Opera5:  The Turn of the Screw
(June 2024)

“In the role of Mrs. Grose the housekeeper, mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó was magnificent. Her incredible voice on full display. Her upper register rang clear throughout the house with no sign of effort or strain while keeping a secure line through the entirety of her range – and this role is rangey! She and Polese made some exquisitely beautiful music together and sounded as though they’d been making music together daily for years.”
–Schmopera

“That leaves a thoroughly solid performance by Elizabeth Polese as the Governess and the expected veteran backbone of the production in Krisztina Szabó’s Mrs Grose. Polese captures the doubt and inexperience of the young governess very effectively and Szabó is equally adept as the uncomprehending housekeeper. Fine, idiomatic singing from both.
– Opera Ramblings

“As Mrs. Grose, the estate’s housekeeper who has seen it all, mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó represents a previous generation of Canadian talent, using her vast experience to create a memorable portrayal with an economy of physicality. Her penetrating tone offered much-welcomed sonic drama…”
– La Scena Musicale

“Mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó is an eternally resonant Mrs. Grose.”
– Opera Going Toronto

CD Review:  The Highwayman
(April 2024)

“A powerful instrumental prologue sets the scene for a tour-de-force performance by the celebrated Canadian mezzo, Krisztina Szabó, who brilliantly dramatizes the story and offers up a varied and gorgeous sound throughout her extended vocal range. Her brilliant diction and operatic sensibility coupled with Burry’s clear and attractive writing keeps the interest and intensity throughout the 17 movement work.”
– The Whole Note Magazine Volume 29, Issue 4

Orchestre National de Lille:  Written on Skin
(January 2024)

“…contre-ténor Cameron Shahbazi excelle dans sa partie à la fois séductrice et démoniaque ; même engagement pour les deux anges, Krisztina Szabó et Alasdair Kent, qui incarnent aussi Marie et John. Aussi diseurs qu’impliqués dramatiquement, les deux rôles essentiels sont magistralement défendus.”
– Classique News

Toronto Symphony Orchestra:  Handel’s Messiah

“I have always admired the warm yet vibrant tones of mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabo, and she did not disappoint.”
– Ludwig Van Toronto

Music of the Baroque: St. Matthew Passion
(April 2023)

“The mezzo rose to the occasion when required, including a rapt rendering of “Erbarme dich,” which fully conveyed the stoic lamentation of the aria. Szabo also blended graciously with Altiveros in the duet “So ist mein Jesus nun gefangen.”
– Chicago Classical Review

Canadian Art Song Project:  Found Frozen, The Songs of Jeffrey Ryan
(CD 2022)

“…Miss Carr in Seven Scenes, commissioned for mezzo, Krisztina Szabó and pianist Steven Philcox.  Seven songs drawn from Emily Carr’s journals from 1927-1941, with long involved text, mostly lamentations of the passage of time, and the lack of appreciation of the art world. In fine voice, Szabó dispatches the songs with beauty of tone and vivid imagination; Steven Philcox was the ever-supportive collaborative pianist.”
– Opera Canada (Summer Edition 2022)

Tapestry Opera:  RUR A Torrent of Light
WORLD PREMIERE
(May 2022)

“The success of the piece is reinforced by strong performances across the board. Krisztina Szabó’s Helena is strongly sung and brilliantly acted.”
– Opera Canada/RUR

“Krisztina Szabo’s Helena is very powerful, especially in the second act, her voice amplified in the relatively tiny space. Lizée gives her some remarkable lines, a very original approach to vocalism.”
– Barcza Blog

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra:  Songs from the House of Death
WORLD PREMIERE
(April 2022)

“Ms. Szabó is her usual excellent self with a genuine feel for the words and a voice capable of great beauty and enough heft to deal with the orchestration. ”
– Opera Ramblings

Canadian Opera Company:  Bluebeard’s Castle
(March 2022)

“Krisztina Szabó is Judith. Forcefully engaged and centred, the fine Toronto-based mezzo-soprano turns in a performance of great inner strength, a woman who refuses to be a victim, her voice ringing with resistance.”
–Opera Going Toronto

Vancouver Opera:  Orfeo ed Euridice
(December 2021)

“Krisztina Szabó does not appear until Act II, when Euridice is one distraught woman. Without resorting to hysterics, Szabó conveyed the complex emotional turmoil that engulfed her character, yet her supple, pliant mezzo-soprano never wavered or slackened in its resolve. Euridice is no weak, helpless woman here…”
– Opera Canada

“Szabó pours out passion, imbuing the ornamentation with an emotional richness that takes it beyond the decorative.”
– Stir Vancouver

Vancouver Opera: Wesendonck Lieder
(February 2021)

“In past seasons we’ve heard from the versatile Szabo in a fair bit of earlier music, here she positively shone in these mid-19th century songs. Her presence, exemplary intonation, rich timbre, and emotional generosity were suited to works even as she steered clear of any overt operatic excess.”
– Vancouver Sun

Gala Concert:  2020 Azrieli Music Prizes
(October 2020)

“This set of short pieces opens stormily, then clears the way for Krisztina Szabó’s glorious mezzo…The best orchestral moments came in the finale. And fortunately, the whole piece benefited from Szabó’s bright, smooth tone, her passages snaking among and over the recorded poems. She was superb.”
– Blog Critics

Tapestry Opera: Songbook X
(March 2020)

“They were choices that allowed Szabó to display her considerable emotional range, the last also showing her flair for comic timing… These were terrific performances and Tapestry and Michael Mori deserve high praise for making it happen.”
–Opera Canada

“That the recital itself was an absolute success is no surprise; Szabó and Foley are consummate professionals who are both meticulous on details and generous on emotions.”
–The Whole Note

Canadian Opera Company: Hänsel & Gretel
(February 2020)

“When mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó enters, her empathetic portrayal of Gertrude heavily contrasts Hansel and Gretel’s energy. Szabó paints her character as world-weary rather than cruel, for although she threatens to severely punish her children after witnessing their mess, she excuses herself to the hallway, venting the full extent of her frustration, as many parents do when they reach their limit. Her quick vibrato evokes a mournful quality, as witnessed at the climax of “Marsch! Fort in den Wald”, where she kneels on the floor in her cashier’s smock, her sustained high notes convey subtle poignance.”
-Opera Canada

“Mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó appears as Gertrude. Baritone Russell Braun sings Peter. A-list artists both, Szabó with her honeyed timbre, Braun with his high-note friendly instrument, launch Ivany’s restless mise en scène on its arcing trajectory with great strength and reassurance. They vocally dominate the first act of the opera…”
-Opera To Go

Music of the Baroque:  Bach B Minor Mass
(September 2019)

“Krisztina Szabó was first among equals of the quartet. The Canadian mezzo provided the performance’s high point late in the evening with her “Agnus Dei”—forlorn, melancholy yet hopeful, her deeply felt rendering plumbed a stark emotional depth…. Szabó’s inward “Qui sedes” was on the same high artistic level.”
-Chicago Classical Review

Bethlehem Bach Festival
(May 2019)

“Mezzo Krisztina Szabó, in her Bach Festival debut, was in lovely voice in “Ich will nach dem Himmel zu,” accompanied by Charlotte Mattax Moersch on the portativ organ. Its flutelike voice was perfect a complement to Szabó’s rich, creamy tone.”
-The Morning Call

Drama & Devotion:  Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra
(November 2018)

“The sensitive, rich and colourful writing was brought to vivid life by Szabó… Szabó has matured into a remarkable artist, a master of nuance and expressivity.”
-Toronto Star

NAC Orchestra:  Music for a Sunday Afternoon
Ian Cusson:  Where There’s a Wall
(November 2018)

“Mezzo Krisztina Szabo is an eloquent advocate for new Canadian music, and brought her perfectionism, commitment, and rich creamy tone to bear on these songs.”
– Ottawa Arts File

Dixit Dominus:  Theatre of Early Music
(September 2018)

“Singing a particularly radiant Dopo notte, (“After a night so bleak”), mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó, voiced a bright, joyful interpretation of Ariodante’s triumphant air plucked from Handel’s otherwise darkly desperate gothic drama, trouser role assumed, da capo accents appealingly scattered by the handful.”

“Part II, an extended solo for alto, Virgam virtutis, provided marked contrast, sung with great poise and tranquility by Szabó making an engaging return appearance.”
-Opera Going Toronto

Into The Little Hill:  MusikFest Berlin
(September 2018)

“Zwei Frauenstimmen teilen sich in die Chronik der Ereignisse und in die Rollen: Susanna Andersson mit gleißend hellem Sopran, Krisztina Szabó mit ausdrucksstarkem Alt. Sie vertreten sowohl den Volks-Chor, der hysterisch „Töte! Töte!“ fordert, wie auch die Stimmen im Kopf des Ministers, die der Kinder, der Frau, so fesselnd und gestenstark, dass man Requisiten und Kostüme in keinem Augenblick vermisst.”
-Der Tagesspiegel

Lessons in Love and Violence: Royal Opera House and Netherlands Opera (May-June 2018)

“Smaller roles were all very well taken, by Jennifer France, Krisztina Szabó, and Andri Björn Róbertsson: suggestive of a greater number of voices and faces than was actually present, drawn, as it were, as if from an imaginary chorus.”
-Seen and Heard International

“De verschillende bijrollen kwamen op naam van Jennifer France (ooit Zerbinetta bij de Reisopera), Krisztina Szabó en Andri Björn Róbertsson..”
-BasiaConFuoco.com

Canadian Art Song Project:  Miss Carr in Seven Scenes
(March 2018)

“The performance was simply exemplary.  Krisztina Szabó was on top form singing with great beauty and greater wit.  This was truly a performance rooted in the text. Steven Philcox at the piano coped with everything the composer threw at him with deft skill and considerable artistry.  There must be a recording.  This piece deserves the widest audience.”
-Opera Ramblings

Toronto Symphony Orchestra:  Händel’s Messiah
(December 2017)

“With the opening notes of the mezzo-soprano air “But who may abide the day of His coming,” Krisztina Szabó quickly established herself as a strong and exquisite performer. She embraced the dramatic element of the performance as much as the vocal technique and musicality, and was captivating to watch and listen to throughout the concert.”

“… Szabó brought fierce presence to her music. Szabó vocalized the text with as much passion as one would with an operatic role, her interpretation rooted in feeling, depth and understanding. Because of her expert command over her instrument, Szabó demonstrated a genuine commitment to the text, inviting listeners to empathize with her burning intensity.”
-The Whole Note Magazine

Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony:  Wagner Wesendonck Lieder (November 2017)

…The wonderfully poignant and expressive mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó singing Wagner’s Wesendonck Leider with such control I thought the evening wouldn’t get any better.
-MGR Audio (blog)

Canadian Children’s Opera Company: Ruby’s Gold – Gala (October 2017)

Mezzo Krisztina Szabo was at her alluring best as Musetta in “Quando m’en vo,” I remember fondly her stunning diminuendo high B when she sang it at the COC, quite a feat for a mezzo. She repeated it flawlessly tonight.
-Ludwig Van Toronto

Toronto Masque Theatre:  Dido & Aeneas/Aeneas & Dido
(October 2017)

Krisztina Szabó’s Dido was unlike any of the many, many I have seen.  Where others tend to opt for a steady flow of beautiful tone she went for dramatic effect.  Her Dido is no passive victim but a powerful, angry woman who creates her own destiny.  Her version doesn’t lack beauty though.  The big, beautiful solo arias at beginning and end were gorgeous; all the more so for being sung in a dark mezzo that contrasted beautifully with Jacquie Woodley’s bright toned Belinda.
-Opera Ramblings

As Dido, Krisztina Szabó stole the show.. (She) more than exceeded my expectations drawing her sizable voice back to craft each word and embellish them with tasteful ornamentation in the first opera. In the second, she unleashed all the colours of her full voice rising to the very top of her register with limitless beauty and control.
-Ludwig Van Toronto

Krisztina Szabó plays the tortured queen in both works.  An exceptional talent, her “When I am laid in earth” (Purcell) was sung fully, with passion. Szabó was generous in her use of ornaments, her booming voice intelligently serving the emotion of the aria.
-Opera Canada

Tapestry Opera:  Aaron Gervais’ Oksana G.
(May 2017)

Szabó­ is richly expressive, especially in her scenes with Kim Barber’s Aza, a fortune teller; their encounters provide a structural device for the opera.
-NOW Magazine

Jacqueline Woodley’s powerful voice made a huge impression in the role of Natalia, a friend of Oksana’s. Similarly Krisztina Szábo as Sofiya – Oksana’s mother—anchors every scene in which she appears, the most authentic person onstage musically and dramatically.
-BarczaBlog

Music of the Baroque:  Telemann’s The Day of Judgement
(May 2017)

Krisztina Szabo was just as characterful in her various roles–as Reason cutting off Williams’ Disbelief in mid-sentence to admonish him (a nice touch by Telemann)– and bringing a rich mezzo tone and confident spirituality to her arias.
-Chicago Classical Review

Ottawa Symphony Orchestra:  Mahler 2nd Symphony
(April 2017)

“Mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó has had a marathon week in Ottawa: two NACO performances last week; a Juno Awards classical showcase Saturday afternoon in which she also filled in for an ailing Daniel Taylor; and finally the Mahler. You’d never know it from her voice: I’ve yet to hear her put a foot wrong; she sounds the same whether she’s been singing every night or had a month off.

Szabó is a wonderful Mahler singer. Her voice has a deep but clear amethyst colour that cuts through the thick texture of the orchestra even in its quietest dynamics, without a trace of heaviness or tension. In the Urlicht movement, her expression was by turns grave, afflicted and gently comforting. It was hard to believe this was her first Resurrection.”
-Arts File Ottawa

NAC Orchestra:  From the Diary of Virginia Woolf
(March 2017)

“Szabó shimmers in new work by Gary Kulesha at NAC… Kulesha tailored his composition to Szabó’s stunning range, assured technique and penetrating tone. This unbelievably consistent singer deftly navigated the violent mood swings in Woolf’s writing: her expression was at turns confidential, mocking and snobbish, serene, or almost wailing in pain, but there was never a snag or a sharp corner to her singing.”
-Arts File Ottawa

Edmonton Opera:  Cinderella
(February 2017)

“The casting of Tessier as Prince Ramiro and mezzo Krisztina Szabó as the neglected stepdaughter was perfect… Szabó is so comfortable in her skin as a singer that when she came to the fore musically, I felt this was just a warm human being just singing, not an opera singer delivering a pretence. Impressive as her technique was, particularly in her lower register, what impressed me more was just how natural a performer she is.”
-Opera Canada

“Szabó, as Cenerentola herself, encompassed both innocent charm and later more sophistication. When Rossini finally allows her to really let go vocally, with bel canto decoration at the end of the opera, she showed why she will be making her Covent Garden debut in a new George Benjamin opera next year.”
-Edmonton Journal

“Her haunting andantino “Un volta c’era un re” is beautifully phrased with a where-there’s-smoke-there’s-fire tone. Rossini provides ample room to show off her flexibility and range, particularly in Act II. The smoke was no ruse: there are dazzling vocal fireworks aplenty in the long finale.

Mr. Tessier and Ms. Szabó’s duet in Act I is an especial treat. Emotionally it’s the sweetest part of the whole opera (love at first sight, class transcendence, victory for the downtrodden). The combined effect of their seemingly effortless streams of parallel sixths, along with restrained staging and a monochromatic palette of costumes and lighting (blues) is quite magical.”
-Edmonton Classical Music

Tafelmusik:  Messiah
(December 2016)

“Krisztina Szabo was a most amazing alto. You could feel the heat rise on the back of your neck when she conjured up that “refiner’s fire.” Her “He was despised” was simple, yet deeply affecting, presenting pictures of grief, horror, deep sadness and calm resignation one after the other, as only a true artist can.”
-Globe and Mail

“Krisztina Szabo has been ubiquitous in this town of late, often in modernist works on the opera stage. How refreshing, then, to see her not in a new opera, not in something atonal or dissonant, but something well-known. Yet her “He was despised” was fresh, especially in the taut drama of the middle section. Every few moments in “he gave his back to the smiters” she seemed to take on a different emotion, sometimes seeming furious, sometimes sad, sometimes compassionate. The da capo of “He was despised” was especially rich, sung in a softer sound, as though completely heart-broken.”
-Barcza Blog

“Krisztina Szabó’s rendition of “He was despised” was sung with a warm and buttery texture. Her first way through the subject was declaratory. The da capo was nuanced with feelings of incredulity and disbelief. She was broken-hearted as she told this story. Surprising even me, this wonderful aria was my favorite of the evening.”
-Musical Toronto

CHAMP:  A Bridge to the Future
(November 2016)

“Perhaps most extraordinary was the opportunity to hear Krisztina Szabó singing something in her native tongue…Hers is a voice that seems to straddle boundaries, as she is so much more than just a mezzo-soprano.”
-BarczaBlog

Esprit Orchestra:  Adieu, Robert Schumann
(November 2016)

“…the endlessly surprising mezzo shaded her voice with restraint and contemplation”
-Musical Toronto

Ottawa Chamber Music Festival:  Arion Baroque Tour: Bach B  Minor Mass (August 2016)

“The outrageously talented Krisztina Szabó was dignified and deeply moving.”
-Ottawa Citizen

Talisker Players:  Cross’d by the Stars
(May 2016)

“The concert couldn’t have gotten any better than the Burry/Szabó extravaganza.”
-Definitely the Opera

“Krisztina Szabó demonstrated her virtuosity performing a piece full of challenges including difficult shifts in pitch, unusual rhythms, and projecting clear diction over an ensemble playing at fortissimo. After that, her two songs from West Side Story, “One Hand, One Heart” and “Somewhere,” were almost too undemanding for an artist of her ability.”
-Musical Toronto

Mozart C Minor Mass & Requiem
(Les Violons du Roy, February 2016)

Si tous les solistes méritent des éloges, un coup de chapeau particulier va à Krisztina Szabo, qui a remplacé la mezzo prévue dans l’après-midi même avec un aplomb impressionnant. Il apparaît dans la Messe en ut qu’elle a une technique de vocalisation aussi efficace..
-Le Devoir

La mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó, qui remplaçait au pied levé et avec assurance sa collègue Allyson McHardy, a fait belle figure dans le Laudamus te.
-Le Soleil

Bravissimo!
(New Year’s Eve Gala, December 31, 2015)

The most impressive of the singers was the mezzo Krisztina Szabó. We have heard her a number of times in the last few seasons, with the Canadian Opera Company (in Schoenberg’s Erwartung and, more recently, in the COC’s triple bill of Monteverdi and Monk Feldman) and with Against the Grain Theatre (in their Schubert-Messiaen program). This recent concert, on December 31, 2015, gave us an opportunity to hear her in more familiar repertoire. That included Musetta’s Waltz from Puccini’s La Bohème, a role more usually sung by a soprano (although it is in Szabó’s repertoire) as well as the Habanera and the Seguidilla from Bizet’s Carmen. What a formidable Carmen she would make! She sang the middle line in Mozart’s Soave sia il vento from the first act of Così fan tutte and the lower part of the Flower Duet from Delibes’ Lakmé. In both cases she gave her part a stronger vocal presence than is normally the case in performance.
-The Whole Note

Mezzo Szabo’s fearless vocalism in a wide-ranging repertoire has made her an authentic star in recent years. Recent triumphs include the Woman in Erwartung and the triple bill Pyramus and Thisbe… It was a treat to hear (her) sing Rosina’s ‘Una voce poco fa’ from Barbiere, the kind of repertoire that she rarely sings these days. Given her high mezzo bordering on soprano, her top was impressive, and she fully embodied the vixen quality of the street-smart Rosina. Her two big Carmen arias were delivered with gleaming tone and abundant stage allure. She also did the totally unexpected – a diminuendo in the B natural ending of Musetta’s Waltz. I can’t think of another mezzo capable of doing that!
-Musical Toronto

Best of 2015:  End of Year Reviews

I mostly recall a couple of brilliant performances… particularly the work of Krisztina Szabó in the COC’s Erwartung and AtG’s Harawi.  In high-diving you get marks for what they call “degree of difficulty”; if artistic performance recognized such things, Szabó ’s work on these two jagged pieces of modernity would have her on whatever podium properly recognizes brilliance.
-Barcza Blog

If I had to pick a favourite from the COC’s line up it would likely be Robert Lepage’s production of Schoenberg’s Erwartung featuring a stellar one woman performance by Krisztina Szabó…. There was also much to like in the category of hard to define productions. Against the Grain produced two fine combinations of music and choreography. Death and Desire; a mash up of Die Schöne Müllerin and Messiaen’s Harawi featured a searing performance from Krisztina Szabó, well paired with Stephen Hegedus…

It wasn’t until I got to the end of writing the above that I realised that four very talented Canadian women played a huge role in making 2015 memorable. If I were in charge of the cover of Time magazine it would be shared by the multi talented quartet of Carla Huhtanen, Krisztina Szabó, Jen Nichols and Barbara Hannigan!
-Opera Ramblings

A mild evening in June in a tiny art gallery. A man strode to the piano and began playing Schubert. Two singers wandered through the audience. What ensued was dazzling, a rapturous evocation of naive, unbridled desire meeting neurotic, unfocussed longing. The naive desire was male, Stephen Hegedus singing Schubert’s delicate, inflamed Die Schone Mullerin (The Miller’s Lovely Daughter); and the manic longing was in Krisztina Szabo performing Olivier Messiaen’s starkly distraught Harawi: Chant d’amour et de mort(Song of Love and Death). This was Against the Grain’s Death & Desire, a fabulously inspired mash-up. Simply done, it was the most unforgettable night of the year and made, as a poet said, one little room an everywhere.
-John Doyle, The Globe and Mail

Tap:Ex Metallurgy
(Tapestry Opera, November 2015)

Of course, Falco and Haliechuk had an enormous advantage in that tenor David Pomeroy and mezzo/soprano Krisztina Szabo were interpreting their works. They were both captivating and superb. Pomeroy’s voice was clear and focused throughout, capable of a range of emotion, grabbing our attention at every moment. And what is there left to say about the truly remarkable Szabo? The beauty of the sound that she makes is overwhelming sometimes, although it’s one thing to hear her on the stage of the cavernous Four Seasons Centre, and another to come face to face with that musical power at a distance of a few feet. Her control over her instrument is complete; the range of sound and emotion she portrays is immensely attractive and compelling.
-The Globe and Mail

As always, Szabó blew my mind. Her instrument is one-of-a-kind and she has cemented herself as a darling of Canadian experimental music and opera, and we really couldn’t be luckier. Her sensibility and sensitivity to the material is truly inspiring, and even though she claimed to be under the weather, still sang like a goddess from Seventh Heaven.
-Schmopera

Pyramus and Thisbe
(Canadian Opera Company, October 2015)

Szabo’s mezzo voice is a burnished joy, able to cut through both a 20-odd person chorus and a full orchestra with clarity and beauty, and her presence on stage was luminous…

The night really belonged to Szabo, in a way, because Pyramus and Thisbe was not the only work presented in this creative COC program. To fill out an evening’s worth of opera beyond Pyramus’s 50-odd minutes, COC general director Alexander Neef decided to precede it with two 17th-century excerpts from the pen of Claudio Monteverdi, opera’s founding father, using the same set, costumes, theatrical style and cast of Pyramus. It was a clever idea, creating constant sparks of recognition and correspondence between works written 400 years apart, from opera’s beginning and present. And here, Krisztina Szabo shone with extra brilliance. Her 15-minute solo, The Lament of Ariadne, which opened the show, was a tour de force, zooming through a catalogue of emotions like a YouTube video on fast-forward. She and Addis both were powerful in the more dramatic Combat of Tancredi and Clorinda…
-The Globe and Mail

Szabó’s performance of the “Lamento” was exquisite.  Her voice had even more lustre and richness than usual, and her word-painting was impeccable.
-Opera News

It was Szabó who truly shone that night. She was able to pull together emotions from opposite ends of many spectrums and deliver it with singing that was sublime, eerie and filled the house, proving that she can perform equally well in a large venue as a smaller, more intimate one…

Szabó, in particular, performed splendidly. Her soprano was at times spiritual and at times the stuff of abject heartbreak, but there was never mistaking exactly which emotion she was trying to convey. Addis and McCausland were solid, but when paired next to Szabó, there was only ever one performer on stage.
-The Examiner

The Canadian world premiere of Barbara Monk Feldman’s Pyramus and Thisbe (was) stunningly sung… Szabo manages to be sensual yet sensitive, tragic yet troubling…
-The Toronto Star

Phillip Addis and Krisztina Szabó have a lot to do here too. The music is unusual and challenging to sing and they have to do it while moving in a highly choreographed way. It’s in no way conventional acting but the demands are considerable and they look and sound terrific.
-Opera Ramblings 

Mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó was the glue that held the triple bill together, appearing in all three pieces. No doubt, she was cast for her always-impressive skills as an interpreter of contemporary music (her last appearance with the COC was as the Woman in Schoenberg’s Erwartung), but as the tragic Arianna, she proved that she knows a thing or two about Baroque music. Her delivery was plangent and penetrating – not too pretty, yet tastefully ornamented.
-Eatock Daily (blog)

Krisztina Szabó is achingly beautiful as Thisbe, Clorinda and Ariadne, combining power and vulnerability with nuance in each role.
-Mooney on Theatre (blog)

Mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó was the glue that held the triple bill together, appearing in all three pieces. No doubt, she was cast for her always-impressive skills as an interpreter of contemporary music (her last appearance with the COC was as the Woman in Schoenberg’s Erwartung), but as the tragic Arianna, she proved that she knows a thing or two about Baroque music. Her delivery was plangent and penetrating – not too pretty, yet tastefully ornamented.
– Eatock Daily (blog)

Beyond the Aria
(Soundstreams, September 2015)

Mezzo Krisztina Szabó,  having a Josh Donaldson  sort of artistic year between her COC Erwartung and Against the Grain Theatre’s Death & Desire, used the colours of her expressive voice to full effect in a world premiere, also based on poems of Lorca, of Analia Llugdar’s Romance de la luna, luna.
-The Globe and Mail

Bartók’s BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE
(Colorado Music Festival, July 2015)

The Hungarian-Canadian mezzo-soprano is ideally cast as Judith.  She sings with beauty of tone and great intensity, as Judith becomes ever more desperate to penetrate Bluebeard’s secrets.
– sharpsandflatirons.com

Both singers thoroughly inhabited their characters.  Szabó imbued Judith with a subtle blend of tenderness and willfulness.
– Daily Camera

Shoenberg’s ERWARTUNG
(Canadian Opera Company, May 2015)

In Erwartung Canadian mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó gave a finely detailed performance as the Woman, both as singer and actor. Bewilderment gave way to fear, anger, and distress as the Woman relived the fragments of the past that rose unbidden in her memory. Szabó’s voice was infinitely expressive but lacked the hard edge that would help it more consistently cut through the orchestral texture. Yet, the very lack of that hardness also contributed greatly to our empathy for her character.
– Christopher Hoile, Opera News

As the Woman, Szabó brought an agitated, dramatic edge to her coolly accurate mezzo voice. Working closely with Debus, her performance was a fragmented outpouring, seemingly spontaneous in its sudden shifts in tempo, dynamics, and articulation. Szabó was utterly committed and entirely convincing – and the extended ovation she received was well earned.
– Colin Eatock, Eatock Daily Blog

Szabó gives one of the strongest performances of any COC season, by turns raving and dangerous, or vulnerable and even child-like. In short she’s unforgettable.
– Barczablog

Krisztina Szabó stunned me again with this performance…she really did embody this role, though. There were no moments of “just singing,” everything meant something specific, every word was newly coloured. So incredible.
– Schmopera

After intermission, the playing field is different, yet somehow the same. Schoenberg’s music jerks wildly around, like the EKG of someone on the verge of a major cardiac episode and this is indeed the best way to describe The Woman, sung by Krisztina Szabo with an emotional abandon that manages to be thrilling and horrifying at the same time.
– Richard Ouzonian, Toronto Star

The Woman is sung by Krisztina Szabó (ironic that the Hungarian-Canadian gets the German to sing?).  She combines a terrifyingly intense acting performance with actually being able to sing Schoenberg’s crazy music.
– OperaRamblings

Schoenberg’s writing for The Woman is impossibly taxing, demanding a stratospheric range and superhuman muscle. Szabó more than meets the outrageous requirements, her clear, ringing mezzo forceful, resonant, soaring. This is an astonishing performance overflowing with passion, heartrending in its humanity. Her character spent, released from suffering by a flood of catharsis, Szabó closes Erwartung with Schoenberg’s inexpressibly poignant Liebster, Liebster, der Morgen kommt (“Oh, beloved, beloved, dawn is breaking”). It is a moment, to summon W.B. Yeats, of terrible beauty.
– Opera Going Toronto

Mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabo was utter perfection in her delivery of the unhinged, unnamed woman of the opera. She keeps you deeply engaged for the entire 30 minutes as her tale unfolds, and there is more feeling packed into that piece than is in many theatrical works today. As the woman wanders through the inky darkness of the forest (as much a forest of the mind as it is physical), Szabo’s voice is beautifully, darkly expressive. With each note, she displayed her apprehensive agitated state—frightened, anxious, manic, as she searches for her lover in the tenebrous space.
– The Scene Toronto

Mezzo soprano Kristina Szabo goes through all the emotional permutations that the Woman suffers with powerful singing and acting. This is opera in a different dimension.
– James Karas Reviews

For her part, Szabó is truly remarkable, both for holding her own in the half-hour opera and fearlessly attacking the Freudian language to go down a cognitive path nobody wants to travel.
– Toronto Performing Arts

DEATH AND DESIRE
(Against the Grain Theatre, June 2015)

Szabó sang the super-sized Harawi as if it was no trouble at all – and this just after having finished singing The Woman in Schoenberg’s Erwartung for the Canadian Opera Company.  She had an enormous palate of sound, from white and whispered to a full, animalistic cry; all of it felt otherworldly.
-Opera Canada

When the house lights dimmed, and Szabó began to sing softly at the back of the hall, I was held spellbound. From then on she inhabited each song with a dramatic veracity rarely found on the recital stage. But it was her sensuality of both body and voice that entrapped her audience. Whether it be death or desire, her interpretive genius was in full evidence throughout.
– Musical Toronto

Singing the role of The Woman in Harawi, mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabo astonished, her voice a pure white sheet of pain and suffering, crisp and pristine. Messiaen demands brilliant, blazing top notes from his singer, balanced by an almost limitless lower register, reverberant and robust, to convey the abundance of extraordinary Quechuan chant in his primeval cycle. Szabo soared even higher, dived even deeper than the prescribed paramaters. Doundou tchil, a Peruvian folk dance traditionally accompanied by ankle bells, was delivered with rousing energy, the ringing, onomatopoeic lyrics entrancing and jangling in Szabo’s euphoric styling. Her descent into madness in Syllabes (Syllables) electrified, her rhythmic incantation, the terrified cry of a wild animal…
– Opera Going Toronto

The performances are ravishing. Hegedus’s rich, resonant baritone evokes a pastoral scene and a growing sense of disillusionment and despair, while Szabó is fierce and committed, her clear voice filling the hall with thrilling passion.
– Now Magazine

The first notes you hear belong to mezzo soprano Krisztina Szabó. She began singing delicately with a white tone at the back of the hall behind the audience and you knew in a moment you were in for a ride. Szabó’s crystal clear voice (and might I add, deadly accurate) filled the awkward space effortlessly, and when she released the full power of her sound, it was stunning. Her careful use of straight tones and open vibrato were incredibly tasteful, all the while giving a slight doff of the cap to Messaien’s love of birdcall.
This is the best work I’ve seen her do, and a large part of that is due to her first rate work as an actor on stage.
Also. Krisztina Szabó. Mad scenes. #MicDrop.
She was in complete command of her physicality at all times which made it impossible not to watch her. The intimacy of the venue really allowed the audience to see the nuanced character work she was doing. This is no mean feat when singing repertoire as demanding as this. Her character’s descent into madness was honest, calculated, and carefully executed. At times, in her mayhem, she became almost predatory which was even more enthralling.
– Schmopera

Various Highlights

“Special kudos go to Szabó, whose high mezzo, with its soprano-like timbre, never sounded better.”
– Opera Canada – Galicians I:  The Art Songs (CD)

“Krisztina Szabó’s reading of Paride was startling… she offered the most idiomatic singing –some adventurous da capo elaborations, fabulous clarity—all while judiciously holding her big voice back for most of the night, wonderfully well balanced with the rest of the singers onstage with her.”
– Barczablog – Paride in Gluck’s Paride ed Elena (Essential Opera)

La mezzosoprano Krisztina Szabó solventó la parte vocal de la obra de Boulez con gran dominio del estilo y el Plural Ensemble se mostró impecable en todo momento desde el punto de vista interpretativo.
(“The mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó performed the vocal part of Boulez’s work with great mastery of style, and together with the Plural Ensemble, was spotless at all times in the interpretation of the piece.”)
– El Pais Madrid – Boulez’ Improvisation 1 & 2 (Plural Ensemble, Madrid)

“As the personification of the gypsy, mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó entered with a slow, erogenous motion that was underlined by her smoky voice.”
– Theatre Jones.com – Janaček’s The Diary of One Who Disappeared (Soundings:  New Music at Nasher)

“Krisztina Szabó had just the right hint of sizzle in her succulent mezzo.”
– Dallas Morning News – Janaček’s The Diary of One Who Disappeared (Soundings:  New Music at Nasher)

Donna Elvira – Don Giovanni
Vancouver Opera (March 2014)

“The other standout is Krisztina Szabó’s Donna Elvira, a woman repeatedly tormented by our shameless Don Juan. The fiery mezzo nailed it from the minute she promised “I’ll tear his heart out” to her polished rendition of the punishing, frantic ornamentation of “Mi tradì”.”
The Georgia Straight (March 2014)

“Mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó as Donna Elvira, sopranos Erin Wall as Donna Anna and Rachel Fenlon as Zerlina may be the best-looking female cast to elegantly grace the Queen Elizabeth Theatre stage in some time.

Krisztina Szabó is marvelous as the coquettish Donna Elvira. Delivering good coloratura in her showpiece aria, Mi tradi quell’alma ingrateshe reflects on the misery that Don Giovanni has brought, yet still harbours a fondness towards him. Ms. Szabó.. reveals comic timing and a natural penchant for physical comedy.”
ReviewVancouver.com (March 2014)

“Szabó’s lament in act two was heartfelt, authentic and deeply moving.”
Plank Magazine (March 2014)

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