The role of Violetta requires a bigger, warmer voice and more dramatic inflection than this petite coloratura soprano can muster, despite her obvious gifts as an actress.

NEWYORKER: Classical Music

There were some surprises, one of which was the thrill of a male voice singing "God Bless America, " instead of the hyper-coloratura divas who plague our American civic life.

WSJ: Way Too Much God

The role of the demimondaine Violetta requires a bigger, warmer voice and more dramatic inflection than this petite coloratura soprano can muster, despite her obvious gifts as an actress.

NEWYORKER: Classical Music

Keri Alkema, the only returning singer in the cast (she was an impressive Donna Elvira in the company's "Don Giovanni" in 2009) brings a burnished intensity and clean coloratura to Amaltea, Faraone's wife and an Israelite sympathizer.

WSJ: Still Searching for the Promised Land

Tina has four standout arias, tracing her awakening to life and feeling after years in the shadows, as the Lodger seduces her to get access to the papers. (Their a cappella duet at the end of Act I is an ingenious piece of writing.) As Juliana, the fierce Alexandra Deshorties slipped easily from embodying the young opera diva, warbling bel canto-style coloratura, to the old crone.

WSJ: A Liebestod to Die For | Tristan und Isolde | Houston Grand Opera | By Heidi Waleson