Press Opera
ROMEO ET JULIETTE - Toledo Opera
"Undisputed star of this cast is soprano Barbara Shirvis, whose supple, honeyed, and many timbred voice brought Juliette to life--and later, of course, to death-- with grace and unselfconscious agility. Her acting was convincing. Those who saw last year's production of Pagliacci will no doubt remember her; this year's audience will, too."
Toledo Blade
"Barbara Shirvis added yet another star to her roster of heroines. Her Juliette was sung with a warm, lyric soprano voice that soared to the heights the role requires, both musically and dramatically. Her potion aria was a moving counterpart to Act I's 'Je veux vivre', which was sung exquisitely in tune and with delicate phrasing."
Opera News
I PAGLIACCI - Toledo Opera
"...Her warm, substantial lyric soprano, well suited to Nedda, soared through her aria. She sang with passionate nuance in her duet with Silvio."
Opera News
COSÌ FAN TUTTE - Arizona Opera
“Singing Fiordiligi, soprano Barbara Shirvis showed depth in her mezzo range, clarity and agility up high, power throughout, and the ability to make a unity of the enormous vocal span of the part. Her aria of resistant strength, ‘Per pieta,’ was a tour de force.”
Arizona Republic
“Barbara Shirvis’ Fiordiligi fully exploited the role’s playfulness and she sang with simple purity.”
Curtain Up Phoenix
MADAMA BUTTERFLY - Eastern Music Festival
“Barbara Shirvis’ achingly emotional Butterfly … delighted and convinced … Shirvis, who has sung on stages from New England to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, demonstrated the ‘gorgeous tone’ noted by the Boston Globe’s reviewer earlier, along with an acting ability that helped little Riley Smith through his non-singing role as her son.”
News & Record (Greensboro)
TOSCA - West Virginia Symphony
“Barbara Shirvis comes across as a ferociously jealous, dramatic soprano…but the true beauty of her voice shone forth in her Act II aria of desperation.”
Charleston Daily Mail
CARMEN - Florentine Opera
“Shirvis showed an unusually big, colorful tone for Micaela, delivered her ‘Je dis que rien ne m’épouvante’ charmingly and proved a lovely visual presence throughout.”
Opera News
DIE FLEDERMAUS - Boston Lyric Opera
“An authentic blonde beauty, tall and curvaceous, Barbara Shirvis was a strong Rosalinde, her tone solid and evenly produced throughout its range. Shirvis served up the czardas with aplomb and her dialogue was tart and neatly delivered.”
Opera News
“Barbara Shirvis showed estimable vocal qualities and she knows how to act.”
The Boston Globe
DIE FLEDERMAUS - Knoxville Opera
“Rosalinda, charmingly sung by Barbara Shirvis…”
Knoxville News-Sentinel
DON GIOVANNI - Syracuse Opera
“Barbara Shirvis gave an excellent account of Elvira’s opening aria, ‘Ah! Chi mi dice mai,’ passionately angry but with just the right amount of wistfulness. Her subsequent ‘Ah fuggi il traditore’… was filled with passion and warning. Her immensely difficult recitative and aria in the second act, with its florid divisions, was note perfect.”
Ithaca Journal
“Barbara Shirvis, in turn, brings poignancy and vulnerability, along with a lovely soprano, to the role of Donna Elvira.”
Post-Standard
OF MICE AND MEN - Edmonton Opera
“While it is easy to make Curley’s wife merely the tart she is accused of being in the opera, Shirvis brings you inside her desperate desire for affection. And she manages to get some beauty from the music which is often daunting.”
Edmonton Journal
COSÌ FAN TUTTE - Berkshire Opera
“The musical highlight of the performance was her aria of remorse, ‘Per pieta,’ which she sang with gorgeous tone, technical security, and a touching vulnerability.”
Boston Globe
“Barbara Shirvis was a most impressive Fiordiligi, filling the role with forceful, wide ranging vocalism.”
WBRK
“Barbara Shirvis was superb as Fiordiligi, negotiating the demanding ‘Come scoglio’ with heroic confidence and character…”
Springfield Union-News
“A highlight of Act I was Shirvis’ ‘Come scoglio,’ whose virtuoso demands were met head-on by the strong-voiced Shirvis.”
Times Union
“…with Shirvis’ defiant aria, ‘Come scoglio,’ a vocal high point of the performance.”
Daily Gazette
DON GIOVANNI - Berkshire Opera
“Barbara Shirvis … brought a pure and elegant voice to the betrayed Donna Elvira. Her phrasing and agility of voice illustrated what a great Mozart singer she is.”
WBRK
“Barbara Shirvis is an outstanding Donna Elvira. She is pregnant, but she brought her condition into her portrayal of Don Giovanni’s angry castoff woman. Donna Elvira has a lot of jagged music, and Shirvis puts her strong, colorful soprano through the steeplechase with discipline and style.”
Boston Globe
“Shirvis … invests Elvira with a splendid spinto sound that expresses the anger and frustration of a woman scorned. Her arias offered immaculate phrasing and the requisite agility, especially ‘Mi tradi,’ the great Act II air in which she ponders ironically her second rejection by Giovanni.”
Berkshire Eagle
“Soprano Barbara Shirvis presents a full-voiced and richly textured Donna Elvira. From her titanic range (‘Mi tradi’) to her pathetic pining for the cad Giovanni, she is impressive and convincing … Notwithstanding, Shirvis makes complete sense, both musically and dramatically, of the character’s abrupt, almost hormonal shifts in mood.”
Troy Record
EUGENE ONEGIN - Cleveland Opera
"...the luminous Barbara Shirvis shed such charismatic light on the character's budding ardor. She applied her clear, agile lyric soprano to the urgent lines of the crucial 'Letter Scene' as if living the arduous experience."
Cleveland Plain Dealer
"The occasions chief adornment is Barbara Shirvis, whose Tatyana grows from an initial convincing moody girlishness to a final persuasive maturity with remarkably uncaricatured understatement. Moreover, she possesses a supple, rich soprano that ranges from a less than overpowering, but substantial forcefulness, to encompass some warm, delicately floated pianissimos. The celebrated Letter Scene, in which the girl composes her declaration of love, is an extended one-act drama of its own, whose technically arduous demands Shirvis invests with an affecting, uncloying emotionality."
Free Times (Ohio)
Press Symphony
Poulenc STABAT MATER - New Mexico Symphony Orchestra
“Barbara Shirvis was outstanding in the impassioned conclusion.”
Sunday Journal (Albuquerque)
Beethoven SYMPHONY NO. 9 - Spokane Symphony
“Friday’s excellent team of soloists included soprano Barbara Shirvis, who was singing the Ninth’s solos for the first time and sounded wonderful in the stratospheric part concluding the phrase ‘all men become brothers where joy’s gentle wing rests.’”
Spokesman Review
Brahms REQUIEM - Jacksonville Symphony
“Guest soprano Barbara Shirvis took center stage in the fifth movement, and her round, dark sound was a perfect partner to the Requiem’s reliance on the middle voices of the chorus and on the low strings. ‘I will comfort you as one comforted by his mother’ sounded entirely believable when expressed in her effortless placement and embracing voice.”
Jacksonville Times Union
IN CONCERT with the Dallas Symphony Chorus
“A showcase was Poulenc’s strange Gloria, which is by turns reverent, flippant, pastoral and mysterious over a relatively short period of time. A striking guest was soprano Barbara Shirvis, whose voice is beautiful and at ease over a wide range.”
Dallas Morning News
“Here, as in the Poulenc, the chorus and orchestra were joined by soprano soloist Barbara Shirvis, who possesses a glorious voice that we would love to hear more of.”
Star-Telegram
Messiah - Pacific Symphony
“Most effective of the vocal soloists was Barbara Shirvis, a solid musician of strong sound and emotional projection.”
Los Angeles Times
“Barbara Shirvis sang the soprano solos clearly and gracefully, her trills and grace notes receiving a particular touch of finesse … ”
Orange County Register
Messiah - Colorado Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
“With a golden-toned lyrical voice, Shirvis sang ‘Rejoice greatly’ as if she really meant it, but also gave her listeners cause to reflect with the admonition to ‘Take his yoke upon you…for he is meek and lowly of heart.’”
Denver Post
IN CONCERT with Augusta Opera
“Soprano Barbara Shirvis shimmered in all she sang, her voice crystalline. In Rachmaninoff’s wordless Vocalise, she was eloquently expressive, but there was nothing she touched that didn’t sparkle.”
Augusta Chronicle
IN CONCERT with the Goliard Chamber Soloists at Merkin Concert Hall
“Barbara Shirvis, a soprano with a bright timbre and an ear for textual subtlety, gave them affecting, atmospheric readings…”
New York Times
IN CONCERT with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra
“Ms. Shirvis’ attractive performance was notable for the clarity of her diction. This was one case in which no printed text was necessary.”
Dallas Morning News
Brahms REQUIEM with Colorado Music Festival
“Barbara Shirvis was exquisitely beautiful in the tender fifth movement. Her sensitively shaped phrases at the end were enough to induce shivers on the hot evening."
Daily Camera
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