Reviews and Photos
Flavia Gemmira in West Edge Opera's Eliogabalo
Soprano Nikki Einfeld as Gemmira was moving in her plangent arias and in a stirring duet of climactic rage and revenge with Eritea --San Fransisco Classical Voice ( Nicolas Jones)
Photo: Corey Weaver
Photo: Corey Weaver
Gilda in Calgary Opera's production of "Rigoletto"
Nikki Einfeld, the production’s Gilda, gave a very strong performance, beautifully capturing the girlishness of
Rigoletto’s love-smitten daughter. Vocally, she has exactly the right type of voice for the role — sweet, silvery, and
with an ability to easily soar to the heights and project well into a large hall. “Caro nome” is one of the best-known
arias in all opera, and she made the most of it here, giving the entire scene a playful, adolescent element frequently missing
where other performances are merely sentimental. There was sentiment enough in her singing, but the humorous,
playful element, frequently missed, gave the moment a dimension it often lacks. She was also a fine
partner in the many duets this opera contains, especially the duet with oboe accompaniment in the third act.
- - Kenneth Delong, Calgary Herald
Fear and Doubt in Abraham in Flames: Aleksandra Vrebalov/Niloufar Talebi
And best of all — for the audience, if not the protagonist herself — there is Fear, who bursts on stage trailing a cloud of shopping bags and anxiety. As portrayed with ferocious determination by the dynamic soprano Nikki Einfeld, Fear tries to keep the world in line with dubious guidelines (“Keep your feet on the ground!” “What you need is grit and pluck!”) that serve only to quash Girl’s spirit. San Francisco Chronicle (Joshua Kosman)
Photo: Devlin Shand Photography
Dorethea Lange in "From the Field": **World Premiere opera by Christopher Stark
*directing debut
"In variations of “Alone in the field,” reminiscent of Benjamin Britten in “Peter Grimes,” especially as sung by Soprano Nikki Einfeld, bright, resonant, and poignant. Einfeld brings even more life to the multi-layered work.
A petite and powerful presence, Einfeld moved through the stages of discovery and revelation of the problem with tenderness and toughness. She crept around the fields – Lange herself had polio as a child, and leaving her with a limp – explored the photographer’s studio where she plucked the negatives with attentiveness, while exploring the lament wrapped inside it. Her voice cast a spell on the information, enabling it to draw us to it and down into its cavernous depths." (Lois Silverstein, OperaWire)
Diana in West Edge Opera's "The Chastity Tree" by F. Cavalli
"Diana gets the most daunting assignment — including a pair of electrifying bravura
showcases and a series of delicate emotional shifts — and soprano Nikki Einfeld rose superbly
to the challenge, negotiating both the grueling coloratura and the expressive nuances of the role with ease." (Joshua Kosman, SF Gate)
"Nikki Einfeld took on Diana with grace and fine comic timing. The role requires a fair bit of coloratura,
particularly in an Act I aria where she lays down the law (sounding just a bit like the Queen of the Night),
and Einfeld had the goods to bring it off. Her last aria, and the most emotionally freighted of the show,
“Teco porta, o mia speranza” (Take my soul with you, O my hope), was beautifully done." (Michael Zwiebach, San Francisco Classical Voice)
Photo: Corey Weaver
The Controller in "Flight" by Jonothan Dove with Opera Parallele
" Nikki Einfeld is an established wizard of the too-high-to-sing repertoire,
and her performance was a taut masterpiece of vocal and emotional clarity." (Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle )
Curley's Wife in "Of Mice and Men" by Carlisle Floyd with Manitoba Opera
"Einfeld’s attention-starved, aspiring Hollywood starlet is simply named Curley’s Wife.
Her slinky, nuanced portrayal brought prismatic colour to her tarty role, her wheedling the lusty
chorus of ranch hands for sex made the bunkhouse hotter than a July heatwave. Her well-controlled, flexible soprano voice impressed as she artfully shaded her dynamics on razor-thin, uppermost notes." (Winnipeg Free Press)
Ligeti's "Mysteries of the Macabre" with the SF Symphony Soundbox
"None, I think, could have foreseen the blazing intensity or ferocious artistry that Einfeld brought to her assignment.
There are words to the piece, but they are hard to make out at the stratospheric pitches Ligeti requires from the soloist, and in any case logic is both scarce and beside the point. This is music that is at once gestural and arcane, with an emotional fervency that seems to well up from some deep source in the body. Einfeld tapped into that source to produce a surge of vocal energy that was nothing short of galvanizing. It was an extraordinary display of theatrical commitment and vocal sophistication." (San Francisco Chronicle)
Konstanze in "The Abduction from the Seraglio" with West Bay Opera.
"her coloratura turns are both accurate and dexterous. In one vocally athletic third-act aria, she channels the Queen of the Night." (SF Classical Voice)
Soprano Nikki Einfeld, another distinguished Merola graduate (2003), sang the noblewoman role, Konstanze, earning “brava!” from the audience for her performance of the fiendishly difficult aria, “Martern aller Arten” (Sf Examiner)
Marie in "La Fille du Regiment" with Manitoba Opera
Trim and petite in her becoming military outfit, she was enchanting as the rough and tumble young woman raised by 23 "fathers" -- soldiers of the 21st Regiment of the Grenadiers. Her voice was pure feminine lightness, possessing a subtle buoyancy that while not overpowering, had underlying strength and confidence." (Winnipeg Free Press)
Susanna in "The Marriage of Figaro" with Vancouver Opera
"Nikki Einfeld, in her Vancouver Opera debut, is so right for the part of Susanna that it almost seems like typecasting.
With a pert presence, a fresh voice, and a real flair for comedy, she is a delightful singing actress with a rock-solid understanding of the ins and outs of her character." (Vancouver Sun)
Lucia in "Lucia di Lammermoor" with Green Mountain Opera and Syracuse Opera
The diminutive Einfeld has a brilliant voice – with a slight and delicious dark tinge – which she uses with coloratura ease. (The TImes Argus) Green Mountain Opera Production
"...a soprano of considerable range and clarity of voice..." "Her emphatic performance as Lucia is striking." (Post Standard) (Syracuse Opera Production
Mabel in "Pirates of Penzance" with Edmonton Opera
"Einfeld was simply captivating: demanding the attention of the audience with her flawless vocals, and hypnotizing the masses with her coy aura of confidence and her demure—and yet somehow completely overwhelming—charisma." (VU Weekly)
