Press
There are so many touches to savor, both in the instrumental accents and the phrasing of McGegan’s fine crop of soloists. … Bass-baritone Christian Pursell is excellent playing both the prophet Samuel and Doeg. JASON VICTOR SERINUS
Lyric Opera of Kansas City General Director and CEO Deborah Sandler today announced the company's 2020-2021 season. It features four mainstage productions, including The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess and The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, both of which are being performed on a Lyric Opera of Kansas City stage for the first time. Two all-time favorites known for incomparable melodies - Verdi's beloved La traviata and Bizet's passionate Carmen - round out the extraordinarily diverse season. […]
CARMEN
Cast and Artistic TeamCarmen: Ginger Costa-Jackson *
Don Jose: Eric Fennell *
Escamillo: Christian Pursell *
Micaela: Celine Byrne *
Conductor: Emmanuel Plasson*
Director : Kathleen Belcher* Lyric Opera of Kansas City debut
Houston Grand Opera has announced its 2020-21 season, featuring a repertoire of beloved classics, company premieres, and a much-anticipated world premiere. The 66th season opens with audience favorite Carmen. American mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard makes her HGO and role debut as Carmen in the revival of Rob Ashford's acclaimed 2014 production of Bizet's classic. She is joined by tenor Andrea Caré as Don José, bass-baritone Christian Pursell as Escamillo, and Anita Hartig as Micaela, all making their HGO debuts. The production will be conducted by HGO Principal Guest Conductor Eun Sun Kim.
In a pair of knockout arias, bass baritone Christian Pursell carved out richly drawn, lustrously sung musical portraits. Unfurling a voice of remarkable solidity and mobility from top to bottom, he closed out the first half of the program with the title character’s probing cavatina from Rachmaninoff’s Aleko. Pursell dug into the Russian lyrics and gave them a ripe, mournfully agitated cast. He returned after intermission as a preening soldier in Ambroise Thomas’s Le Caïd (The Qaid). Speeding through the pattering French lines, Pursell fused razor-sharp diction and wittily detailed moves into a second feat of operatic alchemy. STEVEN WINN
… and the muscular joy of bass-baritone Christian Purcell’s accounts of music by Rachmaninoff and Ambroise Thomas. JOSHUA KOSMAN
Bass-baritone Christian Pursell was an engaging presence, vocally and dramatically, as the Sergente degli arceri in Act Three, voicing ‘Il passo m’aprite’ forcefully.
BILLY BUDD, the second offering of San Francisco Opera’s 2019-20 season, exceeded all expectations (seen Sept. 7). Intensely theatrical, brilliantly musical and insightfully staged, Benjamin Britten’s seafaring drama returned to the War Memorial Opera House in an unforgettable performance. […] Philip Horst (Redburn), Wayne Tigges (Flint), and Christian Pursell (Ratcliffe) were well-matched as the officers serving under Vere.
Other standouts included bass-baritones Philip Horst as Mr. Redburn, Wayne Tigges as Mr. Flint and Christian Pursell as Mr. Ratcliffe.
The most pleasing surprise of the night was Christian Pursell, in the small role of Samuel the prophet. In his confrontation with Saul, Pursell’s resonant bass-baritone was fully equal to the challenge of Okulitch’s voice. SIMON WILLIAMS
Sarah Mesko, who makes her Opera Theatre debut in the 2019 season as Ottavia in The Coronation of Poppea, sings the title role. In their OTSL debuts, Adam Smith and Christian Pursell will sing the roles of Don José and Escamillo, Carmen’s rival admirers. Former Gerdine Young Artist Erica Petrocelli sings her first principal role, Micaëla. Director Rodula Gaitanou and conductor Timothy Myers both make their OTSL premieres interpreting Bizet’s lush opera.
