Grande Finale Reviews!

Soprano Suzanne Rigden, 25, who a pitch-perfect friend informs me emitted a perfect high F when she sang Rosina in the first-cast Barbiere, was a bright, fresh, and delicious Blonde in her duet from Mozart’sAbduction From the Seraglio


---http://www.sfcv.org/reviews/merola-opera-program/merolas-grand-promise

....and the belly-shaking comic genius of Suzanne Rigden (Elvira)

Chen and Rigden had a good turn in the Oxmin-Blonde duet from "Abduction from the Seraglio

---http://listserv.bccls.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind1108c&L=OPERA-L&D=0&P=145863&D=1

 "Ich gehe doch rate ich dir" from Entführung, Suzanne Rigden was spunky as Blonde and Peixin Chen a loveable buffoon as Osmin...Suzanne Rigden managed to be a mousy Elvira, never upstaging Renée Rapier's sassy Isabella




---http://operatattler.typepad.com/opera/2011/08/merola-grand-finale-2011.html


Suzanne Rigden and Peixin Chen paired for a lively Mozartian banter from the Abduction from the seraglio with the most colorful contrast, her crystalline voice fluttering around his barreling, cavernous tone.


---http://sfist.com/2011/08/22/sfist_reviews_merola_grand_finale.php


The 2nd half opened with bass Peixin Chen & sopranoSuzanne Rigden hamming it up shamelessly in the soprano/bass duel from Entfürung.


---http://nffo.blogspot.com/2011/08/merola-grand-finale-2011.html


Thus, the selection that probably fared better than any of the others involved the synthesis of a solid score by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with an appropriately contemporary dramatic perspective in Conde’s staging.  This was the duet “Ich gehe doch rate ich dir” from the second act of Die Entführung aus dem Serail, in which Blonde’s English blood comes to a full boil when Osmin tries to treat her as his slave.  Peixin Chen’s bass voice was as hardy as it had been in his Basilio in thesecond cast of Barbiere, while Suzanne Rigden endowed Blonde with the same rebellious sass that had spiced her Rosina in the first cast.  She then kept that character in high gear in her portrayal of Elvira at the end of the program, in which all of the Merolini performed the first act finale of Rossini’s L'italiana in Algeri.


---http://www.examiner.com/classical-music-in-san-francisco/merola-grand-finale-2011


Though Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail is an opera I really have no pleasure in hearing, Suzanne Rigden and Pei Xin Chin were both in excellent form for the comedic duet. Rigden has a wonderful stage presence to match her bright, strong voice and Chen's journeyman-like work ethic and booming bass made him an audience favorite.


---http://abeastinajungle.blogspot.com/2011_08_01_archive.html


One more to add of Barber: 


Rigden went on to have an excellent overall night, with not only strong high-notes but a performance that reminded me of Reese Witherspoon's better comedic outings. 


--- http://abeastinajungle.blogspot.com/search/label/Merola