That Carlo Vistoli is among today’s greatest countertenors is beyond dispute. In this role he unites a mesmerizing stage presence with singing that is at once elegant and deeply passionate. […] The real challenge lies in giving expressive life to vocal lines that seem carved in marble, animating with countless tremors, tears, and subtleties the noble simplicity Gluck sought. Vistoli achieves this as no one has in recent times […] and as few did in the past. More than an interpretation: an incarnation.
Alberto Mattioli — La Stampa
With Carlo Vistoli, we have reached what, at present, I consider the finest interpretation. The timbre is beautiful, with its fundamental burnished hue that gradually grows brighter as it ascends, creating an especially evocative effect. The technique is flawless, ensuring both suppleness and homogeneity throughout the wide range. His musicality is of the kind — so rare in our painfully out-of-tune times — that one rightly calls instrumental. Yet none of this is displayed as self-referential merchandise: everything is entirely at the service of a first-rate artist who, in a part where the Canova-like beauty of the line is indispensable, gives it flesh and blood through dynamic shaping whose constant tension renders the phrasing vividly chiaroscuro and irresistibly moving.
Elvio Giudici — Classic Voice
The undisputed star of the evening was Carlo Vistoli, the most sought-after Italian countertenor in the world today (and one could clearly hear why). In magnificent vocal form, he demonstrated it throughout his many arias, from the opening “Chiamo il mio ben così” to the famous, heart-rending “Che farò senza Euridice,” complemented by a magnetic and seductive stage presence: the true pillar of the performance.
ANSA
The portrayal of Orfeo delighted: the luminous countertenor voice of Carlo Vistoli, rich and finely shaded, stood out for its authority, stylistic refinement, and emotional intensity.
Carla Moreni — Il Sole 24 Ore
Carlo Vistoli confirms the strength of his technical and stylistic preparation, as well as the appropriateness of a sound carefully cultivated across the entire range, properly supported, resonant, and well projected. In him lives again the legacy of the first Viennese interpreter, Gaetano Guadagni, and of his counterpart in Parma, Giuseppe Millico, who were renowned for the pathos of expressive singing, serving an intimate and complex portrayal of the passions. Vistoli achieves this through his play of accents, the incisiveness of his phrasing, the use of measured and meaningful variations, and the naturalness of a vocal line wedded to the word. Within an effective and coherent interpretation, he meets every crucial moment: sorrowful in “Chiamo il mio ben così”; filled with anguish and impetuous drive in “Mille pene, alme moleste”; rapt in contemplation of the “pure sky” of the Elysian Fields. He sings “Che farò senza Euridice” with restrained reserve, earning fervent applause in mid-performance.
Giancarlo Landini — L’Opera
Restless, shadowed, and marked by life itself, the singing of the Italian countertenor unfolds in a beautiful, intense, enveloping voice. Never forced, it flows with a striking naturalness that both surprises and evokes.
Pierachille Dolfini — Avvenire
At the center of this production stands Carlo Vistoli, who seems to have forged a relationship of total identification with Orfeo after portraying him with Carsen and then Michieletto. More than the vocal perfection — impressive in control, timbral quality, homogeneity of registers, and natural emission — what captivates is the depth of musical thought. Vistoli does not merely “interpret” Orfeo: he inhabits him. His singing never seeks effect nor beauty for its own sake, even in the splendid variations; it is a sounding word born of constant inner urgency. The vocal line possesses an almost Canova-like purity and control, yet beneath the apparent coolness run microscopic dynamic impulses and infinitesimal accents that transform each aria into a torn inner monologue. “Chiamo il mio ben così” is immediately moving; in “Che puro ciel” there are no conventional portamenti, no museum-like beauty, but rather an anxious, feverish urgency that turns abstract contemplation into living theater. “Che farò senza Euridice” becomes an obsessive circular motion — a thought trapped in compulsive repetition.
Renato Verga — L’Opera Oggi
Italian countertenor Carlo Vistoli dominates the stage throughout the evening: now a fixture on Europe’s leading Baroque stages, he is the absolute protagonist, giving Orfeo a bright, secure timbre supported by remarkable breath control.
Stefano Sartini — Arte e Arti Magazine
Carlo Vistoli offers an Orfeo of brilliant, confident timbre — evident in the elegance of “Che puro ciel” and the un-mannered emotional substance of “Che farò senza Euridice” — and above all traces the character’s expressive evolution with rare intensity.
Alessandro Rigolli — Il Giornale della Musica
Towering above all was Carlo Vistoli’s magnificent Orfeo, who dominated the stage for over an hour and a half without the slightest sign of fatigue, displaying superb vocal and dramatic mastery. Perfectly suited to the part, Vistoli delivered a performance of extraordinary quality: impeccable technique, generous phrasing, an amber-hued voice of rare beauty, handled with softness, volume, and lightness as required. The many nuanced shadings, always apt, and the intense yet never exaggerated interpretation revealed a profound understanding of the character. A truly exceptional achievement.
Lorenzo Giovati — classicamente.it
The celebrated male alto paints a strikingly modern Orfeo — restless, tormented, and desperately searching for redemption for his lost beloved. Vistoli explores Gluck’s writing with a generous vocalism, easily projected and enriched by the velvety warmth of his distinctive timbre. His phrasing, both secure and musical, blends superb technical control with an urgent yet refined expressivity. His “Che farò senza Euridice,” colored by a wide palette of expressive nuances, stood among the evening’s highest moments.
Marco Faverzani — Opera Libera
Carlo Vistoli fully embodied Orfeo both vocally and dramatically. The voice is homogeneous across the registers, finely colored, and supported by phrasing always aimed at expressing the character’s emotions. Impossible not to be moved by an interpretation that draws the listener into Orfeo’s despair and guilt.
theblogartpost.it
Carlo Vistoli proved a complete and deeply moving protagonist, offering a profoundly human Orfeo torn by existential anguish and sustained by singing as a search for cathartic survival. In his case it is difficult to separate the performer’s passion from the singer’s exceptional quality: homogeneity, softness, and coloristic flexibility erase all technical artifice in favour of a pure, poetic sound. “Che farò senza Euridice” became the apex of a steadily intensifying expressive journey.
Davide Annachini — Delteatro.it
Carlo Vistoli is not only the prince of today’s countertenors but an artist of the highest class. Orfeo’s dual nature — human and divine — takes shape in his ability to give flesh and blood to suffering without losing the stylization that elevates emotion from the particular to the universal. His vocalism, virile in its naturalness, sculpts the word with effortless elegance, integrating madrigalisms and masterful variations in perfect symbiosis with his refined acting.
Roberta Pedrotti — L’Ape Musicale
The evening’s triumph belonged to Carlo Vistoli, who infused Orfeo with vibrant, profoundly human life. A warm, dark-hued timbre, seamless registers, luminous legato, expansive breath, and intensely expressive phrasing combined to create a portrayal of rare emotional richness, from the opening invocations to the poignant final lament and radiant concluding scene.
Gf. Previtali Rosti — Corriere dello Spettacolo
The interpretive work reached its peak in “Che farò senza Euridice,” whose Apollonian melodic line was animated by emotional contrasts that Vistoli expressed with touching depth. After hypnotizing the audience with his full timbre and absolute technical mastery, he introduced a powerful introspective dimension to his acclaimed Orfeo.
Patrizia Monteverdi — Operaclick
The elegiac sweetness intrinsic to Orfeo found magnificent expression in Carlo Vistoli’s polished singing, whose rich variety of phrasing always bore the mark of noble emotion.
Fabio Larovere — Connessi all’Opera
Orfeo was entrusted to Carlo Vistoli’s honeyed voice: uniform in beauty from low to high, supported by iron breath control and an intense interpretation. His restrained acting, free of superfluous gesture, together with subtle dynamic shaping, strengthened the production’s rarefied dramaturgy. After a reflective, measured “Che farò senza Euridice,” the theatre erupted in warm applause.
Giovanni Camozzi — Le Salon Musical
The backbone of the performance was undoubtedly Carlo Vistoli’s masterful portrayal of the main character. His soft, polished timbre, rich palette of colors, and aristocratic phrasing explored every shade of Orfeo’s grief, while his magnetic presence captured the audience and earned a deserved final triumph.
roboreporter.it
