Emily Albrink, soprano

December 8th, 2008 | New York Times, Allan Kozinn
"Nuria’s music never quite matches Margarita’s in emotional power, but Emily Albrink’s portrayal captured the sense that Nuria had absorbed her teacher’s work and concerns." - Ainadamar, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Carnegie Hall

April 20th, 2008 | Courier Journal, Andrew Adler
Albrink is establishing a pretty fair national career in her mid-20s, and she sang with masterly projection of tone and complete identification with her texts. -Boccherini's Stabat Mater; Bourbon Baroque

March 8th, 2008 | Courier Journal, Andrew Adler
Music review: Emily Albrink, soprano
With a string of well-received performances already on her résumé, soprano Emily Albrink is building the kind of career that most fellow singers in their mid-20s might envy. But until Friday night at the Kentucky Center's Bomhard Theater, the Louisville native had not sung a formal recital as a professional. Now she has, and during her Gheens Great Expectations program there was much to admire.

Albrink does not have a voice that wraps around you with gobs of lusciousness. She produced more of a clean, chiseled tone in which the leading edge of a phrase tends to be emphasized. Her way with French chanson, heard last night via Poulenc, was respectably managed yet not truly to her best advantage. Though her precise diction (secure even in the thorniest textures) could hardly have been better, what emerged expressively was a little too cool.

Moving after intermission to Mussorgsky's spiky, carefree evocation of "The Nursery," Albrink demonstrated why she'd been getting such laudatory attention. A superb singing actor (not surprising for an alumna of Louisville's Walden Theatre), she sang with tremendous affection and interpretive focus. Russian is not an easy language to make sense of as a non-native speaker, but Albrink — channeling a delightfully quirky inner child — sounded like the Belle of St. Petersburg.

Partnered adroitly by pianist Angelina Gadeliya, Albrink treated her best material as an invitation to create compelling narratives lasting just a minute or two. She didn't shrink from employing her arms or, for that matter, her entire body in service to what the texts were stressing. Coupled with spot-on intonation and a fundamental confidence in her ability to inhabit a momentary character, she knew how to deliver the musical goods.

There was no better evidence than her final group of songs by American composer Jake Heggie, with whom Albrink has established a special bond. Last night's performances, whether speaking of devil-may-care love or the wistful recollection of a cherished set of wheels, confirmed that this soprano knows what it is to sing the truth.

August 13th, 2007 | The New York Times, James Oestereich
"Emily Albrink was delightful and vocally strong and versatile as Despina, the character who best fit the "Saturday Night Live
mold." - Cosi fan Tutte; Tanglewood Music Center

August 13th, 2007 | The Boston Globe, Jeremy Eichler
"Emily Albrink was a livewire Despina, dominating most scenes in which she appeared" -Cosi fan Tutte, Tanglewood Music Center

August 10th, 2007 | The Boston Globe, David Weininger
"It's so fresh, it makes the opera seem so relevant," says soprano Emily Albrink, who sings Despina in the first cast. "It just brings the opera into everyone's world." - Cosi fan Tutte, Tanglewood Music Center

July 21st, 2007 | Rocky Mountain News, Marc Schulgold
"Nuria was sung wonderfully by the promising soprano Emily Albrink, who more than held her own alongside the amazing Rivera and O'Connor." - Ainadamar, Colorado Music Festival

July 20th, 2007 | Denver Post, Kyle MacMillan
"Soprano Emily Albrink was strong as Xirgu's protégée, Nuria." - Ainadamar, Colorado Music Festival

July 20th, 2007 | Daily Camera, Kelly Dean Hansen
"Emily Albrink, who portrays Margarita's student Nuria, has a piercing, beautiful soprano voice, yet she is also capable of producing wonderful low notes." -Ainadamar, Colorado Music Festival

April 17th, 2007 | The New York Times, Vivien Schweitzer
"Clarice Assad, whose “Confessions” opened the program Sunday, discovered that the soprano she had been paired with, Emily Albrink, sings both opera and musical theater. So Ms. Assad, a Brazilian, wrote a humorous piece about the insecurities and obsessions of modern women that swings between musical theater and cabaret, with jazzy piano riffs and tango-tinged strings. It was ideal for Ms. Albrink, who delivered a lively, dramatic performance." - "Female Confessions" by Clarice Assad, Carnegie Hall Premiere

January 13th, 2007 | Opera News, Oussama Zahr
"Emily Albrink led the cast as Laurie Moss, the graduation girl who decides to break off from her family and discover the world beyond the fence that encircles their home. Albrink's bright lyric soprano gained in warmth and security as the night progressed, allowing her to take gradual command of the opera — just as the character of Laurie does. The previously mentioned quintet tested the ranges of many of the singers, but Albrink led them unfazed, riding the orchestra's crescendos. She went on to sing a beautiful love duet..." - The Tender Land, The Bronx Opera

January 13th, 2007 | Qonstage.com, Bruce-Michael Gelbert
"Emily Albrink floats Laurie's rhapsodic reflections, on growing up and curiosity about other places, in an ingratiating lyric soprano." - The Tender Land, Bronx Opera

August 14th, 2006 | mvdaily.com, Lawrence Budman
"Stravinsky's rhythmic, proto-Russian Mavra featured the clear, gleaming soprano of Emily Albrink" - Mavra, Tanglewood Music Center

July 29th, 2006 | New York Times, Allan Kozinn
"Emily Albrink was a striking Parasha" -Mavra, Tanglewood Music Center

July 18th, 2006 | The Boston Globe, Richard Dyer
"Some of the smaller parts were nicely taken by this summer's Tanglewood Music Center vocal fellows, including Eui Jin Kim, Emily Albrink, Chanel Wood, and Ulysses Thomas." - Elektra, Tanglewood Music Center