.	Winsome is to shiftless as feckless is to…?
soloist	Pops Concert	various	6/21/1996	Central City Opera	John Moriarty	none	Central City Opera makes for a great night for a picnic	Jeff Bradley	Denver Post	Newcomer Adam Klein, who one suspects will be a highly credible Duke of Mantua in "Rigoletto," showed linguistic prowess and a well-proportioned tenor in Lensky's aria from "Eugene Onegin" (in Russian" and Lehar's "Dein is mein ganzes Herz."	Linguistic prowess. I be likin' de sound of dat.
Tamino	The Magic Flute	Wolfgang Mozart	8/4/1990	Lyric Opera Cleveland	Steven Larsen	Michael McConnell	Hooray for hip 'Magic Flute' by Lyric Opera Cleveland	Elaine Guregian	The Beacon-Journal (Cleveland)	Tamino (Adam Klein) and Pamina (Connie Dykstra) were both well in command of their roles. They played them straight, with the result that the more outlandish parts like Papageno or the Queen of the Night stood out even more.	All right, we were wallpaper, is that it?
Tamino	The Magic Flute	Wolfgang Mozart	8/4/1990	Lyric Opera Cleveland	Steven Larsen	Michael McConnell	Opera rises grandly to a real challenge	Robert Finn	The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)	Tenor Adam Klein sounded manly and brilliant as Tamino, and soprano Connie Dykstra brought pathos as well as lyric line to Pamina's music. Baritone Donald Sherrill had all of Papageno's comic turns down pat and sang the part expertly.	Don won the in-house contest’s People’s Choice award.
Tamino	Die Zauberflöte	Wolfgang Mozart	2/14/1997	Portland Opera	Marc Trautmann	Ken Cazan	Portland Dress Rehearsal of Magic Flute	Geoffrey Hunnicutt	email forwarded to me	Klein and Morrissey played the hero and side-kick to a "t". I really enjoyed their singing and their comedy.	Notice the period outside the quotes of "t". This is correct more often that most people, or newspapers, realize.
Tamino	Die Zauberflöte	Wolfgang Mozart	2/17/1997	Portland Opera	Marc Trautmann	Ken Cazan	Portland Opera offers a lovely 'Magic Flute'	Stephanie Thomson	The Columbian	Two singers making their debut with Portland Opera gave outstanding performances — tenor Adam Klein (Tamino) and soprano Linda Louise Kelley (Queen of the Night) — and baritone Jeff Morrissey, who appeared with the company in "Carmen," "La Boheme" and "Turandot," charmed the audience as Papageno.	We had fun.
Tamino	Die Zauberflöte	Wolfgang Mozart	2/17/1997	Portland Opera	Marc Trautmann	Ken Cazan	Portland Opera plays charming 'Flute'	David Stabler	The Oregonian	The plot? Forget it. They sang in German and spoke in English. Why not do the whole thing in English?…\ Prince Tamino is the opera's straight man, and Adam Klein played him earnestly. His refined tenor voice was right for the part, too. In his taxing first aria, he neither rushed the tempo nor forced the sound but rode the phrases gracefully.	"Dies Bildniss" is indeed one of the most difficult tenor arias, but though it may be seem counterintuitive, it's easier to sing it if you don't rush the tempo, because that way you get more time to breathe and rest, and that's more important than singing the phrases faster in terms of getting through it.\ And to answer David's question: because English translations generally suck and it sounds better sung in German. English dialogue and German singing is a weird but workable compromise. There actually is a great translation of Magic Flute by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, but they require one to change the order of scenes if you want to use it, lumping all Papageno's scenes together, thus taking away the comic relief from between the serious sections as Schikaneder had so cleverly set it up. Sing it in German.
Tamino	Die Zauberflöte	Wolfgang Mozart	2/18/1997	Portland Opera	Marc Trautmann	Ken Cazan	Magic Flute offers thrilling vocals, but not-so-thrilling acting	Kate Maresh	Vanguard City Edition	The very first scene brings laughter as the giant serpent is speared to death by the Three Ladies after it has scared the handsome Prince Tamino into a faint. Another great comic moment is when Tamino entrances two fierce lions with his magic flute to the point that the lions want to cuddle with him.	(incredibly, the lead tenor's name was not mentioned in this review. I suppose Tamino is a rather forgettable part. I have noticed, however, that when singer friends of mine talk about a production they were in or saw recently, they usually talk about the soprano, mezzo or baritone, and when I ask who the tenor was they almost invariably fail to remember his name.
Tamino	Die Zauberflöte	Wolfgang Mozart	2/19/1997	Portland Opera	Marc Trautmann	Ken Cazan	Mostly Maurice	James McQuillen	Willamette Week	The cast is quite good. Most important, cast members are well-matched vocally and dramatically; this is particularly true of the pairs of lovers, Tamino and Pamina (sung by Adam Klein and Jan Grissom) and Papageno and Papagena (Jeff Morrissey and Pamela Mahon).	It's "will-AM-ette", by the way. The "Maurice" refers to the designer of the set, Maurice Sendak. Yes, the Maurice Sendak.
Tenor	Winterreise	Franz Schubert	1/16/1992		Jennifer Peterson		Schubert cycle bold and beautiful as rendered by tenor Adam Klein	Jay Harvey	The Indianapolis Star	The weather was almost too apt for a performance of Schubert’s Winterreise (Winter’s Journey) Wednesday night at Butler University. The mood of this cycle of 24 songs plunges as unwaveringly as the mercury has been doing, and bleak images of black and white in Winterreise are chillingly echoed in the Indianapolis outdoors these days. Adam Klein. a tenor about to turn 32. is already an accomplished artist whose future is likely to hold much that is worthy of wide notice. Possessor of a lyrical voice of considerable heft, Klein had a commanding manner in his performance of these linked monologues in verse — the anguished expression of a rejected lover who wanders through the winter landscape and into a crazed despair. The boldness of Klein’s conception of the work brought to mind a rare piece of music criticism by Ralph Waldo Emerson, who came away from some voice student’s parlor recital in 1839 with this charming observation: “I wish not to be asked in every note whether I will allow it,” the future Sage of Concord wrote in his journal. “I wish every note to command me with sweet yet perfect empire.” This requirement was amply met in this recital. In the very first song, Klein dared a rawness to shadow the words “1 cannot choose the time of my journey, I must show myself the way to go in this darkness” (to quote the singer’s translation), thus making those lines a keynote of what follows. The frequent expressions of rage in the first part of the cycle were vented fully. A minor side effect was the sharping of a few high notes, and a line or two that became shapeless and tattered in the teeth of the gale. But generally Klein maintained “sweet yet perfect empire” over the material — and over the sparse but appreciative audience. With Jennifer Peterson’s acutely inflected piano accompaniments, Klein could be confident of making beautiful sounds that wouldn’t come out merely pretty. Abrupt contrasts in a few of the songs (Courage and Spring Dream, for instance) always found pianist and singer inseparably committed to the sudden change. The suppleness and warmth of Peterson’s playing went far in revealing the forethought and sensitivity that clearly formed Klein’s interpretation. One cavil at Klein’s translation of Der Lindenbaum, the cycle’s most famous song: The lime tree doesn’t whisper to the despairing lover “You found peace here,” but the subjunctive “You would (or would have) found peace here.” The peace implied would be that of using one of the tree’s sturdy branches to hang oneself. But the man is doomed to wander on, thanks to Schubert’s music, into immortality.	Imperfect subjunctive, actually. And of course “you would found” is not English: that should be “you would find”, and in English that’s not subjunctive, but conditional tense, subject now to a very common error in phrases like, “if you would have come you would have seen it”– NO!!! If you HAD come (past perfect) you would have seen it (past perfect conditional. Grammar is not rocket science, but the way most Americans understand it, it might as well be. Mr. Harvey is right about my error, but his interpretation isn’t the only one possible. It could simply mean that the tree still thinks the traveler would find rest under its branches if he stayed. It’s early in the cycle yet and Our Hero has not necessarily crossed the line of last hope.
tenor	The Triumph of Death	Frederic Rzewski	3/31/1992	CalArts Festival	Paul Vorwerk	Mark McQuown	Auschwitz Oratorio Staged at CalArts	Daniel Cariaga	(a Valencia newspaper)	The resourceful singers, playing multiple roles effortlessly, were Jacqui Bobak, Paul Hillier, Adam Klein and Carol Plantamura. Speaker William Dennis Hunt created voices.	This was the sort of piece where you review the event and not the performers. I got this job because David Rosenboom, who engineered the recording of IMPROVEMENT: DON LEAVES LINDA, knew I'd be at CalArts to sing that show and put my name forward for the Rzewski. We got to roll onstage on one of those rails with wheels all over it that they use in factories.
tenor	Concert	various	9/28/1995	American Landmark Festivals	Francis Heilbut	none	Diva of Divas Inspires Dream to Bring Back Castle Clinton	Joan Lindstrom	The Westsider	Tenor Adam Klein, subbing at the last minute for an indisposed Stanford Olsen, proved himself to be an adept communicator with the audience – both in his humorous introductory comments and in a soulful, vibrant rendering of the "Flower Song" from "Carmen."	This was an interesting concert. Battery Park was the first place Jenny Lind sang in the USA, on Sept. 11, 1850. Francis Heilbut dressed as P.T. Barnum and ran around being a showman in between playing piano very well for us singers. Though my surname is Klein, my mother's father Stellan Sven Windrow was pure Swede by blood and had a dream to be a famous tenor. He was in theater most of his life, coming closest to fame as Tarzan in the first, silent, movie on the subject. He was drafted, mid-production, into the War To End All Wars (yeah right) and Elmo Lincoln took the part, and the fame that came with it. He wouldn't let Stellan Windrow's name be included in the credits, even though several scenes of Tarzan swinging through the trees of Louisiana feature my grandfather, and not Lincoln. Don't believe me? There's a website. http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/Tarzan/stellan/
tenor	Three Tenors! The Next Generation (© T. Conlin)	various	1/13/1997	West Virginia Symphony	Thomas Conlin	none	Tenors hold audience enthralled	Rick Justice	Charleston Daily Mail (WV)	After a lovely orchestral playing of Verdi's Overture to "La forza del destino" Adam Klein startled the crowd with his stout-hearted singing of "La donna e mobile." Klein was pumped up, and his dramatic tenor voice shook the rafters where the "balcony bats" perched.	The review goes on like that in play-by-play style. Rick Justice is pictured in the review with a dashingly-banded cowboy hat.
tenor	Three Tenors! The Next Generation (© T. Conlin)	various	1/13/1997	West Virginia Symphony	Thomas Conlin	none	Tenors make for enjoyable evening	David Williams	The Charleston Gazette (WV)	Klein projected an air of unabashed confidence. In Verdi's La donna e mobile from "Rigoletto," he showed unfailing pitch while tossing off the intricate vocal ornamentation with elan.\ In Ponchielli's "Cielo e mar!," from "La Gioconda," he sang long melodic lines that embraced the rich colors — including lovely solos for clarinet and viola — of the orchestral accompaniment. He didn't seem to compete with the full orchestra in Puccini's "Che gelida manina" from "La Boheme." His voice just floated above the orchestra's sound almost like a surfer riding the top of a wave.	We were amplified. The acoustics of that hall required it. The microphones in front of us should have been a dead giveaway.
Tenor solo	Eighth Symphony	Gustav Mahler	3/11/1999	Boston Philharmonic	Benjamin Zander	none	Zander's masses make for ecstatic Mahler	Richard Dyer	Boston Globe	The vocal soloists made a strong team, although the slightly smeared, soft-grained tenor of Adam Klein was not always heard to advantage.	I wish I knew what "smeared" means. I also wonder if Dyer has studied the score of the Eighth, wherein one will find at least one instance in which Mahler indicates that the solo voice is not to be prominent, but should accompany the orchestra. In no commercial recording to date of this piece, of which I'm aware, will one hear any of the soloists do this. This one with Zander amazed me. We had sopranos (Christine Brewer and Ellen Chickering) who could float pianissimo high C's and B-flats, and they actually sang them that way. Absolute magic.
Tenor solo	Eighth Symphony	Gustav Mahler	3/11/1999	Boston Philharmonic	Benjamin Zander	none	Philharmonic's Mahler No. 8 is one in a Thousand	Ellen Pfeifer	Boston Herald	Throughout the evening, there was gorgeous playing by the horns, trumpet, trombones, harp and woodwinds. Soloists, sopranos Ellen Chickering, Christine Brewer, Elizabeth Keusch, Gigi Mitchell-Velasco and Gale Fuller, tenor Adam Klein, baritone Patrick Wroblewski and bass Louis Lebherz, blazed through the orchestral fabric, often at extreme ends of their registers, and in heightened dramatic states. They all worked themselves up to a fever pitch of expression.	Glad she enjoyed it.
Tenor solo	Eighth Symphony	Gustav Mahler	1/18/2000	Boston Philharmonic	Benjamin Zander	none	Mahler reprise brings greatness and strain	Michael Manning	Boston Globe	Of the women, soprano Indra Thomas seemed the most vocally at ease, while Adam Klein's Doctor Marianus gave the most vivid, vocally well-suited performance of the evening.	See the quote from T.J. Medrek.
Tenor solo	Eighth Symphony	Gustav Mahler	1/18/2000	Boston Philharmonic	Benjamin Zander	none	Philharmonic hits a high note	T.J. Medrek	Boston Herald	Among them, Ellen Chickering did a fearless, fabulous job with a vocal line that just keeps on hammering away at the top of the range. Indra Thomas, while not nearly as finished, showed lots of promise. And Gale Fuller, Adam Klein and Patrick Wroblewski also deserved particular praise.	See the quote from Michael Manning.
Tenor solo	Eighth Symphony	Gustav Mahler	1/24/2000	Boston Philharmonic	Benjamin Zander	none	A Symphony That Requires Plenty of Reinforcements	Anthony Tommasini	The New York Times	But Mr. Zander's performance captured the symphony's disarming sincerity, bringing a touching quality to the dittylike melodies for children's choirs and rendering the anthems for the woodwinds like sturdy Bach chorales. When the hermit Dr. Marianus (the tenor Adam Klein) invokes the Eternal Feminine, Mr. Zander's players captured the subdued rapture of the music.	Being on stage during Mahler's Eighth is one of the best things in the world.
The Doctor	Improvement: Don Leaves Linda	Robert Ashley	3/1/1994	Lovely Music Ltd.	none	Jacqueline Humbert	When a Composer Turns Opera Upside Down	Bernard Holland	The New York Times	Ms. Humbert, who designed the sets, costumes and staging, is also an extraordinary performer, and Sam Ashley and Amy X Neuberg are hardly less so. Mr. Ashley narrated in his liquid singsong, though by late Thursday night he sounded tired indeed. Marghreta Cordero and Adam Klein are other valuable players.	This is a review of the BAM Next Wave Festival incarnation of NOW ELEANOR'S IDEA. Kyle Gann wrote one for the Village Voice which was a rave, but which didn't mention me so since I already include one of those I'm omitting it here.
The Doctor	Improvement: Don Leaves Linda	Robert Ashley	3/1/1994	Lovely Music Ltd.	none	Jacqueline Humbert	Opera has sound of its own	Daniel Webster	The Philadelphia Inquirer	The operas of Robert Ashley cross traditions, blend electronic manipulation with chant, parody traditional stage gestures and, most of all, create an atmosphere of dream and reality that absorbs listeners completely… The work was being heard in a concert form because Ashley means it to be a television piece. How much more expressive or magical it could be on the screen is hard to picture. The work, bare of everything but people, voices, taped chant and rhythm, carried opera to a new frontier.	These are the first and last paragraphs of a review that is about a new piece, so the performers aren't mentioned apart from Ashley himself and a cast list. I include it here because it's a fascinating piece of theater which should be done everywhere but suffers the same problem as all new works: no one wants to produce a second run, because there's no publicity in it, hence no long-term benefit to the company. Ashley, however, tours his own works, so IMPROVEMENT was seen in Philly, Brooklyn, Berlin, Paris, Tokyo, Valencia and other cities along with the other three in the quadrilogy NOW ELEANOR'S IDEA. I had to leave the tour early on because I foresaw a time when my standard opera gigs would prohibit me from taking part in it and I wanted to give them ample time to replace me. The Doctor was subsequently sung by Marghreta Cordero. CDs are available for purchase nationally. Check it out. It's not opera as you know it.
Various; Larry/Matt	Concert/Face on the Barroom Floor	Henry Mollicone	6/30/1989	Four Corners Opera	Christine Sotomayor-Lopez	Judith Turano	FCO proves that good things come in small packages	George Reeves	Now Magazine	Klein is a singing actor of handsome stage presence. His is a darkish tenor voice of considerable power. In concert, he displayed vocal elegance in the duet from "The Pearl Fishers" and deep feeling in "Bring Him Home" from "Les Miserables" – perhaps the most moving rendition of the evening. As Larry and Matt (another dual role) he brought both style and substance to "The Face On The Barroom Floor" ensembles.	Pshaw.
Vespone/Michael	La Serva Padrone/Slow Dusk	Giovanni Pergolesi	6/24/1986	Four Corners Opera	Jeanne Dayton	Judith Turano	Opera opener: 'Well conceived and executed'	George Reeves	The Durango Herald	In lesser assignments, mezzo-soprano Marsha Waxman and baritone Jon Pescevich made their points, and Adam Klein displayed a strong, rich tenor one would like to have heard more of. Giovanni Pergolesi's "The Maid-Mistress" ("La Serva Padrona"), a bit of froth from 1733 that has lasted through the years, found Adam Klein as the mute Vespone revelling in commedia dell'arte antics.	My only appearance so far in a Harpo Marx wig. I also got to belch on cue, a skill I never thought I’d be able to use – anywhere.
Victor	Burning Bright	Frank Lewin	7/24/2000	Opera Festival of New Jersey	Patrick Hansen	Karen Tiller	Uncertain start leads to 'Bright' ending	Willa J. Conrad	The Star-Ledger	Adam Klein as Victor sang with awkward, forced phrasing, yet through sheer willpower seemed to carry Victor's transformation across.	I find this comment exceedingly odd, as I sang the phrases exactly as they were in the score.
Victor	Burning Bright	Frank Lewin	7/25/2000	Opera Festival of New Jersey	Patrick Hansen	Karen Tiller	The debut of a work that might be too late	David Patrick Stearns	The Philadelphia Inquirer	Such shortcomings might seem more forgivable if Opera Festival of New Jersey, which deserves great admiration for attempting any new work, delivered a production and performance better than workmanlike. More confident projection of the score from Patrick Hansen and more naturalistic direction from Karen Tiller would have made a stronger case for the opera. The singers, including Todd Thomas as Joe Saul and Indira Mahajan an Mordeen, were accomplished, but only Adam Klein as the dim-witted but virile surrogate father showed what this opera could be with more rehearsal.	No opera as short as this one should need more rehearsal than we had. The difficulties in the score's readability alone hampered things, as did the composer's attitude. There are many reasons for choosing to do this or that piece: in this case, the merits of the piece itself were not among them.
Victor	Burning Bright	Frank Lewin	7/26/2000	Opera Festival of New Jersey	Patrick Hansen	Karen Tiller	A 'Bright' conclusion to OFNJ season	Donald P. Delaney	The Times	The star of this show, for this listener, was baritone Adam Klein as Victor, Mordeen's seducer. A hateful individual in the beginning, Victor, through Klein's exceptional acting ability and his marvelous voice, won sympathy as the opera progressed, notably in his Act 2 confrontation with Mordeen. A stunning scene.	Whatever. Despite the congeniality of cast and crew this was the single most unpleasant experience I've had in the theater world, and on top of that I get called a baritone again.
Victor	Burning Bright	Frank Lewin	7/26/2000	Opera Festival of New Jersey	Patrick Hansen	Karen Tiller	From Circus, to Land and Sea and Outer Space, 'Burning Bright' Exhilarated and Entertained	Linda Tyler	Town Topics (Princeton NJ)	John Marcus Bindel as Friend Ed was particularly fine with his pinpoint rhythmic declamation and fine diction. Only a small step behind were the performances of Indira Mahajan as Mordeen, Todd Thomas as Joe Saul, and Adam Klein as Victor.	I was the only cast member who had this unnecessarily difficult-to-read piece memorized by Opening night. The music wasn't really too complicated, but it was written out very badly. We had a prompter, which saved the others.
Victor	Burning Bright	Frank Lewin	7/28/2000	Opera Festival of New Jersey	Patrick Hansen	Karen Tiller	The Meek Shall Inherit	Stuart Duncan	The Princeton Packet	The cast — Todd Thomas as Joe Saul; John Marcus Bindel as Friend Ed; Indira Mahajan as Mordeen and especially Adam Klein as Victor — brought real distinction to the evening. Mr. Klein clearly was the audience favorite and had the farthest to go with his character — from an uncouth circus performer to a second mate, ready for new challenges at sea. He also has the richest material to sing.	Everyone envied me my Act 3 aria. It was the most Menotti-like music in the whole piece.
Werther	Werther	Jules Massenet	10/24/1991	Skylight Opera Theatre	Yves Abel	David Walsh	Skylight puts together a believable 'Werther'	Tom Strini	The Milwaukee Journal	Adam Klein does not possess the most refined tenor voice. It is likely to fray and even crack when pushed, and this music pushes it hard. But Klein is so overly committed to the over-the-top Romanticism that the very flaws in his singing become poignant signals of the inferno of emotion and sensation that is Werther. Whether his character is lost in the warmth of sunlight falling on his face or lost in his fall into love for the unattainable Charlotte, Klein's vocal/theatrical recklessness is absolute– and thus absolutely convincing.	My first Werther. Let’s say I learned a lot during that production. This is one of the most ambitious attempts by a reviewer to turn a criticism into a compliment. I wonder what he might have written about Callas.
Werther	Werther	Jules Massenet	11/25/1996	Opera Memphis	Michael Ching	Karen Tiller	Tenor's 'Werther' fills the house with an abiding, hopeless passion	Whitney Smith	The Commercial Appeal	Adam Klein, the excellent tenor cast as Werther, has been frank about saying that the libretto to this opera made the poet out to be more of a whiner than he was in Goethe's hands. at Saturday's opening performance before nearly 2,000 at the Orpheum, it didn't take long to discover that the potential for whininess was there. Klein's Werther, while not exactly noble, was never pathetic, either. The tenor tempered the role's constant laments vocally and dramatically. He produced sudden and powerful crescendos on long notes, used vigorous stage movement, avoided melodrama and maintained superb French diction.	Well, thank you very much, I'm sure. I had a blast at this gig: on off-time I got to play folk music at Dr. Nancy Chase's house in town, which happened again on a smaller scale a few years later during MANON LESCAUT. Nancy is so cool. All those instruments, including bagpipes, and decent Scotch as well.
Werther	Werther	Jules Massenet	12/7/1996	Opera Memphis	Michael Ching	Karen Tiller	'Werther' charms audience	Jim Eikner	Tri-State Defender	For three acts and four scenes Werther yearns, pines and sorrows, but Klein's stage discipline and soaring tenor voice and extraordinary breath control on sustained phrases deftly prevent the title character from becoming a mopey wimp or a wimpy mope… Kudos goes to Michael Ching, conductor, and the orchestra for nicely handing the many instrumental moments, which became enjoyments in themselves and not as mere transition pieces. Also there were golden moments when Klein and orchestra were as one, as in Werther's Act II pondering of the theological consequence of suicide…	Laying aside the fact that Paragraph #2 is not really English, I must point out that "kudos" is a Greek word like Mikonos or Lesbos or thermos, and is SINGULAR. Therefore, if you haven't figured it out yet, it should read "Kudos goes to Michael Ching…" I'm sorry: grammar and spelling do matter. Bad schooling aside, it indicates how clearly one thinks about what one is expressing. A word about breath control: an efficient phonation is the key to long phrases, not how one breathes. All the breathing in the world won't help an airy sound last long enough or carry better. The seat of singing is in the larynx, not the rib cage.
Zweiter Knabe	Die Zauberflöte	Wolfgang Mozart	10/28/1972	The Metropolitan Opera	Peter Maag		Opera: Well Sung 'Zauberflöte' at Met	Raymond Ericson	The New York Times	The Three Ladies (Jeannine Altmeyer, Mildred Miller, Batyah Godfrey), Three Genii (Joseph Andracchi, Adam Klein, Steven Schachtel) and Two Guards (Rod MacWherter, Louis Sgarro) sustained the high quality of the vocalism.	Joe Andreacchi's name was misspelled in this review. The director wasn't mentioned and now I don't remember who it was. I doubt we met him or her, as it was a return of a previous production.

Role

Opera

Composer

Date

Company

Conductor

Director

Review title

Author

Publication

Quote

Comments

Alfred Allegretto

The Amazing Adventure of Alvin Allegretto

Bruce Adolphe

1/31/1995

Metropolitan Opera Guild

Steve Crawford

Mel Marvin

Young Rebel With a Cause: He Doesn't Want to Sing

Edward Rothstein

The New York Times

Mr. Adolphe's score gently alludes to Despina and "Don Giovanni" while making certain that the singers – including Judith Engel, Adam Klein, Gregory Sheppard and Laureen Vigil – could be clearly understood by listeners alien to Harmony.

Before I made my tenor stage debut at the Met proper, I was hired by the Met Guild to do this opera for kids. Through it I met Steve Crawford, one of the smartest and most musical people I know; he also knows more jokes than I do. I also learned that according to some people I look good in yellow, and that most people don't.

Alfredo

La Traviata

Giuseppe Verdi

4/4/1995

Opera Theater of Connecticut

Elizabeth Hastings

Alan Mann

Opera Theater of Connecticut's 'La Traviata proves a triumphant finale for annual event

Frank Wagner

Islander, Sanibel FL

Adam Klein's Alfredo was near perfection, not only in his vocal prowess but also his acting ability. It abounded in great truthfulness and a sincerity of purpose that is quite rare for opera performers.

I hate Alfredo. I had a cold when I sang this performance. My mom came over from Virginia to see it and did some nice paintings in John "Ding" Darling State Park. I saw an American Crocodile there.
The Gastone was Brian Scott, with whom I'd done The Tempest at IU. I taught him to play jaw harp. He died soon after that. Crying shame.

Alfredo

La Traviata

Giuseppe Verdi

3/3/1996

Austin Lyric Opera

Louis Salemno

Joe McLain

Weak acting, singing mark Austin Lyric's production of 'Traviata'

Jerry Young

Austin American-
Statesman

Although her tone was heartbreakingly gorgeous, Zambalis lacked the vocal power to project that vitality. It was especially noticeable alongside the effortless singing of tenor Adam Klein, who played her lover, Alfredo…
Ironically, as Violetta's flower faded, Zambalis' vocal powers rose… Her phrasing was exquisite and emotionally charged… she captured Verdi's old-style, catch-in-the-throat emotionality without sacrificing credibility.\ The same was true for Klein's Alfredo. He looked the part of an irresponsible kid who leaves home and falls in love with a beautiful courtesan, bringing shame upon his family. This came across especially well at the end of the second act, where he is admonished to return home by his father, Giorgio, sung by Kimm Julian…
Like Zambalis, Klein's strengths resided in his rich sound and his ability to project his character through his voice, neither of which he sacrificed for sheer volume. It was the right choice because he kept his character in sharp focus. But he paid the price from time to time, especially when he would find acoustically dead spots from which it was hard for him to be heard.

No one told me about the dead spots. And Stella was fantastic.
I saw Bobby Brubaker at the Met several years after this production, and a short time after his debut in Austin as Siegmund. He relayed a story about me that he heard while in Austin. It is said that during Traviata I fell in love with a chorus member and took up residence with a homeless community on the banks of the river there. Neither is true. I was already in love with someone whose father lives in Austin, I became good friends with my dresser who later became a member of the chorus, and I took long day-hikes along the river. Opera thrives on rumors. I'm glad that most of them are harmless.
From my sponsor there I learned that the people of Austin knew Rock Hudson was coming there to visit a guy years before the rest of the country heard he liked guys. The world is full of facts like that. Get to know the place you're in: it'll probably surprise you.

Alfredo

La Traviata

Giuseppe Verdi

11/11/1997

Opera Roanoke

David Wiley

Craig Fields

'La Traviata' superb

Seth Williamson

The Roanoke Times

Which brings us to the other reason you want to see this show, which is tenor Adam Klein. Visually, his Alfredo is perfect: handsome, sympathetic, imperially slim and moving with practiced ease across the stage. Add to that an instrument that is possibly the best tenor voice I've ever heard in an Opera Roanoke production and you've got an opera star the likes of which isn't heard frequently on a regional stage. Yeah, he once reached for a high C that he didn't quite nail to the wall — but then, it was an octave above what Verdi called for in the first place.

This was my last, I hope, Alfredo. You can have it. Not only is it really hard to sing but it's also thankless — except when you get reviews like this one. Thanks.

Alfredo

La Traviata

Giuseppe Verdi

6/15/2000

Mira Yang

Steven Lay

Mira Yang

'Traviata' Plays Well in Church

Joseph McLellan

The Washington Post

The most impressive voice was that of tenor Adam Klein as Alfredo. His singing was warmly emotional, responsive to each of the opera's quickly changing situations, rich in tone and precise in pitch and diction.

This was a semi-staged concert version with one violin in the third act and the rest of the music was played by Steven Lay at the piano.

Arturo

Lucia di Lammermoor

Gaetano Donizetti

3/21/1992

Indianapolis Opera

James Caraher

David Pfeiffer

Saffer is a 'diva' in title role

Charles Staff

The Indianapolis News

With his individualized timbre, tenor Adam Klein is obviously too good for the small role of Arturo…

I’m sorry, I thought there were no small roles.

Arturo

Lucia di Lammermoor

Gaetano Donizetti

3/22/1992

Indianapolis Opera

James Caraher

David Pfeiffer

'Lucia di Lammermoor' solid, radiant

Jay Harvey

The Indianapolis Star

As Arturo, tenor Adam Klein immediately made a good impression on his second act entrance– something his character is eager to do as well in raising the spirits of the friends and followers of Enrico.

Oh yes, I came in pressing the flesh like a politician. My favorite part of it was mock flirting with Tom Woodman the Enrico. –During rehearsal breaks, not performances.

Arturo

Lucia di Lammermoor

Gaetano Donizetti

4/1/1992

Indianapolis Opera

James Caraher

David Pfeiffer

'Lucia di Lammermoor' sombre opera

Charles Epstein

Jewish Post & Opinion

Adam Klein as the bridegroom had a brief but substantial appearance. He was quite effective in his portrayal.

I try.

Bacchus

Ariadne auf Naxos

Richard Strauss

7/7/2001

Lake George Opera Festival

Daniel Beckwith

Marc Verzatt

Opera season opens on fine note

Geraldine Freedman

The Post-Star

[Ariadne's] paramour, Adam Klein as Bacchus, more than held his own with a strong tenor voice.

Well, at least I got mentioned in this one.

Bacchus

Ariadne auf Naxos

Richard Strauss

7/7/2001

Lake George Opera Festival

Daniel Beckwith

Marc Verzatt

'Ariadne' holds audience rapt to open Lake George Opera Festival

Mae G. Banner

The Saratogian

Opposites attract in Richard Strauss's "Ariadne auf Naxos." A high- minded composer and a coquettish comedienne are magnetically attracted to each other. Then, in the composer's opera-within-an-opera," the desolate, death-seeking Ariadne meets joyous Bacchus, the god of wine, and they fall under each other's spell.

Banner gets a bit of kudos for putting the "s" on "Strauss's", but the opera is not within an opera. There is the prologue, then there is the opera. But the best part of this review was the photo of Mary Ann McCormick as the Composer, with the caption "Baritone Stephen Lusmann plays the Music Master in LGOF's "Ariadne auf Naxos."

Canio

Pagliacci

Ruggiero Leoncavallo

3/25/2003

Dicapo Opera Theater

Louis Salemno

Michael Capasso

National Lyric Opera transports audience with "I Pagliacci"

John R. Murelle

Hyannis newspaper

Adam Klein sang Canio, a part made famous by Enrico Caruso.
Klein's credits include New York City Opera and the Metropolitan Opera. He was the undisputed star of the performance. His singing is healthy, beautiful, dramatic and free. This role can overtake a singer, and he can get carried away vocally. Klein always stayed within the confines of his vocal technique while still delivering a riveting performance.

Gee, thanks, John.

Cassio

Otello

Giuseppe Verdi

10/24/1990

Pittsburgh Opera

Theo Alcantara

Tito Capobianco

Pittsburgh

Gladys Blews Wilson

The Times (Pittsburgh)

The supporting cast performs effectively. Adam Klein as Cassio and Patricia McAfee as Desdemona's maid, Emilia, deserve special recognition. Although both singers are young, they demonstrate technique that is not eclipsed by Atlantov, Johnson and Milnes.

This is the same show that the Opera News reviewer Robert Croan saw. (q.v.)

Cassio

Otello

Giuseppe Verdi

3/16/1991

Pittsburgh Opera

Theo Alcantara

Tito Capobianco

Pittsburgh

Robert Croan

Opera News

Adam Klein's student-level Cassio proved embarrassing in this company.

See the quote from Gladys Wilson.

Cassio

Otello

Giuseppe Verdi

10/3/1999

Virginia Opera

Peter Mark

Robin Guarino

Evil Iago steals Virginia Opera's "Otello"

Lee Tepley

The Virginian- Pilot

In an important secondary role, tenor Adam Klein was a youthful, somewhat naive Cassio. The bright clarity of his voice was refreshing.

I’ll leave that alone.

Cassio

Otello

Giuseppe Verdi

10/15/1999

Virginia Opera

Peter Mark

Robin Guarino

'Otello' puts some stellar voices on display

Daniel Neman

Richmond Times-Dispatch

Special care was also taken in the casting of some of the secondary characters. With a ringing tenor, Adam Klein (Roméo in last year's "Roméo et Juliette") is particularly noteworthy as the wronged Cassio.

I spent my offstage time playing Talking Heads tunes on the banjo.

Cavaradossi

Tosca

Giacomo Puccini

3/14/1993

Nashville Opera

Kenneth Schermerhorn

Whitfield Lloyd

'Tosca' delights lovers of Puccini's grand opera

Henry Arnold

Nashville Banner

To begin with, there were some splendid voices singing Puccini's passionate melodies. Soprano Nova Thomas in the title role, with tenor Adam Klein as her lover, Cavaradossi, and baritone Duncan Hartman as the villainous Baron Scarpia, headed a strong cast…
Klein, too, sang with tremendous satisfaction. His final aria, E lucevan le stelle (When stars were brightly shining), sung just before his death, was as moving a moment as one is likely to experience in opera.

One would think, with a review like this, that Nashville Opera would have had me back. But for some reason which the new directors of the company will not reveal, neither I nor Duncan Hartman will tread the stage of the Tennessee Performing Arts Center anytime soon. I feel I have a right to know, at least, what I possibly could have done to deserve this treatment– not that engagements in Nashville will make or break my career.
While I was there for this Tosca I got to attend, in my off-time, the recording sessions of my brother Moondi's band Chesapeake's first album, Rising Tide.

Cavaradossi

Tosca

Giacomo Puccini

3/14/1993

Nashville Opera

Kenneth Schermerhorn

Whitfield Lloyd

Soprano delivers a riveting 'Tosca'

Alan Bostick

Nashville Banner

Tenor Klein, whose voice was often overwhelmed in Act 1, saved his best singing for the enchanting late E lucevan le stelle ("And the stars shone"), delivered with great tenderness.

This was my first Cavaradossi and this reviewer was being kind. I figured a lot out during the rehearsals, but didn't have it all down by performance time. It was surprisingly difficult to get my voice to be unaffected by the emotions I was feeling during E lucevan le stelle– not helped by a concurrent sad chapter in my personal life. One major issue for singing actors is disconnecting the vocal production from the emotional production and still managing to do both: it's one of the challenges that keep me interested.

Cavaradossi

Tosca

Giacomo Puccini

7/2/1998

Central City Opera

John Moriarty

Marc Astafan

Opera stages '3 tenors' 'Tosca' act

Wes Blomster

Boulder Daily Camera

And then there's Adam Klein, who — like the rabbit out of the magician's hat — flew into the state to make Wednesday's matinee something of a second season opener.
For Klein, originally scheduled to "become" Cavaradossi for the second half of the CCO season, is an exceptional singer.
His is a tenor voice cut from the cloth usually reserved for baritones. His voice, both rich and resonant, has a timbre that makes him a dream-come-true in this role.

Again with the baritone timbre. Listen. It's almost all technical. If you sing in the yawn position, you're almost guaranteed to be perceived as having a vocal color at least one category deeper than what you actually are.
This gig showed me why relative height is taken into account when making casting decisions. Sheila Smith (the first Tosca) is six foot one, and I’m barely five foot ten. With lifts both inside and under my boots I was still looking up at her. Peter Riberi, whom I replaced for shows 2 through 7 before my official run started with Pam South (five foot one or so) would have seen her eye to eye.
A correction: I didn't fly into Central to do these shows. I drove, as usual, taking three days from New Jersey.

Don Curzio

The Marriage of Figaro

Wolfgang Mozart

8/8/1991

Chautauqua Opera

Gary Magby

Joshua Major

'The Marriage of Figaro' is first-class

Hugh Fraser

Chautauquan Daily

(no mention was made of my character or of me in this review, but I was in the photo that accompanied it.)

It was a job. I was an apprentice. I got to be funny.

Don José

Carmen

Georges Bizet

2/2/1991

Skylight Opera Theatre

Richard Carsey

Francesca Zambello

Streamlined 'Carmen' exudes intensity

Tom Strini

The Milwaukee Journal

Next to [Diane Lane], Adam Klein's Don José is thin and weak, but that's the point. Unlike Carmen, Don José knows not who or what he is. In this he is the opposite of the dead-sure Carmen, and her complement. He is inevitably drawn to her and consumed by her. He does not kill her in anger or frustration, but because his pale, helpless destiny is only to complete Carmen's meteoric vision of herself.

Thin and weak. Hmm.

Don José

Carmen

Georges Bizet

2/2/1991

Skylight Opera Theatre

Richard Carsey

Francesca Zambello

Skylight's perplexing 'Carmen' has Pandora's box of questions

Nancy Raabe

The (Milwaukee) Sentinel

As Don José, Adam Klein possessed even less range; he was bland and ineffectual, for the most part, and we understood neither how he could fall so obsessively in love nor be driven to so heinous a crime.

Bland and ineffectual. Hmm. I'd like someone to explain to me why so many people need logical reasons why anyone falls in love with anyone else.

Don José

Carmen

Georges Bizet

2/21/1991

Skylight Opera Theatre

Richard Carsey

Francesca Zambello

Intimate, simple 'Carmen' pleases Grand audience

Jaye Anderson

Oshkosh Northwestern

The most outstanding, riveting performances of the show were given by the two lead characters – Diane Lane as the gypsy, Carmen, and Adam Klein as her lover, Don Jose, a soldier caught between duty to family and his desire for Carmen and her wild life…
Klein gave a quiet but intense performance, expressing his character mostly through subtle expressions and intense emotion. His singing was lovely and precisely controlled, even in difficult high ranges.

Was this the same show in which I was thin, weak, bland and ineffectual? Not in Oshkosh, apparently.

Don José

Carmen

Georges Bizet

5/10/1991

The Pennsylvania Opera Theater

Barbara Silverstein

Dona D. Vaughn

Pennsylvania Opera comes up with freshly scrubbed 'Carmen'

Robert Baxter

Courier Post (Cherry Hill, NJ)

Only a cast of important singers is missing from this production… Kidwell and her Jose, Adam Klein, do not rise to the furious duet that climaxes the opera. Here, Vaughn missteps, urging both singers on to histrionic excess.
Kidwell postures outrageously as Klein throws her around the stage before Jose stabs Carmen. Their overwrought acting and undernourished singing undercut this climactic scene…
Klein's good looks and appealing, if monotonously colored, voice serve well in the first act. His singing, however, lacks the weight in mid-range and the security on top for Jose's fierce outbursts in the final two acts.

But Thea Diamond said I was especially convincing in Act Four!

Don José

Carmen

Georges Bizet

5/10/1991

The Pennsylvania Opera Theater

Barbara Silverstein

Dona D. Vaughn

Pa. Opera closes with a 'Carmen' staged as personal tragedy

Daniel Webster

The Philadelphia Inquirer

The singing of the central roles did not, however, match the general ingenuity of staging and lively orchestral playing that was the norm. By choosing intimacy and tragedy as the focus, the dimensions of Don Jose became crucial. Adam Klein, a lyric tenor who often sang gracefully, had little gift for suggesting the impassioned figure. He tends to stroll or roll his eyes as if this were a domestic comedy.

Domestic comedy. Hmm.
There is a reason that this company had standing orders not to discuss reviews during the run of the show.

Don José

Carmen

Georges Bizet

5/16/1991

The Pennsylvania Opera Theater

Barbara Silverstein

Dona D. Vaughn

Pa. Opera Theater presents 'Carmen'

Pat Gibbons

Suburban and Wayne Times

Adam Klein, [Carmen's] hapless lover, did not seem up to the role. Winning Don Jose seemed too easy – where was the challenge?

I got the best applause, except for Micaela, in all three performances. Everyone but the critics must have been idiots.

Don José

Carmen

Georges Bizet

5/17/1991

The Pennsylvania Opera Theater

Barbara Silverstein

Dona D. Vaughn

Opera Theater's 'Carmen' aflame with power, passion

Michael Caruso

Chestnut Hill Local (Philadelphia, PA)

T-POT's cast for Carmen was one of the best it's ever offered…
Tenor Adam Klein efficaciously communicated Don Jose's desperate love for Carmen, a love that would inspire him to abondon everything he has always held dear and drive him to murder, but he made poor use of the fine voice nature has given him by swallowing rather than freely projecting his tone. He simply doesn't sing well.

And Michael Caruso got his vocal degree where?

Don José

Carmen

Georges Bizet

5/17/1991

The Pennsylvania Opera Theater

Barbara Silverstein

Dona D. Vaughn

Pennsylvania Opera Theater: Carmen

Gary L. Day

Philadelphia Gay News

Less successful as an actor was Adam Klein as Don José, Carmen's tragic lover. Klein's strengths lay more in his vocal talents. Throughout the piece, Klein was at least good, and there were times when his rich tones truly resonated. However, as an actor he was somewhat limited, but overall that did not diminish his effectiveness significantly.

But Peter Burwasser said my character was good and the voice was thin and hard! Which should I believe??

Don José

Carmen

Georges Bizet

5/22/1991

The Pennsylvania Opera Theater

Barbara Silverstein

Dona D. Vaughn

A Draggy 'Carmen', A Bouncy 'Flute'

Thea Diamond

Welcomat Philadelphia, PA

Tenor Adam Klein played Jose like a petulant little boy who is always furious with his older sister for teasing him. Klein is not assisted by the dialogue…
Whereas spoken dialogue gives us a chance to "get to know" the characters, the 19th-Century diction is stilted and trite. After Carmen tosses a carnation at Jose, he confides, "Her flower struck me like a bullet." Later, he muses, "She's like a cat–if you ignore her, she comes." These conceits need to be delivered with raw feeling in order to avoid sounding hackneyed and laughable.
But Klein said his lines without even a flush of agony; nor did his body language confess to any inner torment. Which forces me to conclude that reintroducing spoken dialogue is fine and dandy–as long as your singers can act. Otherwise, stick to the music. Klein never failed to emote when he is singing. He was especially convincing in act four, when, tortured by unrequited love, he goes to pieces in song and murders Carmen.

Give me lines that can be acted and I'll act them. This translation sucked.

Don José

Carmen

Georges Bizet

5/31/1991

The Pennsylvania Opera Theater

Barbara Silverstein

Dona D. Vaughn

Opera Queens: Carmen at the PA Opera Theater; The Magic Flute at the Academy of Vocal Arts

Peter Burwasser

Philadelphia City Paper

The lead singers, however, compromised the ultimate impact of this Carmen. The Don Jose of Adam Klein was, for once, suitably boyish, making the naiveté of the soldier/country bumpkin especially believable. But vocally, this was a thin, hard tenor, lacking the bloom at the big moments that audiences take for granted. Jody Kidwell has an attractive voice, but her impersonation of the sultry gypsy was simply underplayed. In her final moments, when Klein skillfully displayed a sense of menace maddened by passion, Kidwell seemed more annoyed than threatened. It was a sort of Carmen the Yenta: "Oy, Don Jose, you give me such a headache with your kvetching, already."

But Gary Day said my strengths lay in my vocal talents! Who is correct??

Don José

Carmen

Georges Bizet

6/7/1991

The Pennsylvania Opera Theater

Barbara Silverstein

Dona D. Vaughn

TPOT's 'Carmen and her country boy of a lover, Don José

Monroe Levin

Jewish Exponent (Philadelphia)

Pennsylvania Opera Theater's recent "Carmen" production had one feature not likely to have been seen before in the opera's 116-year history: a Don Jose who looks, moves and speaks like a shy, unsophisticated country boy – like someone, that is, who might very well have listened to his mother and married Micaela if Carmen had not danced her "Seguidilla" for him.
Adam Klein was the owner of this unusual stage presence, as well as of a tenor voice with sweetness on top and ample power when called for. It was fascinating to watch him change from bumpkin to brute under the music's compulsion, even if the brief hold he had on a girl like Carmen was less than credible.

This was one of the only reviews of that time that had something useful for a press kit, and amid so many scathers too. Thanks, Monroe.

Don José

Carmen

Georges Bizet

10/14/1993

Whitewater Opera

Charles Combopiano

Nelson Sheeley

Sorg scores coup with 'Carmen'

Alma Jean Smith

The Middletown Journal

Among the soloists, Adam Klein stands out for his thoughtfully-conceived and movingly sung portrayal of Don Jose. The growth and change in this character throughout the show is evident. Is "Flower Song" is clearly the most memorable moment of the evening.

This is a review of the performance at the Sorg Opera House in Middletown, Ohio, which despite its name is across the Indiana border from Whitewater. Paul Sorg was a magnate who built this opera house for the good people of Middletown to use, and it's an excellent house, as is the one in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. This one, however, had its pit filled in with cement when the theater was converted to a movie house, and someone like Sorg should now come forward and fund the pit's re-excavation.

Don José

Carmen

Georges Bizet

7/29/1995

Portland Opera Repertory Theater

Bruce Hangen

Dona D. Vaughn

Home-grown 'Carmen' performed brilliantly

Nick Humez

Portland Press Herald

As her feckless dragoon lover Don Jose, Adam Klein displayed a fine tenor voice. His poignant lyricism in the feminine-ending appoggiaturas of "La fleur qui vous m'avez jetee" (Act II) was as moving as his distracted lethality in the final murder scene.

Feminine-ending appoggiaturas, very good. Too bad he or the typesetter got the relative pronoun wrong (should be que instead of qui) in the aria quote. I also don't get why newspapers so often fail to include the accent marks that are required in languages like French.\ This was performed at the State Theater in Portland, where many kinds of music were featured, including my brother Moondi's band Chesapeake, who had signed the wall in the dressing-room area. I signed the wall next to Auldridge's dobro drawing.

Don José

Carmen

Georges Bizet

8/4/1995

Portland Opera Repertory Theater

Bruce Hangen

Dona D. Vaughn

Carmen seduces the men and her audience

Robert Newell

Maine Times

Tenor Adam Klein, the easily manipulated Don Jose, displayed a fresh, virile voice that sometimes slipped into declamation rather than following the vocal line. Nonetheless, his La fleur que tu m'avais jetee was delivered with the requisite pathos that melts Carmen – for the moment. Further, Klein has a youthful exuberance that spanned the footlights easily.

Singers have declaimed where notes are printed since day one. I too am guilty. But I go farther: I'll stay on pitch but be more talking than singing, like sprechstimme. I don't remember when or if I did that in Portland, but I must have done something.

Don José

Carmen

Georges Bizet

9/26/1995

New York City Opera

Andreas Delfs

Christian Smith

New Young Voices in City Opera's 'Carmen'

Anthony Tommasini

The New York Times

Making his debut as Don José was Adam Klein, a young tenor who not so long ago was singing the boy soprano role of Yniold in a Metropolitan Opera production of Debussy's "Pelléas et Mélisande." Sunday's City Opera debut surely represented an exciting arrival for this New York native.
Mr. Klein has a sweet voice and musicianly instincts. He moves comfortably on the stage and does not overact. He gave a creditable performance of this taxing role and won a big ovation from the audience.\ But for Mr. Klein to be singing Don José in this house at this stage of his career is at least a stretch and perhaps a miscalculation. He doesn't yet have the vocal weight to support the role. Too often his voice seemed perilously pushed. His soft legato singing, so comfortable in midrange, was full of effort at the top. It is not that his performance was trouble-plagued; merely that there are signs of trouble ahead if Mr. Klein is not careful. His lovely, light voice should be nurtured, yet the company has cast him later this season in an even heftier role, Mario in Puccini's "Tosca."

This fixation on my young age (35!) has puzzled me ever since the review came out. Typing this into my computer it occurred to me that Tommasini might have thought I sang the Met Yniold in the 80s, not the one in 1971. That would have made sense of the "not so long ago" comment, since my bio didn't specify which production I was in. Anyway, he did go on, didn't he.
For the record, the role of José has never been taxing for me, this was my fifth production as José, and I'm now singing roles much heavier than José or Mario.

Don José

Carmen

Georges Bizet

11/2/1999

OperaDelaware

David Lawton

Bill Fabris

'Carmen' captivates on strength of players, musical score

Rick Mulroney

The News Journal

For his part, Klein used his strong yet supple voice and expressive manner to maximum effect in his sympathetic portrayal of the anguished desire that drives José to the story's murderous climax.

I think this was done on the same set that Chautauqua Opera used in 1985, when I was in the chorus. And I sang choral concerts under David Lawton in the late "1970s" at SUNY Stony Brook.

Don José

Carmen

Georges Bizet

10/7/2000

Virginia Opera

Peter Mark

Michael Ehrman

This gypsy evokes lust, not love

Clarke Bustard

Richmond Times-Dispatch

Chianakas' dark, throaty mezzo-soprano voice fits the role of Carmen, at least until she starts spitting tone at Klein. His tenor is urgent and virile, almost too heroic for the part, and his stage movements have an unaffected physicality that several of his costars should study carefully.

It should be spelled, "Chianakas's". Unless it's plural, you need the "s".

Don José

Carmen

Georges Bizet

10/8/2000

Virginia Opera

Peter Mark

Michael Ehrman

Va. Opera offers a playful 'Carmen'

David Nicholson

Daily Press

And what could be more pathetic than this version of Don Jose, whose obsession for Carmen drives him into a downward spiral.
When tenor Adam Klein appears in Act IV, his appearance filthy clothes, erratic movements and crazed eyes — is a shocker. It's obvious that Don Jose has been pushed way over the edge…
Klein did a fine job portraying Don Jose as an innocent who's bewitched by this exotic gypsy. His tenor voice carried well through most of the opera though he pushed its limits in the final emotional scene.

I like to make them think I'm working hard. One of the exciting things about listening to Leyontine Price was that it was so wild-sounding you didn't know whether she'd make it to the end, and for me it was thrilling to hear her actually get there. I guess for some people it's worrying, though. But if they can't tell from hearing my basic technique that I'm going to be all right, then they don't know enough about singing.

Don José

Carmen

Georges Bizet

10/8/2000

Virginia Opera

Peter Mark

Michael Ehrman

Virginia Opera starts with high-energy "Carmen"

Lee Tepley

The Virginian- Pilot

Klein's voice has a deep, almost baritone quality that served the lower ranges of his part well. Higher notes did not seem to trouble him either, either with full power or with even more interesting soft notes. His acting and singing made him a sympathetic figure. By the last scene, after Carmen had completely destroyed him, Klein's visual transformation and acting were truly alarming.

Color and weight in a voice, as in life, are not the same thing. I have never been a baritone because my voice is not that weight.

Don José

Carmen

Georges Bizet

10/10/2000

Virginia Opera

Peter Mark

Michael Ehrman

"Carmen" with the Virginia Opera

John C. Shulson

WHRO-FM

As her lover, Don Jose, tenor Adam Klein nicely handles the task at hand. He's been cast as a Dudley Doo-Right kind of guy. A blonde-haired, prim and proper mama's boy. His character is so pure that one can easily see why Carmen targeted him for seduction. Dramatically, he progresses well enough from good guy to outcast. If there's a quibble in his characterization, it rests with his transformation into what seems to be a slightly psychotic soul at the end. I suppose he was the image of a man defeated in love who gave up everything and ended with nothing. But he appeared to be dazed or on drugs, staggering about the stage, wild-eyed. While he obviously loses his dignity in the proceedings, somehow this bit of craftsmanship seemed a little over the top.
Nevertheless, as a spider-in-her-web portrayal, he made an appropriately fine partner for his Carmen and vocally did the role justice. In particular, Klein deserves commendation for handling the demands of the demanding Flower Song with sensitivity and for meeting the challenges of its heights successfully, although not without strain. As the evening progressed, his upper register seemed to take on a forced quality that makes one a bit apprehensive over the extra performances added to this opera's run.

Oh, he knows how it should go, doesn't he. And as with the City Opera production, I had no vocal trouble with any of the 9 performances we did, which by the way were originally ten, then knocked down to eight, and bumped back to nine as the tickets sold. Contracts were amended.

Don José

Carmen

Georges Bizet

10/17/2000

Virginia Opera

Peter Mark

Michael Ehrman

Carmen More Than Lives Up To Her Reputation

B. J. Atkinson

Port Folio Weekly

Tenor Adam Klein, a controlled and well-paced actor, convincingly portrayed Don Jose's psychological unraveling from a wuss under the iron control of his mother (truly a player in this story, though not an actual character) to a broken man who stalks and murders the cause of his ruin, the object of his obsessive love, the defiant Carmen.\ Klein sang not only with ringing high notes, but with a warmth in the baritone range that tenors sometimes lose. Jose's famous aria, "La fleur que tu m'avais jetee," brought an expected ovation.

Well, well, something useable for once. Whether true or not. (True, of course.)

Don Ottavio

Don Giovanni

Wolfgang Mozart

10/5/1984

Scovasso Opera Company

Stephen Scovasso

Don Giovanni

Jennie Schulman

Back Stage

"Don Ottavio in the person of Adam Klein possessed a tenor of such magnificent timbre that his rendition of "Il Mio Tesoro" stopped the show for quite a spell."

I got this part because Al Tepedino couldn't make the dates.

Duca

Rigoletto

Giuseppe Verdi

2/24/1995

Opera Saskatchewan

Tyrone Paterson

Irving Guttman

Rigoletto shines

Bernard Pilon

The Leader-Post, Regina

The first of Verdi's three enormously successful operas takes place in Mantua, home of the Duke of Mantua (Adam Klein)…
The final heart-wrenching pathos wouldn't have moved a soul had the principals been poor.\ They were superb.\ As Tyrone Paterson elicited fine music from the Regina Symphony Orchestra, Dietsch and Klein and Zhang took turns stunning the crowd.
They, along with Milne and Stilwell and Watson, turned out virtuoso performances

This little Rigoletto, my second, took Regina by surprise. Many first-timers had no idea live theater could be so hot, specifically the Duke-Maddalena scene. Jean Stilwell and I are inhibition-free actors.
This was also the place I discovered curling and met Sandra Peterson, later Schmirler, then Canadian and World Champion and later Olympic Champion, then killed by cancer. I was a major fan.

Duca

Rigoletto

Giuseppe Verdi

2/24/1995

Opera Saskatchewan

Tyrone Paterson

Irving Guttman

Rigoletto shines

Bernard Pilon

The Leader-Post, Regina

The first of Verdi's three enormously successful operas takes place in Mantua, home of the Duke of Mantua (Adam Klein)…
The final heart-wrenching pathos wouldn't have moved a soul had the principals been poor.\ They were superb.
As Tyrone Paterson elicited fine music from the Regina Symphony Orchestra, Dietsch and Klein and Zhang took turns stunning the crowd.
They, along with Milne and Stilwell and Watson, turned out virtuoso performances.

Duca

Rigoletto

Giuseppe Verdi

6/21/1995

Opera Saskatchewan

Tyrone Paterson

Irving Guttman

Regina

Richard Ewen

Opera Canada

Adam Klein (the Duke) gave a portrayal more noble than lascivious. He was in good voice and delivered his arias with gusto.

We opened some Saskatchewan eyes with the Maddalena scene. They didn’t know that sort of thing could be seen in opera. They ate it up. And in my offtime I discovered the great sport of Curling.

Duca

Rigoletto

Giuseppe Verdi

7/8/1996

Central City Opera

John Moriatry

Adelaide Bishop

Evil lurks in CCO's exciting 'Rigoletto'

Wes Blomster

Daily Camera

And to make sure that [Gilda's innocence] doesn't [survive], CCO artistic director John Moriarty has engaged a Duke designed to be the anti-hero of women's liberation.\ Adam Klein – the third CCO debut on Saturday – has a bright, slightly metallic tenor that is at its very best in the score's many ensembles.
And in this most unjust of all possible worlds, Klein employs his charisma to make clear that the Duke will spend the rest of his days unpunished, bouncing from bed to bed with the elasticity of a bungee jumper.

Ask anyone: I'm a diehard feminist. One of the reasons I liked doing the Duke was that there really are rascals like that out there, and I like my art to be a mirror that reflects the audience on themselves. If I get them to hate me in a role like this I'm satisfied I've done my job.

Duca

Rigoletto

Giuseppe Verdi

7/8/1996

Central City Opera

John Moriatry

Adelaide Bishop

'Rigoletto' a drama without drama

Marc Shugold

Rocky Mountain News

Most of the blame must be pointed at Bishop, who allowed this story of curses, vengeance, thoughtless crimes and courtly tomfoolery to unfold in lifeless fashion…
Adam Klein was a handsome Duke but proved leaden in his portrayal of this complex, potentially interesting hero/villain. Neither his big hit mentioned earlier nor the earlier Questa o quella raised the pulse.

"Withering" doesn't begin to cover it. I can assure you the audience disagreed.

Duca

Rigoletto

Giuseppe Verdi

7/9/1996

Central City Opera

John Moriatry

Adelaide Bishop

'Rigoletto' voices strike it rich

Glenn Giffin

Denver Post

And the Duke? This was tenor Adam Klein who can deliver his moments of vocal glory with fullout abandon. HIs voice has the masculine quality that sounds virile, yet soars to the high notes without strain and a nicely ringing quality. Physically, this is a Duke who has hot hormone flashes almost constantly. One would have liked to see more of him, but the opera presents only a stereotype. Klein deserves better.

Despite these accolades for me, this review criticized the production, mostly the stage direction. But the review was rife with errors. This prompted me to email the following to the Denver Post, which they partly printed. Parts not printed are in brackets.

[To the Editor.]
I wish to point out some factual errors in Glenn Giffin's review of the Central City Opera production of RIGOLETTO.
[First,] Mr. Giffin writes that the opera demands that Rigoletto be a crippled hunchback. Not so: only a hunchback is required. Rigoletto's movement isn't required to be impaired to the point of crippling him. The hump is on his back, not his feet.
[Second, the soprano aria is printed as "Caro Nome." The convention when printing Italian aria titles is to capitalize only as it is capitalized in the libretto, and not, as in English, to capitalize all but words like "and" and "the". Thus the proper printed title of this aria is "Caro nome."]
[Third, Mr. Giffin] He also states that Monterone curses Rigoletto and not the Duke, and that this is "to real life as potato chips are to nutrition" and "one of those black holes that dot opera." Incorrect: Monterone first curses the Duke and Rigoletto together, then curses Rigoletto alone. Mr. Giffin's attention must have been elsewhere when Monterone sang, "Jester and Duke now hear as I curse you." When he returns in Act 2 on the way to his execution, Monterone sings, in this translation, "In vain did I break on your revels to curse you; O Duke, live contented, I die unavenged." He makes no reference to his curse on Rigoletto, so it should be clear, [though evidently not to Mr. Giffin,] that the curse which Monterone thinks more important is the one he laid upon the Duke. [Incidentally, potato chips, as snacks foods go, are extremely nutritious.]
[This may seem trivial to some, but these errors of Mr. Giffin's throw doubt on the rest of his review - favorable and unfavorable opinions alike - for those familiar with the opera, and augments the ignorance of those not so familiar. Ignorance, on any subject, is not trivial, I would think, for a newspaper, whose business it is to keep the reading public informed.]
[The fourth error (or fifth, if one counts the one about potato chips) is the statement that RIGOLETTO "will be given five additional performances through Aug. 4." In fact, there will be eleven other performances through Aug. 10. I have no idea how Mr. Giffin came up with this inaccuracy.]
(The Post substituted the following for this last paragraph, in the process making another error: Lastly, 11 more performances of "Rigoletto" will be given through Aug. 4, not five as stated in the review.)
[By the way, on your Opinions page, where you print the address for LETTERS, you print "Letters of 200 words or less are preferred..." Grammatically, "200 words or fewer" is the accepted phrasing, as "less" refers to quantities without plurals, such as water and sand, while "fewer" refers to divisible quantities like people, cars and words. It's rather humorous that you follow this incorrect construction with "all letters may be edited for length, grammar and accuracy." If you and your reviewers are prone to such mistakes as I have listed here, your ability to edit letters received from the public at large is rather suspect, is it not?]
[Yours]
Adam Klein (The Duke in RIGOLETTO)
Central City

Duca

Rigoletto

Giuseppe Verdi

7/11/1996

Central City Opera

John Moriatry

Adelaide Bishop

Rigoletto's heart is in its performances

Kay Turnbaugh

The Mountain-Ear

Treachery comes from Adam Klein as the lecherous duke. His tenor voice soars and entreats, it beckons with abandon, and he's at his best in the famous aria, "Woman is fickle," and in duets with Gamberoni. He is dashing and seductive, and it's understandable that women fall for him like aspen leaves.

For those of you who don't know, aspen is about the only broad-leaved tree in great swaths of Colorado. Also, this paper gets the prize for Most Awful Pun Masquerading As Publication Name.

Duca

Rigoletto

Giuseppe Verdi

7/19/1996

Central City Opera

John Moriatry

Adelaide Bishop

A Rigoletto that is a production for our times

Bob and Anne Hunter

Weekly
Register-Call

Adam Klein's "Duke" is a sleazy character preying on women for his own delight. Too bad for Gilda such a bum has such a beautiful voice and handles it so very well. He is a real talent, although physically slight and less commanding than one would expect from a nobleman.

My first Central City gig. It's not so much the thinness of the air that makes it hard to sing (because less breath can be taken in and used per phrase), it's the lack of oxygen (because less oxygen is available to the muscles around the vocal folds to replenish their supply as they work). It takes three weeks for your body to manufacture the extra red corpuscles to compensate for it. Then again, people with breathy techniques will suffer more at 8500 feet than others will.

Duca

Rigoletto

Giuseppe Verdi

7/25/1996

Central City Opera

John Moriatry

Adelaide Bishop

Come As You Aria

M. S. Mason

Westword

Lovely soprano Kathryn Gamberoni as Gilda projects innocence and affection with admirable clarity, and Adam Klein's nasty Duke is both insidious and masterful – a real thrill to hear.

Kathryn Gamberoni quit opera a year or two after this production. She was a very good singing actress, but she'd had enough of the business.

Duca

Rigoletto

Giuseppe Verdi

9/1/1997

The Opera Company of El Paso

Ted Taylor

Marc Astafan

EL PASO

Jaime Castañeda

Opera News

With Adam Klein's forward enunciation, especially in the lower register, the Duke's cynical intentions were made vivid.

Because of this gig I learned that the first Europeans, not counting Vikings, to enter the territory now claimed by the contiguous United States were not Pilgrims but Spaniards, and they came through El Paso. They celebrate "first Thanksgiving" there on a different date than Turkey Day.
Because of this gig I got to: explore Carslbad Caverns; learn that in Mexico as well as in Chinese food markets, the smell of the food is an important selling point, whereas in American ones they try to make everything seem so sterile that you can barely even smell the cheeses; and discover Tang sabor Durazno, or Peach flavored Tang, the best processed-sugar powdered drink on the planet. (See the article on Tang elsewhere on this website.)
Kudos goes to Señor Castañeda, who among a sea of incorrectness uses the word "enunciation" to describe how well my words came across, instead of the usual "diction," which though millions use it that way doesn't just mean enunciation but also choice and use of words — so "enunciation" is the unambiguous, hence preferable, choice.

Elemer

Arabella

Richard Strauss

12/23/2001

The Metropolitan Opera

Christoph Eschenbach

Stephen Pickover

Off-Peak Performance

Peter G. Davis

New York Metro

The supporting cast is also first-rate: Raymond Very (Matteo) and Adam Klein (Elemer), winning interpreters of two tenor roles with few rewards for much hard work; Eric Halfvarson and Judith Forst, vocally and visually impeccable as Arabella's low-living parents; and Laura Aikin, a Fiakermilli whose cork-popping coloratura in the party scene is positively awesome.

Yaa, awesome, dude!

Erik

The Flying Dutchman

Richard Wagner

11/18/1985

IU Opera Theater

Thomas Baldner

Ross Allen

Lessons in 'The Flying Dutchman'

Peter Jacobi

The Herald-Telephone (Bloomington)

There's a splendid tenor developing in Adam Klein, the Erik, and a strong one, too.

Erik at age 25, and then for fifteen years no one thought I could sing Wagner.

Erik

Der Fliegende Holländer

Richard Wagner

10/25/2002

The Atlanta Opera

William Fred Scott

Nicolette Molnàr

‘Dutchman’ comes together marvelously

Pierre Ruhe

The Atlanta
Journal- Constitution

“The Flying Dutchman, handsomely directed by Nicolette Molnar and sung by a thoroughly solid cast, opened Thursday at the Fox Theatre — the single most cogent and skillfully assembled production I’ve experienced from this company — and is warmly recommended…
The Daland, too, cut a three-dimensional figure, as Kurt Link’s bass had an antique timbre to it, a touch bitter. Adam Klein made Senta’s luckless suitor, Erik, a vivid, tormented fellow.

What, pray tell, is an antique timbre?

Faust

Charles Gounod

7/14/1993

Brevard Music Festival

Henry Janiec

Paul MacPhail

Conductor Janiec offers solutions to 'Faust' opera

John Bridges

a paper in Asheville, NC

Adam Klein as Faust showed a big, dramatic voice which was a baritone in quality, not tenor. He produces his top with force of will and his continual covering of his top robs it of "ping" or brilliance. His high B natural in Act 1 and C in the garden scene he wisely attacked in head voice and swelled them slightly.

French opera is not about loud high notes. Both notes Bridges writes about here come over a pianissimo orchestra and destroy the intended effect if sung loud. Not that any tenors will ever listen to me about this.

Faust

Charles Gounod

7/14/1993

Brevard Music Festival

Henry Janiec

Paul MacPhail

Brevard's production of opera 'Faust' looks to original

Dawn D. Wilson

The Mountaineer, Waynesville NC

Adam Klein, who had the title role, brought dynamic emotion to the stage by the forceful way he took charge of the role. Klein, who has performed at the Met, is a talented tenor whose high, soaring notes were displayed incredible vocal control.

This is a review of the same show John Bridges saw (q.v.). Too bad the second sentence has an extra verb in it.

First Armored Man

The Magic Flute

Wolfgang Mozart

9/16/1989

Indianapolis Opera

James Caraher

Robert Driver

'Magic Flute' a musical treat

Charles Staff

The Indianapolis News

…The singing, not to mention the acting, was good down to the smallest part. Quite near the end, for instance, tenor Adam Klein made a significant impression as the First Man in Armour, no stellar role by any means.

If it’s not a stellar role, why do heldentenors the world over get hired to do it? He has the best vocal line in the whole opera. This was my first solo mainstage role after completing grad school.

First Armored Man

The Magic Flute

Wolfgang Mozart

9/16/1989

Indianapolis Opera

James Caraher

Robert Driver

City opera opener delights audience

Jay Harvey

The Indianapolis Star

Other characters appear in twos and threes. As one of the men in armor with tenor Adam Klein, Denis Ryan Kelly seemed more secure than he had as a rather wooly-voiced Speaker of the Temple earlier.

I had a lot of fun with Denis. He taught philosophy, of which he said, “It’s not that philolophy is an imprecise discipline: It’s just that its precision has a high degree of generality.

Georg (Erik)

Der Fliegende Holländer

Richard Wagner

6/11/2002

Spoleto Festival USA

Emmanuel Villaume

Chen Shi-Zheng

From Chen Shi-Zheng’s Theatrical ‘Dutchman’ to a South African ‘Carmen’

Heidi Waleson

The Wall Street Journal

Adam Klein made Georg (usually Erik), Senta’s boyfriend before she got involved with demons, the one realistic character in the show.

This was such a fun production. The spinning chorus wore beanie hats fixed up with big sail-like triangles. One of the few times I've seen a "modern" interpretation of an old opera work. I think it's because it was coordinated and committed. Don't do things half-assed. It won't work. But not only that: Shi-Zheng didn't go against the music as so many directors do. He found a way to stylize the action such that it happened along with the music but still maintained its own integrity, and both music and visuals were complemented and enhanced.
I wish I'd kept the review from the local paper, which about me said something like, "Adam Klein achieved what is almost an operatic impossibility by musically defining Georg."

Grimoaldo

Rodelinda

George Frideric Handel

2/6/2000

Virginia Opera

Peter Mark

Lillian Garrett-Groag

Visual effects enhance Handel's "Rodelinda"

Paul Sayegh

The Virginian-Pilot

Garrett-Groag was particularly successful in creating human characters. For instance, the director elicited from tenor Adam Klein a performance as the villainous Grimoaldo that not only exhibited the character's evil side, but also the inner lack of self-confidence that eventually would cost him the throne…
Klein's voice seems to have grown in power and size since his appearances as Romeo, although he may have sacrificed some evenness of tone in the process. His singing was strong and heroic, although his fast music emerged somewhat rough-sounding.

You sing it.

Grimoaldo

Rodelinda

George Frideric Handel

2/8/2000

Virginia Opera

Peter Mark

Lillian Garrett-Groag

Rodelinda: Music And More

Vince Brown

Port Folio Weekly

Tenor Adam Klein brings life to Grimoaldo, the conflicted usurper with a conscience. Bass Michael Meraw makes his Virginia Opera debut as Garibaldo, the manipulative scoundrel concerned only for himself. Both Klein and Meraw have rich male voices that provide a strong timbrel foundation.

I would think a foundation made of timbrels would be unsteady at best. Spelling matters.
Also, Michael Meraw is a baritone.

Grimoaldo

Rodelinda

George Frideric Handel

2/9/2000

Virginia Opera

Peter Mark

Lillian Garrett-Groag

High note of Virginia Opera's 'Rodelinda' is strong singing

David Nicholson

Daily Press

Michael Meraw had the right degree of sinister edge as Garibaldo, but Adam Klein seemed uneasy as the duke, Grimoaldo.
His voice contained too much weight for this role.

Evidently Peter Mark disagreed, since he hired me and was pleased, as were all I spoke to, that a voice the size of mine was also so agile as to be able to negotiate the coloratura.
And really, does Nicholson think that baroque opera voices were small? When Farinelli had a contest with a trumpet player to see who was louder and could sustain a longer note?

Grimoaldo

Rodelinda

George Frideric Handel

2/10/2000

Virginia Opera

Peter Mark

Lillian Garrett-Groag

Rich music, stunning duet make 'Rodelinda' worthwhile

Lucia Anderson

The Free Lance-Star

Adam Klein is also in top form as Grimoaldo, the usurper. Klein, who was an unusually rich tenor voice, sweeps the audience away with his skill and passion.

My coloratura’s not bad either.

Grimoaldo

Rodelinda

George Frideric Handel

2/18/2000

Virginia Opera

Peter Mark

Lillian Garrett-Groag

Musical revenge is sweet

Clarke Bustard

Richmond Times-Dispatch

All the principal voices — soprano Sujung Kim (Rodelinda), mezzo-soprano Charlotte Paulsen (Eduige, the sister-in-law), male alto Alejandro Garri (Bertarido, the deposed king), tenor Adam Klein (Grimoaldo, the usurper) and baritone Michael Meraw (Garibaldo, Grimoaldo's gray eminence) — sing with such intensity and theatrical flair that the listener is rarely conscious of the repetitiousness of baroque da capo aria.

Well, that and the fact that the repeats are ornamented, so the lines are not really repeated, though the text is.

Judge Danforth

The Crucible

Robert Ward

8/3/1987

IU Opera Theater

Thomas Baldner

Ross Allen

Sight, sound merge to give 'Crucible' its force

Peter Jacobi

The Herald- Telephone (Bloomington)

But to return to the singers, one must point also to Frances Franklin who put edgy fanaticism into her portrayal of Abigail, the woman that initiates all the trouble with her schemings, and to Adam Klein with his deep and rounded vocalism and his energetic approach to the role of Danforth, the judge blinded by a misguided faith, unable to see right or wrong or even his God even though he and only he can see everything clearly.

Robert Ward offered to come to IU for the production in case anyone had any questions to ask the composer, but the producers declined his offer. So I wrote to him personally with questions about a passage for Danforth which in the score seemed to have three ossias, but it wasn't clear which Ward would prefer the singer use. His answer was to do whichever one I preferred, and that the Danforth on the original recording wasn't all that great. In his humble opinion

Judge Danforth

The Crucible

Robert Ward

8/5/1991

Chautauqua Opera

Cal Stewart Kellogg

Albert Takazauckas

'The Crucible' is 'moving production'

Robert Palmer

Chautauquan Daily

(no mention was made of my character or of me in this review.)

Robert Ward saw this production and told me that my Danforth was the strongest he'd seen since Robert Nagy at the Met. And Ward pronounced "Nagy" as a Hungarian would. I was impressed.

Judge Danforth

The Crucible

Robert Ward

7/13/1998

Central City Opera

John Moriarty

Michael Ehrman

'The Crucible,' a tragedy for all times

Wes Blomster

Daily Camera

Ryan Allen, the music master of the season's "Barber of Seville," and Adam Klein, Cavaradossi in the summer's "Tosca," make outstanding contributions as Reverend Hale and Judge Danforth.

Yes, but how were they outstanding?

Judge Danforth

The Crucible

Robert Ward

7/14/1998

Central City Opera

John Moriarty

Michael Ehrman

Central City gambles, wins with 'Crucible'

Marc Shugold

Rocky Mountain News

First-rate performances from Lori Brown Mirabal (Tituba), Barbara Morehouse and Andrew Krikawa (the Putnams), and Adam Klein (Judge Danforth), among many others. As consistently fine a cast as we've seen at Central City.

See the Jeff Bradley quote for this production.

Judge Danforth

The Crucible

Robert Ward

7/14/1998

Central City Opera

John Moriarty

Michael Ehrman

Central City 'Crucible' glows

Jeff Bradley

The Denver Post

And it was a mistake to make Judge Danforth (thrillingly sung by Adam Klein) such a thick-headed villain. His righteousness is misguided but that is his motive, not blood lust or vindictiveness.
As the Rev. Hale, bass Ryan Allen sang unsteadily, and so did rich-voiced mezzo Lori Brown Mirabal, the slave girl Tituba and tenor Bradley Schuller as the victim Giles Corey.

See the Marc Shugold quote for this production.

Judge Danforth

The Crucible

Robert Ward

7/18/1998

Central City Opera

John Moriarty

Michael Ehrman

The Crucible from the Central City Opera

David Sckolnik

KCME-FM/ Colorado Springs Independent

Tenor Adam Klein twisted his way through the role of Judge Danforth, producing an eerie beauty as his being and the house were filled to capacity with hard-edged vocal pronouncement.

Okay… that means what again?

Judge Danforth

The Crucible

Robert Ward

7/23/1998

Central City Opera

John Moriarty

Michael Ehrman

Bewitched

Lillie

Westword

And as vigorously sung by Adam Klein and a stouthearted chorus, Judge Danforth's lyrical Act Three exhortation (which echoes Act One's ominous "Jesus My Consolation") becomes a haunting battle cry of persecution instead of a clarion call for redemption — which, ironically enough, is the same sort of twisted morality that prompted playwright Miller to craft his own form of alchemy in the first place.

Miller's writing the play as a response to McCarthyism is not ironic. Persecution is the very point. In any case, there is no chorus part in Danforth's Invocation, which is what I must assume Lillie means by "exhortation".

Luigi

Il Tabarro

Giacomo Puccini

9/18/1993

Greater Buffalo Opera

Charles Peltz

Gary Burgess

Emotional 'Suor Angelica' is high point of 'Il Trittico' operas

Herman Trotter

The Buffalo News

As Luigi, tenor Adam Klein sang with compelling passion, but like Lawes kept going in and out of focus and out of balance with the orchestra.

I don't know which spelling is correct, Laws or Lawes. (Rebecca Lawes; see the Opera Canada review.) Shea's Buffalo Theater has terrible acoustics and audibility was mentioned several times in this review.

Luigi

Il Tabarro

Giacomo Puccini

12/21/1993

Greater Buffalo Opera

Charles Peltz

Gary Burgess

Buffalo

Paula Citron

Opera Canada

The major roles were assigned to coming professionals. The standout was soprano Rebecca Laws (Giorgetta and Suor Angelica) who has a soaring voice, stunning good looks and dramatic presence. Adam Klein (Luigi) also made a notable impact with his passionate and intense delivery, and one regretted that he was not assigned Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi as well.

This was my first Puccini role. The order in which I debuted in Puccini roles is Luigi, Cavaradossi, Pinkerton, Rodolfo, Des Grieux. Whatever. If you don't know what the usual order is, you have some homework to do, unless you're not a tenor, in which case it matters not a quark.

Martin

The Tender Land

Aaron Copland

6/24/1995

Chicago Opera Theater

Larry Rapchak

Carl Ratner

Sensitive touch lets 'Tender Land' sparkle

John von Rhein

Chicago Tribune

Adam Klein, a good romantic lead if rather pale tenorally, handled Martin's high tessitura with musicality. Chris Owens was suitably hearty as his sidekick, Top.

One could have a conversation over who's whose sidekick.

Martin

The Tender Land

Aaron Copland

6/27/1995

Chicago Opera Theater

Larry Rapchak

Carl Ratner

'Tender Land' Lacks Drive, Power

Wynne Delacoma

Chicago Sun Times

Rita Harvey's Laurie was a major asset… With her warm, dark voice, Dorothy Byrne as Ma Moss was a strong point of focus. Arnold Voketaitis skimmed the surface of the dictatorial Grandpa Moss, but Adam Klein was believable as the introspective Martin, who falls for Laurie. Chris Owens' Top was a potent portrait of oafish menace.

Dorothy Byrne, by the way, grew up in western Pennsylvania in a little town that had its own curling rink. Having discovered the game a few months before this gig, I was very intrigued by that. I don't see the name of this town in the USCA listing of clubs, though.

Martin

The Tender Land

Aaron Copland

6/30/1995

Chicago Opera Theater

Larry Rapchak

Carl Ratner

Unclaimed Melodies

Sarah Bryan Miller

Chicago Reader

Chicago Opera Theater's production is about the best presentation one is likely to find of this minor work. Soprano Rita Harvey made an attractive, empathetic Laurie; her voice isn't large, but it's very pretty. Tenor Adam Klein, who sang well, was likable as Martin and believable in his anguish over leaving Laurie. Baritone Chris Owens made the most of the role of Top, the appetite-driven drifter with the "hakuna matata" mentality.
The evening's best performances came from mezzo-soprano Dorothy Byrne as Ma Moss and Arnold Voketaitis as Grandpa Moss…

Nicknames for this opera: Tenderloin. The Tender Gland. Carl Ratner made this show work with what he had the women do in the last scene, and also what the little girl did at the very end. Thank you, Carl, you made it worth coming to do the show.

Monostatos

The Magic Flute

Wolfgang Mozart

8/10/1991

Chautauqua Symphony

Uriel Segal

Marty Merkley

'Magic Flute' performance was musical miracle

Robert Finn

Chautauquan Daily

Among the secondary parts, special honors went to tenor Adam Klein for his fine singing in the comically villainous role of Monostatos.

This was a staged concert version. I don’t get to do comedy often enough – at least get paid to do it.

Narraboth

Salome

Richard Strauss

9/21/1994

Greater Buffalo Opera

David Effron

Gary Burgess

Buffalo

Neil Crory

Opera Canada

The singing, too, was generally modest in scope. Veterans Joann Grillo (Herodias) and George Shirley (Herod) executed their roles with a certain aplomb, but some of the most appealing singing came from two promising young American artists: tenor Adam Klein (Narraboth) and baritone Duncan Hartman (Jochanaan).

My own review: George Shirley was excellent. I had actually worked with him once at the Met when he stepped in for Stuart Burrows in Die Zauberflöte. I even took a polaroid of him. He didn't remember me. A few years later I ran into him again in Aspen when Central City Opera personnel came there to play a softball game against the Aspen Music School. George was their captain. We got creamed. They played every week and we had people who'd never played before. I just wish they'd continued to keep score but they gave up after they passed 30 runs or so.

Old Grandfather

The Legend of Tsar Saltan

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakoff

5/18/1987

IU Opera Theater

Bryan Balkwill

Nicola Rossi-Lemeni

MUSICAL EVENTS: Marvels Unfold

Andrew Porter

The New Yorker

The large cast was strong. Janet Williams (Militrissa), Karla Fredell (an incisive Babarikha), and Adam Klein (the garrulous gaffer of the crowd scenes) deserve special mention.

Sung in English, as all IU operas were at the time.

Otello

Giuseppe Verdi

11/1/2001

OperaDelaware

David Lawton

Stephanie Sundine

Dramatic 'Otello' by OperaDelaware

Caryl E. Huffaker

The Kennett Paper

Adam Klein as Otello is an outstanding actor with a marvelous tenor voice. His performance was excellent, particularly in the third act in his sorrowful lamentation song, even though he sang while slightly under the weather.

I had a very nasty chest cold and I was lucky to get through the show; indeed I surprised myself at how well I sang in Act 2.

Peter Grimes

Benjamin Britten

11/16/1987

IU Opera Theater

David Itkin

James Lucas

Only a few flaws mar difficult 'Peter Grimes'

James Underwood

The Herald- Telephone (Bloomington)

The cast of Peter Grimes, diction aside, was good enough. Adam Klein, as the troubled outcast Grimes, was excellent. His voice is rather sweet, and this led to some poignant moments, particularly between him and Ellen Orford, the woman he is enamored of. Marilyn Taylor played the latter, and both she and Klein deserve credit for some excellent work in the second act. Both deserve to be heard from again at IU, in leading roles.

Peter Grimes was the last role I did at IU, and I was already done with my degree. In fact I stayed that extra year just to do Grimes, and I ended up being second cast to a Harshaw student, meaning I got to do only one performance instead of two, despite the fact that I was the only tenor who showed up to audition for the part the previous spring.

Peter Quint

The Turn of the Screw

Benjamin Britten

10/5/1996

New York City Opera

Robert Duerr

Mark Lamos

The Horror, The Horror

Peter G. Davis

(a magazine)

As the loathsome Peter Quint who tries to lure the boy into serving his own unspeakable ends, Adam Klein is all smooth diablerie, spinning out his seductively purling melismas with oily beauty.

I had such a good time doing this show. I was really angry when they didn't ask me back when they repeated it a few years later.

Peter Quint

The Turn of the Screw

Benjamin Britten

10/5/1996

New York City Opera

Robert Duerr

Mark Lamos

It's a 'Turn' for the Better

Terry Teachout

Daily News

Premiered in 1954, "The Turn of the Screw" is the finest opera written after World War II, and very possibly the best English-language opera ever composed. Brilliantly adapted by Britten and Myfawnwy Piper from Henry James' famous novella, it tells the tale of Miles and Flora (Zachary Wissner-Gross and Robin Leigh Massie), two children apparently under the spell of a malevolent pair of ghosts (Adam Klein and Christine Abraham), and the governess (Lauren Flanigan) and housekeeper (Alexandra Hughes) who discover their dark secret.

My dad Howard was a music critic for the New York Times in the "1960s" and while there he heard the definition of a good review: you are mentioned and your name is spelled correctly. So this one was good.

Peter Quint

The Turn of the Screw

Benjamin Britten

10/5/1996

New York City Opera

Robert Duerr

Mark Lamos

Governess rules as City Opera stages eerie 'Turn of the Screw'

Mark Adamo

Newark Star Ledger

Yet the music's an elegant, inventive, arching design made from tiniest segments, and Robert Duerr's orchestra breathes like a living thing. The siren-songs of Adam Klein's Quint, the swooning coloratura of Christine Abraham's Miss Jessel, the rich-voiced denials of Alexandra Hughes' housekeeper, the spookily clear voices of Zachary Wissner-Gross and Robin Leigh Massey as the children — all make magic.

Well well. You’d think they’d have asked me back when they reprised it two years later.

Peter Quint

The Turn of the Screw

Benjamin Britten

10/5/1996

New York City Opera

Robert Duerr

Mark Lamos

Shadows of a Ghost Story

James Keller

Newsday

Tenor Adam Klein deserves special mention, more for the evocative scene-setting of the prologue than for his later portrayal of the ghost Peter Quint, and the 13-member chamber ensemble, led by Robert Duerr, provides excellent support from the pit.

I think in a sentence with multiple subject-predicate sections, at least one of which contains a comma, the sections should be separated by semicolons. Otherwise, you know, it tends to run on.

Peter Quint

The Turn of the Screw

Benjamin Britten

10/8/1996

New York City Opera

Robert Duerr

Mark Lamos

Art Bending the Tyranny of Reality

Allan Kozynn

The New York Times

The rest of the cast matched her intensity perfectly. Adam Klein, doubling as the speaker in the prologue and an urbane, brooding Quint, has the agility to negotiate the chromatic filigree that Britten wrote into the role.

Ah, that chromatic filigree.

Peter Quint

The Turn of the Screw

Benjamin Britten

10/8/1996

New York City Opera

Robert Duerr

Mark Lamos

Lincoln Center's Troupes Warm Up

Heidi Waleson

The Wall Street Journal

Mr. Klein (who also sang the prologue) and Ms. Abraham were steely and frightening as the ghosts; Alexandra Hughes, as the housekeeper Mrs. Grose, wobbled.

Well, the housekeeper is a weeble part, after all.

Peter Quint

The Turn of the Screw

Benjamin Britten

10/10/1996

New York City Opera

Robert Duerr

Mark Lamos

Hail Return of 'The Screw'

Westsider

The ghosts Peter Quint and Miss Jessel were flavorfully sung and interpreted by tenor Adam Klein and debuting soprano Christine Abraham — the latter made up to resemble Vampira in the legendary horror movie "Plan 9 from Outer Space."

I think that's probably "Planet 9". Other reviews likened Jessel's look to Bride of Frankenstein. I'll leave it at "bizarre".

Peter Quint

The Turn of the Screw

Benjamin Britten

10/11/1996

New York City Opera

Robert Duerr

Mark Lamos

Real Turn-on at City Opera

Shirley Fleming

New York Post

The cast is splendid. Lauren Flanigan's Governess conveys the nervousness and intensity of the part wonderfully. Alexandra Hughes, making her debut as Mrs. Grose, creates a warm and motherly presence, and Adam Klein's Quint is a model of sinister control. Christine Abraham's debut as Miss Jessel was faultless, and the children — Zachary Wissner-Gross and Robin Leigh Massey — were entirely believable.

Robin Leigh Massey had long left childhood by the time of this production. Also, there was another Miles who alternated with Zach W.-G.: Zachary London, who was really good — but mid-production he decided to take voice lessons with the same person Lauren, Alexandra and the other Zach did, and his natural chest-voice boy soprano was flipped up into his head voice for his entire range and he lost most of his volume. The opening Night Zach was a boy alto, so singing in head voice was fine for him in the range of this part.

Peter Quint

The Turn of the Screw

Benjamin Britten

10/14/1996

New York City Opera

Robert Duerr

Mark Lamos

Splat! Music Season Opens With Brahms, Czech Schmaltz

Charles Michener

The New York Observer

The ravaged white panels of John Conklin's set, at once suggestive of jagged ice, classical ruins and tortuous bedsheets (surrounding a luminously nasty "primrose path" of chartreuse); the grave hysteria of a beautifully paced cast, led by Lauren Flanigan's grandly wounded Governess, Adam Klein's magnetic Peter Quint and little Zachary Wissner-Gross as their spirited victim Miles; the exquisitely hushed playing of Britten's endlessly "screwy" (and scary) music by a 13-piece orchestra led by Robert Duerr, all this contributes to a night at the opera of theatrical magic that is definitely not for the kids.

See? Semicolons! (see the Newsday review)

Peter Quint

The Turn of the Screw

Benjamin Britten

10/26/1996

New York City Opera

Robert Duerr

Mark Lamos

Opera in English

Kevin Filipski

Westside Resident

It's a musically satisfying evening; conductor Robert Duerr brings out Britten's minute variations well. But vocally, the results are mixed: An occasionally shrill Lauren Flanigan is otherwise fine as the governess; Adam Klein successfully conveys the drama of the Prologue and is appropriate as the ghostly caretaker Quint.

Oh yes, typecast.

Peter Quint

The Turn of the Screw

Benjamin Britten

1/11/1997

New York City Opera

Robert Duerr

Mark Lamos

NEW YORK CITY

William Weaver

Opera News

As the prologue/Peter Quint, tenor Adam Klein performed with suave, insinuating menace, while Alexandra Hughes was a sound Mrs. Grose, and in the role of the ghostly Miss Jessel, Christine Abraham was icily evil.

Opera News is the magazine of the Metropolitan Opera, for those of you who don't know. People from the Met came and saw this show, including Fabrizio Melano, who directed the GIANNI SCHICCHI my brother Moondi was in in the 70s. He was very complimentary, but I got no auditions or job offers from the Met due to this contact. It wasn't until I got my new agent Peter Randsman that I was hired by the Met, because he asked them what they thought of my voice, and we then presented me to them in line with what they thought I should be singing — which, I might add, is almost exactly opposite what the head of another large opera company thinks I should be singing. Target marketing is so, so important.

Pinkerton

Madama Butterfly

Giacomo Puccini

5/19/1996

Indianapolis Opera

Günther Bauer-Schenk

Adelaide Bishop

Vocals in Madama Butterfly make it a production to cherish

Charles Staff

Indianapolis Star

And in Klein, Thomas had an almost perfect Pinkerton, charismatic and vocally secure — an actor who just happens to have a fine voice or a fine singer who just happens to know how to act. It works both ways.

Yes indeed it works both ways. Or should.

Pinkerton

Madama Butterfly

Giacomo Puccini

5/19/1996

Indianapolis Opera

Günther Bauer-Schenk

Adelaide Bishop

IO's Final Production Ends Season On High Note

Greg Crawford

Martinsville Reporter/ others

Along with the soprano, Madama Butterfly featured Adam Klein as Pinkerton. Previously seen here in IO's Rigoletto and La Boheme, Klein brought his splendid tenor stage center, making real "The Ugly American's" presence in the exotic Far East. His best moments were in a duet with Thomas, "Viene la sera."

I thought the duet with Sharpless was pretty good, personally.

Pinkerton

Madama Butterfly

Giacomo Puccini

3/17/1997

Edmonton Opera

Grzegorz Nowak

Michael Cavanagh

Powerful acting by Riel helps Butterfly take wings

D. T. Baker

Edmonton Journal

In a way, it's as if this production doesn't give its audience enough credit. Nearly every facet of the story is overstated — from grandiose and needless miming of words as they are sung, to the "important" lines being oversold. Nowhere is this more apparent than with the lead tenor. As Pinkerton, Adam Klein comes of as little more than a post-adolescent kid in a candy store. Mind you, he's a kid with a big voice, one he really pushes out. Projection he's got — subtlety is another matter. For nearly every top note he went for, he posed as he hit it — all a bit much.

A post-adolescent kid in a candy store is exactly what we were going for. As for posing for high notes, if you are going to hold them for a while, whatever you're doing while you're singing it is going to look like a pose.

Pinkerton

Madama Butterfly

Giacomo Puccini

3/17/1997

Edmonton Opera

Grzegorz Nowak

Michael Cavanagh

Madama Butterfly magnificent

John Charles

Edmonton Sun

Under Michael Cavanagh's direction the staging is immediately vivid and cleanly acted. Klein is totally convincing ass the young American naval officer who thinks he's walking into a few months of exotic fun mistakenly labelled "marriage." With any other geisha girl that might be the case, but Butterfly believes in eternal love. Thus the tragedy stems from her character: she is what she is and can be no other.\ Klein has a very good tenor voice and his acting is dead right.

"Labelled" is neither a typo nor a misspelling: it's the Canadian way to spell it, like "jewellery".

Pinkerton

Madama Butterfly

Giacomo Puccini

11/10/1998

Manitoba Opera

Karen Keltner

Michael Cavanagh

Subtle shading gives Butterfly fresh look

Andrew Thompson

Winnipeg Free Press

Adam Klein sang the role of the American naval officer with chilling effect. The role of Pinkerton, coloured as it is by swaggering cruelty and racist condescension, demands all of the strength of a romantic Italian tenor with very little of its attendant romance. Klein captured this character's arrogance while still managing to make the sentiment of his final exit in Addio, Fiorito Asil seem genuine.

They liked me in Canada. And I liked Canada. Irving Guttman was artistic director of the Edmonton, Winnipeg and Regina companies and hired me for all six of my jobs there from "1995" to "1999", and when he retired from those companies I wasn't hired back.

Rodolfo

La Bohème

Giacomo Puccini

5/6/1995

Indianapolis Opera

Günther Bauer-Schenk

Malcolm Fraser

'La Boheme' production needs a little more emotion

Charles Staff

The Indianapolis News

Tenor Adam Klein's characterization of Rodolfo was always intelligent though his somewhat covered or swallowed sound is an acquired taste – one, I'm happy to say, I acquired before the evening was over. I might prefer a more "Italianate" sound, more "head" or "mask" resonance in my Rodolfos, but Klein is a singer who is a musician.

Some Italian tenors to remember: Enrico Caruso, Bruno Prevedi, Giuseppe Giacomini, Franco Bonisolli, Aureliano Pertile, Carlo Cossutta, Franco Corelli, and Mario del Monaco. All these had dark timbres, though some of them had the brightness still associated with the "Italianate" sound. But they all seem to be forgotten, especially Caruso, since Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras became the only three tenors anyone knows about. Pavarotti is at most a lyric tenor and was best in Donizetti and Bellini roles; Domingo and Carreras are of Spanish descent, not Italian, and are spinto tenors. One does not hear about Italian dramatic tenors these days. The current fashion in the USA favors tenors with a light color and lots of edge for the standard Italian repertory, keeping voices like mine out of it. This Rodolfo I sang was a replacement gig and I've only otherwise sung the role in western Canada and Portland, Maine, and only for Portland did I get the job by audition.

Rodolfo

La Bohème

Giacomo Puccini

5/7/1995

Indianapolis Opera

Günther Bauer-Schenk

Malcolm Fraser

Not even this fine production of 'Boheme' can save Mimi

Jay Harvey

The Indianapolis Star

Klein's Rodolfo looked the part of a bohemian intellectual, rail-thin and brooding in expression when he wasn’t being transfigured by love or laughter. His singing blended thrilling freedom with admirable accuracy and self-possession. It was not his fault such qualities elicited a noisy demonstration of approval after Che gelida manina, the tenor's famous Act 1 aria.

Not my fault? Was the word supposed to be "disapproval"? The applause for that aria, on opening night, lasted thirty seconds. I've noticed that applause after arias generally lasts ten seconds, so any more than that shows something past politeness from the audience.

Rodolfo

La Bohème

Giacomo Puccini

5/11/1995

Indianapolis Opera

Günther Bauer-Schenk

Malcolm Fraser

Thunderous Applause, brilliant music marks IO's La Boehme

Greg Crawford

The Perry Township Weekly

Best received, as was made obvious by thunderous opening night applause, was Adam Klein, a late-minute substitution as Rodolfo. His better solo, "Che gelida manina," was among the most romantic of La Boheme. Sung to Deborah Raymond (Mimi) as he comforts her in the cold, Klein's every note was crystal clear and poignant to the extreme.

Well well, thanks, Greg. Too bad you couldn't proofread the paper before it went to press and get rid of that title typo.\ This was the only opera that I've been in so far where the actors did improv to get into the character. It was fascinating and frustrating to watch ourselves paraphrase our lines in English with Charles Boyer/Inspector Clouseau accents and French gestures, only to become Italians again in bind and body when we sang it. We finally broke the habit and looked like Frenchmen singing in Italian, but it took a while.

Rodolfo

La Bohème

Giacomo Puccini

6/7/1995

Indianapolis Opera

Günther Bauer-Schenk

Malcolm Fraser

An IO opera to die for

Charles Epstein

Jewish Post & Opinion

Adam Klein was equal to the task of providing Mimi love. His portrayal of Rodolfo was perfect. His singing was brilliant. Klein is another performer who should be heard from in the near future.

I was heard the next season in Madama Butterfly, and not after.

Rodolfo

La Bohème

Giacomo Puccini

4/27/1998

Manitoba Opera

Louis Salemno

Linda Brovski

Opera season ends on high note

Greg Crawford

Winnipeg Free Press

Rodolfo's Che gelida manina was impressively judged by tenor Adam Klein. And Monique Page's response in Mi chiamano Mimi was a perfect example of why her portrayal of this consumptive seamstress worked: it was gentle, simple and beautifully lyrical.\ In the duet O soave fanciulla, Page and Klein proved to be well matched, their vocal chemistry complemented by their persuasive physical interpretation of what is admittedly a very quick courtship!

It's Monique Pagé, not Page. Spelling matters.
In the Indianapolis production, we were asked to be as inventive as we could in coming up with French gestures and stuff. In this production every suggestion made by a singer was answered with "Can I be the director now?"

Rodolfo

La Bohème

Giacomo Puccini

4/29/1998

Manitoba Opera

Louis Salemno

Linda Brovski

Manitoba Opera's La Boheme visually stunning

Matt Bellan

The Jewish Post & News

Tenor Adam Klein, baritone Theodore Baerg as Marcello and bass Phillip Ens as their philosopher friend, Colline are superbly cast.\ They sing some of the opera's arias together, and when they do, their awesome vocal range creates thrilling harmonies.
Klein is also dramatically credible as the earnest poet Rudolfo, falling head over heels for Mimi, and visibly pained when she leaves him.

Ted Baerg actually painted the painting of the Red Sea that we used, in the original production that used this set.

Rodolfo

La Bohème

Giacomo Puccini

4/30/1998

Manitoba Opera

Louis Salemno

Linda Brovski

Edmonton

John Becker

Opera Canada

American tenor Adam Klein, also in his debut with Manitoba Opera, played but did not overplay the poet Rodolfo. His character was youthful and romantic, and his performance was impressively loyal to the libretto and the score.

Impressively loyal means, where other tenors sing "La-a spe-----------ranza," I sing "La dol-l-ce-e--------- speranza," including the original text while retaining the interpolated high C, which is not in the printed score.
This was the gig where I bought 4 used curling stones from Thompson Broom to use on my pond in the winter. I was almost disappointed that the border inspectors didn't ask about them when I came back to the States. They also forgot to corfiscate my Canadian-bought lemon.

Rodolfo

La Bohème

Giacomo Puccini

2/1/1999

Edmonton Opera

Tyrone Paterson

Michael Cavanagh

Old friend La boheme still delights

D.T. Baker

The Edmonton Journal

Tenor Adam Klein as Rodolfo was the night's most frustrating presence. While his voice did warm up a bit as the night got on, it arrived too late for Che gelida manina, which came off dramatically all right, but with a voice that broke occasionally and a top end that seemed insecure all night. His acting made Rodolfo quite sympathetic, but the fluid lines Puccini gives the character to sing had some rough water here.

Ever heard of RSV? Respiratory synchrotrile virus, I believe, is the spelling. Really nasty chest infection. The wards at Children's Hospital were overflowing with kids afflicted with it, and Monique and I caught it a week before the show went up. They had someone on standby in case I didn't think I could make it through Opening Night, and without guaifenesin I wouldn't have. ( I learned during this that Canadian generic guaifenesin is a different taste from the ones in the States, utterly revolting, and it's better to stick to the well-known brand name.) The next week the following letter was published:
"We disagree with D.T. Baker's review of the opera La boheme. When our class went to the dress rehearsal, we knew Rodolpho (Adam Klein) had a cold and, to us, he was not a “frustrating presence." Wouldn't it have been better to research the facts on the singers before making such a harsh statement?
Grade 6 class
Rio Terrace School
Edmonton"

Thanks, kids.

Rodolfo

La Bohème

Giacomo Puccini

2/1/1999

Edmonton Opera

Tyrone Paterson

Michael Cavanagh

La Boheme is powerful

John Charles

The Edmonton Sun

Oh yes, the singing! Klein seemed to have a cold, and occasionally sounded a tad hoarse, but otherwise he was splendid, forthright and passionate, with many warm, firm high notes. This is his third Edmonton appearance and he's a dynamic, appealing presence. His unfortunate wig, however, has saddled him with a permanent bad-hair day.

Bad hair day?? I used my own hair!!! One of the rare times I didn't wear a wig.
But in the Winnipeg production the year before, the wigmistress wanted to use my own hair but the director insisted on a wig. That thing was frightful. Then I experienced poetic justice when on Opening Night during the pillowfight in Act 4 one good boff to the head removed my wig from my head, right before running off to help Mimi up the stairs. I got the stocking-cap off and Monique spent the beginning of "Sono andati?" pulling bobby pins out of my hair, so it magically grew about 6 inches. My mom, who was watching, thought it logical, since some months had passed since Act 3.

Rodolfo

La Bohème

Giacomo Puccini

2/2/1999

Edmonton Opera

Tyrone Paterson

Michael Cavanagh

The bohemeian way: La boheme starts 1999 off right

Melanie Gall

The Gateway

The four bohemians were warm and amusing, with clever banter. The few scenes where all four were together were the most entertaining throughout the production. Adam Klein sang his arias beautifully, with a clear, lyrical voice. Edwand Albert did a fantastic job as Schaunard. His strong baritone commanded the character's personality.

Didn't notice the cold, it seems.

Rodolfo

La Bohème

Giacomo Puccini

7/24/1999

Portland Opera Repertory Theater

Bruce Hangen

Dona D. Vaughn

'La Boheme': Better than 'La Traviata'!

Christopher Hyde

Portland Press Herald

Both singers, Adam Klein as Rodolpho and Pamela Armstrong as Mimi, make the opening aria, familiar as it is, fresh and powerful. Isaak Dinesen said that joy is finding in oneself an excess of strength. Their voices fill a large hall effortlessly. Adam Klein was a good Don Jose in the company's initial production of "Carmen," but he has developed even more since then.

Isaak who?\ Notice that in the title, the colon and exclamation point are outside the quotes, but in the review the comma is within the quotes. Why?

Rodolfo

La Bohème

Giacomo Puccini

7/28/1999

Portland Opera Repertory Theater

Bruce Hangen

Dona D. Vaughn

PORTLAND OPERA DOES PUCCINI PROUD

Susan Larson

Boston Globe

As Rodolfo, Adam Klein displayed fidgety energy and an exciting tenor, imbued with a natural boyish sweetness and ductility that he did his darndest to choke off in favor of an overly darkened and thickened production. Less Domingo and more Bjoerling in his singing wouldn't hurt.
Klein played Rodolfo as a self-mocking observer, a sort of Jerry Seinfeld whose smart-guy poses must melt under the warmth of Mimi's love. Except they didn't. Commitment Time came and went in the final acts; Rodolfo held himself aloof from his beloved when Puccini was practically screaming for him to fall into her embrace. What was the director thinking?

I don't get the impression that Susan Larson has heard many heldentenors. I wonder what she'd write about Hans Hopf.

Roméo

Roméo et Juliette

Charles Gounod

10/4/1998

Virginia Opera

Peter Mark

Michael Ehrman

Romeo et Juliette a rare balance of voice and set

Paul Sayegh

The Virginian-Pilot

In the end, though, a performance of Gounod's opera stands or falls by its two principals, and here Virginia Opera succeeds. Adam Klein and Nathalie Morais were not only dramatically believable, but also vocally well-suited to their roles.\ Tall and handsome, Klein successfully captured the passion and youth of Romeo. His lower voice had a slightly covered, baritonal sound that carried up into his middle range and gave his tenor a very strong and masculine quality.
His high notes were secure and powerfully projected, but it was the smoothness and attractiveness of his voice that was noteworthy.\ Klein sang with much sensitivity, as at the end of the first-act aria, when he made a crescendo on the final high note, rather than belting it out, as most tenors would. His French diction was also excellent.

Nathalie Morais was my Juliette, and I don't care what anyone thinks: she was a perfect Juliette, vocally and otherwise. I’m very sad she quit the business.
Compare this quote to the one from Joe Banno, however.

Roméo

Roméo et Juliette

Charles Gounod

10/19/1998

Virginia Opera

Peter Mark

Michael Ehrman

A spirited 'Romeo'

Joe Banno

The Washington Post

In the title roles, Adam Klein and Nathalie Morais may not fulfill all demands, but they're ingenious performers. Klein, while not the most nuanced actor, cuts a virile profile and sings excitingly. Unfortunately, that excitement comes across as too loud too much of the time and vocal heft that undercuts Romeo's callowness and Gounod's lyricism.

This was a first: an opera singer being too loud too often! However, this was a performance in a hall twice the size of the other hall we'd been in up to then, and I thought I needed to project more. See the quote from Lucia Anderson from the same performance.

Roméo

Roméo et Juliette

Charles Gounod

10/22/1998

Virginia Opera

Peter Mark

Michael Ehrman

Virginia Opera's 'Romeo & Juliette' is sublime

Lucia Anderson

The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA)

Nathalie Morais makes a glorious Juliette. She is young, she is winsome, and her voice is pure gold…
Adam Klein is also impressive as Romeo. Not only does he look like a romantic hero (a comparative rarity among operatic tenors), but his singing ability equals Morais's. Their duets are heartbreakingly lovely.
Both singers have unusually rich voices for their vocal range, and each soars confidently through Gounod's high notes without skimping the lower notes.
They are also convincing actors.

Of course, being from Fredericksburg, this review isn't as important as the one from D.C., is it?

Roméo

Roméo et Juliette

Charles Gounod

10/23/1998

Virginia Opera

Peter Mark

Michael Ehrman

'Romeo and Juliet' a high hurdle for composer

Clarke Bustard

Richmond Ties-Dispatch

The Romeo, Adam Klein, fully invests a big tenor voice and considerable acting skills in his role, and Morais is a sightly, if not vocally ideal, Juliet.

Nathalie Morais was my Juliette, and I don't care what anyone thinks: she was a perfect Juliette, vocally and otherwise. I’m very sad she quit the business. See the quotes from Paul Sayegh and Lucia Anderson.

Sam

Susannah

Carlisle Floyd

7/14/1997

Central City Opera

John Moriarty

Michael Ehrman

'Susannah' flaunts America's rich cultural trove

Wes Blomster

Boulder Daily Camera

Adam Klein is an interesting combination of power and weakness as her brother Sam, and James Daniel Frost movingly portrays the fragile Little Bat, the incarnation of absolute good in the work.

Yes, Little Bat who in his infinite goodness confesses to the Elders that Susannah “let him love her up.”

Sam

Susannah

Carlisle Floyd

7/14/1997

Central City Opera

John Moriarty

Michael Ehrman

'Susannah' an opera masterpiece

Marc Shugold

Rocky Mountain News

(Among the singers, only Diane Alexander and Andrew Wentzel were mentioned in the published version of this rave review. But Shugold sent the company an email of the entire review, outlining the following and other parts which were mistakenly cut:)
Susannah's two allies were marvelously shaped by Adam Klein (Sam) and James Daniel Frost (Little Bat). In his acting and singing, Klein nobly captured the big-brother humanity of Sam.

The title should be "operatic masterpiece". In Shugold's defense, I should point out that reviewers don't generally title their reviews, the editors do.

Sam

Susannah

Carlisle Floyd

7/15/1997

Central City Opera

John Moriarty

Michael Ehrman

'Susannah' hits jackpot at Central City

Jeff Bradley

The Denver Post

Susannah's liquor-loving brother, Sam, is more sympathetic than normal, thanks to tenor Adam Klein's intelligent acting and radiant singing. Sam becomes much more than a powerless drunk. He's a loving brother who understands human failings ("It's about the way people is made, I reckon") and simply doesn't know how to protect his sister. He even plays the bones to accompany the "Jaybird" folk ditty he sings for Susannah.

Two things: it's intriguing how reviewers so often blame, but in cases like this praise, the singers for the characters they portray, when so much of that is due to the director's concept of the piece. And John Moriarty is responsible for my playing bones in this show. He'd heard me accompany myself on them at an Après Opera evening the previous season, and suggested to Michael Ehrman that I play them during "Jaybird". If only the tune were longer, I could have done some real playing — but people talked about this for a long time.

Sam

Susannah

Carlisle Floyd

7/20/1997

Central City Opera

John Moriarty

Michael Ehrman

Central City's 'Susannah' hits high notes with the best

Jeff Bradley

The Denver Post

How good is Central City Opera's current production of Carlisle Floyd' "Susannah"?\ In some ways it's superior to the recording of the opera recently issued by Virgin Classics with Metropolitan Opera soprano Cheryl Studer in the title role, tenor Jerry Hadley as her brother Sam and Kent Nagano conducting the Paris Lyon Opera.\ In Central City, Diane Alexander fits the lead part better than Studer (who sings out of tune on the CDs), and tenor Adam Klein's Sam is free of the strain you hear from Hadley. Also, conductor John Moriarty's American chorus and orchestra are more idiomatic than Nagano's French forces.

Mee-yowww.
I've enjoyed keeping track of the tenors I've been compared to. Mostly this is done by audience members I've talked to after the show, and the names include Richard Tucker, José Carreras, Placido Domingo and Nicolai Gedda. Or I get comments like this: "I hate tenors. But I liked you."
"Idiomatic"? In terms of language, this was not the case. Floyd has written much of the dialect into the words of the score, and it's a dialect that I speak: the southern mountain dialect I learned from the inhabitants of Poor Valley, Virginia, in my old Old-Time/Bluegrass days. Because of that experience I've heard much music sung in this dialect, and I consider it a very pretty one to sing in. In Central, we had Canadians and USA citizens, all singing in their own brand of English. It made some of the wives sound like mail-order brides. Surprisingly, no policing of the dialect came from director or conductor, so I was the only one who sang in the dialect. James Daniel Frost was from Texas and he did an authentic accent: it just wasn't the right one for the region. Imagine my chagrin when I asked the composer at the opening night party how he preferred the accent be done and he answered, "As little as possible. It's an ugly accent." I'm afraid this is one rare instance where I must disagree with the composer. It's a beautiful accent. Listen to Sara or Janette Carter sing in it and decide for yourself.

Sam

Susannah

Carlisle Floyd

7/21/1997

Central City Opera

John Moriarty

Michael Ehrman

Central City Opera's 'Susannah' by C. Floyd

David Sckolnik

KCME-FM

As her brother Sam, tenor Adam Klein gives us a real mountain man, with an unforced musicality that never dispels belief.

When I arrived in Central for Rigoletto the previous season, I had a beard grown over 3 weeks hiking in the Southwest. John Moriarty told me if I hadn't shown up looking like that he'd not have thought of me for Sam.

Sam

Susannah

Carlisle Floyd

10/1/1997

Central City Opera

John Moriarty

Michael Ehrman

CENTRAL CITY

Glenn Giffin

Opera News

Adam Klein managed to make Susannah's brother, Sam, winsome and feckless rather than shiftless and no-account.

Winsome is to shiftless as feckless is to…?

soloist

Pops Concert

various

6/21/1996

Central City Opera

John Moriarty

none

Central City Opera makes for a great night for a picnic

Jeff Bradley

Denver Post

Newcomer Adam Klein, who one suspects will be a highly credible Duke of Mantua in "Rigoletto," showed linguistic prowess and a well-proportioned tenor in Lensky's aria from "Eugene Onegin" (in Russian" and Lehar's "Dein is mein ganzes Herz."

Linguistic prowess. I be likin' de sound of dat.

Tamino

The Magic Flute

Wolfgang Mozart

8/4/1990

Lyric Opera Cleveland

Steven Larsen

Michael McConnell

Hooray for hip 'Magic Flute' by Lyric Opera Cleveland

Elaine Guregian

The Beacon-Journal (Cleveland)

Tamino (Adam Klein) and Pamina (Connie Dykstra) were both well in command of their roles. They played them straight, with the result that the more outlandish parts like Papageno or the Queen of the Night stood out even more.

All right, we were wallpaper, is that it?

Tamino

The Magic Flute

Wolfgang Mozart

8/4/1990

Lyric Opera Cleveland

Steven Larsen

Michael McConnell

Opera rises grandly to a real challenge

Robert Finn

The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)

Tenor Adam Klein sounded manly and brilliant as Tamino, and soprano Connie Dykstra brought pathos as well as lyric line to Pamina's music. Baritone Donald Sherrill had all of Papageno's comic turns down pat and sang the part expertly.

Don won the in-house contest’s People’s Choice award.

Tamino

Die Zauberflöte

Wolfgang Mozart

2/14/1997

Portland Opera

Marc Trautmann

Ken Cazan

Portland Dress Rehearsal of Magic Flute

Geoffrey Hunnicutt

email forwarded to me

Klein and Morrissey played the hero and side-kick to a "t". I really enjoyed their singing and their comedy.

Notice the period outside the quotes of "t". This is correct more often that most people, or newspapers, realize.

Tamino

Die Zauberflöte

Wolfgang Mozart

2/17/1997

Portland Opera

Marc Trautmann

Ken Cazan

Portland Opera offers a lovely 'Magic Flute'

Stephanie Thomson

The Columbian

Two singers making their debut with Portland Opera gave outstanding performances — tenor Adam Klein (Tamino) and soprano Linda Louise Kelley (Queen of the Night) — and baritone Jeff Morrissey, who appeared with the company in "Carmen," "La Boheme" and "Turandot," charmed the audience as Papageno.

We had fun.

Tamino

Die Zauberflöte

Wolfgang Mozart

2/17/1997

Portland Opera

Marc Trautmann

Ken Cazan

Portland Opera plays charming 'Flute'

David Stabler

The Oregonian

The plot? Forget it. They sang in German and spoke in English. Why not do the whole thing in English?…\ Prince Tamino is the opera's straight man, and Adam Klein played him earnestly. His refined tenor voice was right for the part, too. In his taxing first aria, he neither rushed the tempo nor forced the sound but rode the phrases gracefully.

"Dies Bildniss" is indeed one of the most difficult tenor arias, but though it may be seem counterintuitive, it's easier to sing it if you don't rush the tempo, because that way you get more time to breathe and rest, and that's more important than singing the phrases faster in terms of getting through it.\ And to answer David's question: because English translations generally suck and it sounds better sung in German. English dialogue and German singing is a weird but workable compromise. There actually is a great translation of Magic Flute by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, but they require one to change the order of scenes if you want to use it, lumping all Papageno's scenes together, thus taking away the comic relief from between the serious sections as Schikaneder had so cleverly set it up. Sing it in German.

Tamino

Die Zauberflöte

Wolfgang Mozart

2/18/1997

Portland Opera

Marc Trautmann

Ken Cazan

Magic Flute offers thrilling vocals, but not-so-thrilling acting

Kate Maresh

Vanguard City Edition

The very first scene brings laughter as the giant serpent is speared to death by the Three Ladies after it has scared the handsome Prince Tamino into a faint. Another great comic moment is when Tamino entrances two fierce lions with his magic flute to the point that the lions want to cuddle with him.

(incredibly, the lead tenor's name was not mentioned in this review. I suppose Tamino is a rather forgettable part. I have noticed, however, that when singer friends of mine talk about a production they were in or saw recently, they usually talk about the soprano, mezzo or baritone, and when I ask who the tenor was they almost invariably fail to remember his name.

Tamino

Die Zauberflöte

Wolfgang Mozart

2/19/1997

Portland Opera

Marc Trautmann

Ken Cazan

Mostly Maurice

James McQuillen

Willamette Week

The cast is quite good. Most important, cast members are well-matched vocally and dramatically; this is particularly true of the pairs of lovers, Tamino and Pamina (sung by Adam Klein and Jan Grissom) and Papageno and Papagena (Jeff Morrissey and Pamela Mahon).

It's "will-AM-ette", by the way.
The "Maurice" refers to the designer of the set, Maurice Sendak. Yes, the Maurice Sendak.

Tenor

Winterreise

Franz Schubert

1/16/1992

Jennifer Peterson

Schubert cycle bold and beautiful as rendered by tenor Adam Klein

Jay Harvey

The Indianapolis Star

The weather was almost too apt for a performance of Schubert’s Winterreise (Winter’s Journey) Wednesday night at Butler University.
The mood of this cycle of 24 songs plunges as unwaveringly as the mercury has been doing, and bleak images of black and white in Winterreise are chillingly echoed in the Indianapolis outdoors these days.
Adam Klein. a tenor about to turn 32. is already an accomplished artist whose future is likely to hold much that is worthy of wide notice.
Possessor of a lyrical voice of considerable heft, Klein had a commanding manner in his performance of these linked monologues in verse — the anguished expression of a rejected lover who wanders through the winter landscape and into a crazed despair.
The boldness of Klein’s conception of the work brought to mind a rare piece of music criticism by Ralph Waldo Emerson, who came away from some voice student’s parlor recital in 1839 with this charming observation:
“I wish not to be asked in every note whether I will allow it,” the future Sage of Concord wrote in his journal. “I wish every note to command me with sweet yet perfect empire.”
This requirement was amply met in this recital. In the very first song, Klein dared a rawness to shadow the words “1 cannot choose the time of my journey, I must show myself the way to go in this darkness” (to quote the singer’s translation), thus making those lines a keynote of what follows.
The frequent expressions of rage in the first part of the cycle were vented fully. A minor side effect was the sharping of a few high notes, and a line or two that became shapeless and tattered in the teeth of the gale.
But generally Klein maintained “sweet yet perfect empire” over the material — and over the sparse but appreciative audience.
With Jennifer Peterson’s acutely inflected piano accompaniments, Klein could be confident of making beautiful sounds that wouldn’t come out merely pretty.
Abrupt contrasts in a few of the songs (Courage and Spring Dream, for instance) always found pianist and singer inseparably committed to the sudden change. The suppleness and warmth of Peterson’s playing went far in revealing the forethought and sensitivity that clearly formed Klein’s interpretation.
One cavil at Klein’s translation of Der Lindenbaum, the cycle’s most famous song: The lime tree doesn’t whisper to the despairing lover “You found peace here,” but the subjunctive “You would (or would have) found peace here.” The peace implied would be that of using one of the tree’s sturdy branches to hang oneself. But the man is doomed to wander on, thanks to Schubert’s music, into immortality.

Imperfect subjunctive, actually. And of course “you would found” is not English: that should be “you would find”, and in English that’s not subjunctive, but conditional tense, subject now to a very common error in phrases like, “if you would have come you would have seen it”– NO!!! If you HAD come (past perfect) you would have seen it (past perfect conditional. Grammar is not rocket science, but the way most Americans understand it, it might as well be.
Mr. Harvey is right about my error, but his interpretation isn’t the only one possible. It could simply mean that the tree still thinks the traveler would find rest under its branches if he stayed. It’s early in the cycle yet and Our Hero has not necessarily crossed the line of last hope.

tenor

The Triumph of Death

Frederic Rzewski

3/31/1992

CalArts Festival

Paul Vorwerk

Mark McQuown

Auschwitz Oratorio Staged at CalArts

Daniel Cariaga

(a Valencia newspaper)

The resourceful singers, playing multiple roles effortlessly, were Jacqui Bobak, Paul Hillier, Adam Klein and Carol Plantamura. Speaker William Dennis Hunt created voices.

This was the sort of piece where you review the event and not the performers. I got this job because David Rosenboom, who engineered the recording of IMPROVEMENT: DON LEAVES LINDA, knew I'd be at CalArts to sing that show and put my name forward for the Rzewski. We got to roll onstage on one of those rails with wheels all over it that they use in factories.

tenor

Concert

various

9/28/1995

American Landmark Festivals

Francis Heilbut

none

Diva of Divas Inspires Dream to Bring Back Castle Clinton

Joan Lindstrom

The Westsider

Tenor Adam Klein, subbing at the last minute for an indisposed Stanford Olsen, proved himself to be an adept communicator with the audience – both in his humorous introductory comments and in a soulful, vibrant rendering of the "Flower Song" from "Carmen."

This was an interesting concert. Battery Park was the first place Jenny Lind sang in the USA, on Sept. 11, 1850. Francis Heilbut dressed as P.T. Barnum and ran around being a showman in between playing piano very well for us singers.
Though my surname is Klein, my mother's father Stellan Sven Windrow was pure Swede by blood and had a dream to be a famous tenor. He was in theater most of his life, coming closest to fame as Tarzan in the first, silent, movie on the subject. He was drafted, mid-production, into the War To End All Wars (yeah right) and Elmo Lincoln took the part, and the fame that came with it. He wouldn't let Stellan Windrow's name be included in the credits, even though several scenes of Tarzan swinging through the trees of Louisiana feature my grandfather, and not Lincoln. Don't believe me? There's a website. http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/Tarzan/stellan/

tenor

various

1/13/1997

West Virginia Symphony

Thomas Conlin

none

Tenors hold audience enthralled

Rick Justice

Charleston Daily Mail (WV)

After a lovely orchestral playing of Verdi's Overture to "La forza del destino" Adam Klein startled the crowd with his stout-hearted singing of "La donna e mobile." Klein was pumped up, and his dramatic tenor voice shook the rafters where the "balcony bats" perched.

The review goes on like that in play-by-play style. Rick Justice is pictured in the review with a dashingly-banded cowboy hat.

tenor

various

1/13/1997

West Virginia Symphony

Thomas Conlin

none

Tenors make for enjoyable evening

David Williams

The Charleston Gazette (WV)

Klein projected an air of unabashed confidence. In Verdi's La donna e mobile from "Rigoletto," he showed unfailing pitch while tossing off the intricate vocal ornamentation with elan.\ In Ponchielli's "Cielo e mar!," from "La Gioconda," he sang long melodic lines that embraced the rich colors — including lovely solos for clarinet and viola — of the orchestral accompaniment.
He didn't seem to compete with the full orchestra in Puccini's "Che gelida manina" from "La Boheme." His voice just floated above the orchestra's sound almost like a surfer riding the top of a wave.

We were amplified. The acoustics of that hall required it. The microphones in front of us should have been a dead giveaway.

Tenor solo

Eighth Symphony

Gustav Mahler

3/11/1999

Boston Philharmonic

Benjamin Zander

none

Zander's masses make for ecstatic Mahler

Richard Dyer

Boston Globe

The vocal soloists made a strong team, although the slightly smeared, soft-grained tenor of Adam Klein was not always heard to advantage.

I wish I knew what "smeared" means. I also wonder if Dyer has studied the score of the Eighth, wherein one will find at least one instance in which Mahler indicates that the solo voice is not to be prominent, but should accompany the orchestra. In no commercial recording to date of this piece, of which I'm aware, will one hear any of the soloists do this. This one with Zander amazed me. We had sopranos (Christine Brewer and Ellen Chickering) who could float pianissimo high C's and B-flats, and they actually sang them that way. Absolute magic.

Tenor solo

Eighth Symphony

Gustav Mahler

3/11/1999

Boston Philharmonic

Benjamin Zander

none

Philharmonic's Mahler No. 8 is one in a Thousand

Ellen Pfeifer

Boston Herald

Throughout the evening, there was gorgeous playing by the horns, trumpet, trombones, harp and woodwinds. Soloists, sopranos Ellen Chickering, Christine Brewer, Elizabeth Keusch, Gigi Mitchell-Velasco and Gale Fuller, tenor Adam Klein, baritone Patrick Wroblewski and bass Louis Lebherz, blazed through the orchestral fabric, often at extreme ends of their registers, and in heightened dramatic states. They all worked themselves up to a fever pitch of expression.

Glad she enjoyed it.

Tenor solo

Eighth Symphony

Gustav Mahler

1/18/2000

Boston Philharmonic

Benjamin Zander

none

Mahler reprise brings greatness and strain

Michael Manning

Boston Globe

Of the women, soprano Indra Thomas seemed the most vocally at ease, while Adam Klein's Doctor Marianus gave the most vivid, vocally well-suited performance of the evening.

See the quote from T.J. Medrek.

Tenor solo

Eighth Symphony

Gustav Mahler

1/18/2000

Boston Philharmonic

Benjamin Zander

none

Philharmonic hits a high note

T.J. Medrek

Boston Herald

Among them, Ellen Chickering did a fearless, fabulous job with a vocal line that just keeps on hammering away at the top of the range. Indra Thomas, while not nearly as finished, showed lots of promise. And Gale Fuller, Adam Klein and Patrick Wroblewski also deserved particular praise.

See the quote from Michael Manning.

Tenor solo

Eighth Symphony

Gustav Mahler

1/24/2000

Boston Philharmonic

Benjamin Zander

none

A Symphony That Requires Plenty of Reinforcements

Anthony Tommasini

The New York Times

But Mr. Zander's performance captured the symphony's disarming sincerity, bringing a touching quality to the dittylike melodies for children's choirs and rendering the anthems for the woodwinds like sturdy Bach chorales. When the hermit Dr. Marianus (the tenor Adam Klein) invokes the Eternal Feminine, Mr. Zander's players captured the subdued rapture of the music.

Being on stage during Mahler's Eighth is one of the best things in the world.

The Doctor

Improvement: Don Leaves Linda

Robert Ashley

3/1/1994

Lovely Music Ltd.

none

Jacqueline Humbert

When a Composer Turns Opera Upside Down

Bernard Holland

The New York Times

Ms. Humbert, who designed the sets, costumes and staging, is also an extraordinary performer, and Sam Ashley and Amy X Neuberg are hardly less so. Mr. Ashley narrated in his liquid singsong, though by late Thursday night he sounded tired indeed. Marghreta Cordero and Adam Klein are other valuable players.

This is a review of the BAM Next Wave Festival incarnation of NOW ELEANOR'S IDEA. Kyle Gann wrote one for the Village Voice which was a rave, but which didn't mention me so since I already include one of those I'm omitting it here.

The Doctor

Improvement: Don Leaves Linda

Robert Ashley

3/1/1994

Lovely Music Ltd.

none

Jacqueline Humbert

Opera has sound of its own

Daniel Webster

The Philadelphia Inquirer

The operas of Robert Ashley cross traditions, blend electronic manipulation with chant, parody traditional stage gestures and, most of all, create an atmosphere of dream and reality that absorbs listeners completely…
The work was being heard in a concert form because Ashley means it to be a television piece. How much more expressive or magical it could be on the screen is hard to picture. The work, bare of everything but people, voices, taped chant and rhythm, carried opera to a new frontier.

These are the first and last paragraphs of a review that is about a new piece, so the performers aren't mentioned apart from Ashley himself and a cast list. I include it here because it's a fascinating piece of theater which should be done everywhere but suffers the same problem as all new works: no one wants to produce a second run, because there's no publicity in it, hence no long-term benefit to the company. Ashley, however, tours his own works, so IMPROVEMENT was seen in Philly, Brooklyn, Berlin, Paris, Tokyo, Valencia and other cities along with the other three in the quadrilogy NOW ELEANOR'S IDEA. I had to leave the tour early on because I foresaw a time when my standard opera gigs would prohibit me from taking part in it and I wanted to give them ample time to replace me. The Doctor was subsequently sung by Marghreta Cordero. CDs are available for purchase nationally. Check it out. It's not opera as you know it.

Various; Larry/Matt

Concert/Face on the Barroom Floor

Henry Mollicone

6/30/1989

Four Corners Opera

Christine Sotomayor-Lopez

Judith Turano

FCO proves that good things come in small packages

George Reeves

Now Magazine

Klein is a singing actor of handsome stage presence. His is a darkish tenor voice of considerable power. In concert, he displayed vocal elegance in the duet from "The Pearl Fishers" and deep feeling in "Bring Him Home" from "Les Miserables" – perhaps the most moving rendition of the evening. As Larry and Matt (another dual role) he brought both style and substance to "The Face On The Barroom Floor" ensembles.

Pshaw.

Vespone/Michael

La Serva Padrone/Slow Dusk

Giovanni Pergolesi

6/24/1986

Four Corners Opera

Jeanne Dayton

Judith Turano

Opera opener: 'Well conceived and executed'

George Reeves

The Durango Herald

In lesser assignments, mezzo-soprano Marsha Waxman and baritone Jon Pescevich made their points, and Adam Klein displayed a strong, rich tenor one would like to have heard more of.
Giovanni Pergolesi's "The Maid-Mistress" ("La Serva Padrona"), a bit of froth from 1733 that has lasted through the years, found Adam Klein as the mute Vespone revelling in commedia dell'arte antics.

My only appearance so far in a Harpo Marx wig. I also got to belch on cue, a skill I never thought I’d be able to use – anywhere.

Victor

Burning Bright

Frank Lewin

7/24/2000

Opera Festival of New Jersey

Patrick Hansen

Karen Tiller

Uncertain start leads to 'Bright' ending

Willa J. Conrad

The Star-Ledger

Adam Klein as Victor sang with awkward, forced phrasing, yet through sheer willpower seemed to carry Victor's transformation across.

I find this comment exceedingly odd, as I sang the phrases exactly as they were in the score.

Victor

Burning Bright

Frank Lewin

7/25/2000

Opera Festival of New Jersey

Patrick Hansen

Karen Tiller

The debut of a work that might be too late

David Patrick Stearns

The Philadelphia Inquirer

Such shortcomings might seem more forgivable if Opera Festival of New Jersey, which deserves great admiration for attempting any new work, delivered a production and performance better than workmanlike. More confident projection of the score from Patrick Hansen and more naturalistic direction from Karen Tiller would have made a stronger case for the opera.
The singers, including Todd Thomas as Joe Saul and Indira Mahajan an Mordeen, were accomplished, but only Adam Klein as the dim-witted but virile surrogate father showed what this opera could be with more rehearsal.

No opera as short as this one should need more rehearsal than we had. The difficulties in the score's readability alone hampered things, as did the composer's attitude. There are many reasons for choosing to do this or that piece: in this case, the merits of the piece itself were not among them.

Victor

Burning Bright

Frank Lewin

7/26/2000

Opera Festival of New Jersey

Patrick Hansen

Karen Tiller

A 'Bright' conclusion to OFNJ season

Donald P. Delaney

The Times

The star of this show, for this listener, was baritone Adam Klein as Victor, Mordeen's seducer. A hateful individual in the beginning, Victor, through Klein's exceptional acting ability and his marvelous voice, won sympathy as the opera progressed, notably in his Act 2 confrontation with Mordeen. A stunning scene.

Whatever. Despite the congeniality of cast and crew this was the single most unpleasant experience I've had in the theater world, and on top of that I get called a baritone again.

Victor

Burning Bright

Frank Lewin

7/26/2000

Opera Festival of New Jersey

Patrick Hansen

Karen Tiller

From Circus, to Land and Sea and Outer Space, 'Burning Bright' Exhilarated and Entertained

Linda Tyler

Town Topics (Princeton NJ)

John Marcus Bindel as Friend Ed was particularly fine with his pinpoint rhythmic declamation and fine diction. Only a small step behind were the performances of Indira Mahajan as Mordeen, Todd Thomas as Joe Saul, and Adam Klein as Victor.

I was the only cast member who had this unnecessarily difficult-to-read piece memorized by Opening night. The music wasn't really too complicated, but it was written out very badly. We had a prompter, which saved the others.

Victor

Burning Bright

Frank Lewin

7/28/2000

Opera Festival of New Jersey

Patrick Hansen

Karen Tiller

The Meek Shall Inherit

Stuart Duncan

The Princeton Packet

The cast — Todd Thomas as Joe Saul; John Marcus Bindel as Friend Ed; Indira Mahajan as Mordeen and especially Adam Klein as Victor — brought real distinction to the evening. Mr. Klein clearly was the audience favorite and had the farthest to go with his character — from an uncouth circus performer to a second mate, ready for new challenges at sea. He also has the richest material to sing.

Everyone envied me my Act 3 aria. It was the most Menotti-like music in the whole piece.

Werther

Jules Massenet

10/24/1991

Skylight Opera Theatre

Yves Abel

David Walsh

Skylight puts together a believable 'Werther'

Tom Strini

The Milwaukee Journal

Adam Klein does not possess the most refined tenor voice. It is likely to fray and even crack when pushed, and this music pushes it hard. But Klein is so overly committed to the over-the-top Romanticism that the very flaws in his singing become poignant signals of the inferno of emotion and sensation that is Werther. Whether his character is lost in the warmth of sunlight falling on his face or lost in his fall into love for the unattainable Charlotte, Klein's vocal/theatrical recklessness is absolute– and thus absolutely convincing.

My first Werther. Let’s say I learned a lot during that production. This is one of the most ambitious attempts by a reviewer to turn a criticism into a compliment. I wonder what he might have written about Callas.

Werther

Jules Massenet

11/25/1996

Opera Memphis

Michael Ching

Karen Tiller

Tenor's 'Werther' fills the house with an abiding, hopeless passion

Whitney Smith

The Commercial Appeal

Adam Klein, the excellent tenor cast as Werther, has been frank about saying that the libretto to this opera made the poet out to be more of a whiner than he was in Goethe's hands. at Saturday's opening performance before nearly 2,000 at the Orpheum, it didn't take long to discover that the potential for whininess was there.
Klein's Werther, while not exactly noble, was never pathetic, either. The tenor tempered the role's constant laments vocally and dramatically. He produced sudden and powerful crescendos on long notes, used vigorous stage movement, avoided melodrama and maintained superb French diction.

Well, thank you very much, I'm sure. I had a blast at this gig: on off-time I got to play folk music at Dr. Nancy Chase's house in town, which happened again on a smaller scale a few years later during MANON LESCAUT. Nancy is so cool. All those instruments, including bagpipes, and decent Scotch as well.

Werther

Jules Massenet

12/7/1996

Opera Memphis

Michael Ching

Karen Tiller

'Werther' charms audience

Jim Eikner

Tri-State Defender

For three acts and four scenes Werther yearns, pines and sorrows, but Klein's stage discipline and soaring tenor voice and extraordinary breath control on sustained phrases deftly prevent the title character from becoming a mopey wimp or a wimpy mope…
Kudos goes to Michael Ching, conductor, and the orchestra for nicely handing the many instrumental moments, which became enjoyments in themselves and not as mere transition pieces. Also there were golden moments when Klein and orchestra were as one, as in Werther's Act II pondering of the theological consequence of suicide…

Laying aside the fact that Paragraph #2 is not really English, I must point out that "kudos" is a Greek word like Mikonos or Lesbos or thermos, and is SINGULAR. Therefore, if you haven't figured it out yet, it should read "Kudos goes to Michael Ching…" I'm sorry: grammar and spelling do matter. Bad schooling aside, it indicates how clearly one thinks about what one is expressing.
A word about breath control: an efficient phonation is the key to long phrases, not how one breathes. All the breathing in the world won't help an airy sound last long enough or carry better. The seat of singing is in the larynx, not the rib cage.

Zweiter Knabe

Die Zauberflöte

Wolfgang Mozart

10/28/1972

The Metropolitan Opera

Peter Maag

Opera: Well Sung 'Zauberflöte' at Met

Raymond Ericson

The New York Times

The Three Ladies (Jeannine Altmeyer, Mildred Miller, Batyah Godfrey), Three Genii (Joseph Andracchi, Adam Klein, Steven Schachtel) and Two Guards (Rod MacWherter, Louis Sgarro) sustained the high quality of the vocalism.

Joe Andreacchi's name was misspelled in this review. The director wasn't mentioned and now I don't remember who it was. I doubt we met him or her, as it was a return of a previous production.