Australian mezzo Caitlin Hulcup opened as Orfeo in Scottish Opera’s new production of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice (directed by Ashley Page and conducted by Kenneth Montgomery). Continue reading for the first notices.
Click here to watch Caitlin tell us what it’s like to sing and play Orfeo.
”... there’s fine singing to enjoy. The Australian mezzo Caitlin Hulcup has impressed me for years with her rich, full and distinctive timbre, and she sings Orfeo with commendable intensity ... Her flaming row with Lucy Hall’s plangently sung Euridice — distraught and baffled by Orfeo’s coldness — is the emotional centre of the show.”
Richard Morrison, The Times
”[Director Ashley] Page gets conflicted, emotionally wrenching performances from Caitlin Hulcup’s Orfeo.
Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times
“This was a particularly well sung opera with Caitlin Hulcup’s honey-toned mezzo bringing a noble passion to the trouser role of Orfeo. Dressed in a cream three piece linen suit and silk scarf, she was centre of attention and her well-choreographed journey back from the Underworld with a now quarrelsome Euridice in tow was a particular highlight. We had to wait until the end to hear the famous aria “Che farò senza Euridice” simply delivered against stage black, melting the heart of Amore and us in the audience too.”
David Smythe, bachtrack
”...given a send-off by a stylish group of mourners that is as eloquent physically as Caitlin Hulcup’s Orfeo is musically. ... With the sparest of design, there is never any doubt where we are, and Hulcup and Hall make the most of their roles, particularly in the dark comedy of the crucial scene as he attempts to lead her back.”
Keith Bruce, The Herald
“Caitlin Hulcup’s Orfeo is sung with rich masculinity.”
Ken Walton, The Scotsman
“Performing in the star role as Orfeo is Australian opera singer Caitlin Hulcup, [who has] extremely good Italian pronunciation and [a] highly expressive voice… Hulcup, in particular, displays real control and musical verve and has a powerful and commanding stage presence, and ought to be congratulated on her apparent musical mastery of this challenging and demanding role.”
S. E. Webster, The Public Reviews
“But it is Orfeo who carries the opera - rarely off-stage and, most of the time, singing of his grief. Caitlin Hulcup is androgynous as the lead singer in a boy-band, in white three-piece suit and silk scarf, a look which works with her mezzo voice. It is rich and expressive, and utterly convincing, as the hapless Orfeo tries to cope with grief, obstructive Lost Souls and Furies, importuning wife and grief again.”
Catriona Graham, The Opera Critic
“Caitlin Hulcup ... provide[d] a genuinely moving interpretation of the title role. Her range was extremely impressive, penetrating at the top and characterful at the bottom, using the whole span of her voice to inhabit the character’s emotions and problems, particularly impressive in the scene where she tamed the Furies.”
Simon Thompson, Seen and Heard International
“The lead in this Scottish Opera production is ably filled by Caitlin Hulcup.”
John McLellan, Edinburgh News
“Caitlin Hulcup, pure heroism in an all-white suit, is particularly charismatic.”
Alan Morrison, Sunday Herald
Photo credit: Kk Dundas
