ROYAL ACADEMY OPERA
HANDEL’S ARIODANTE (NOVEMBER 2023)

“Ariodante tends to steal this particular show and with her silvery, shaded mezzo and poetic phrasing no one will have begrudged Angharad Rowlands her ovation. Her ‘Scherza infida’ seemed to suspend time.”
- The Spectator

“In the title role, the mezzo-soprano Angharad Rowlands – an Oxford Song young artist for 2022-24 – warmed to the task, unleashing her full range of expression in her joyful final aria, ‘Dopo notte’. In essence: after a bad night, the sun shines and my storm-tossed boat returns to shore. I’d have loved her to sing it all over again.”
- The Guardian

“The great challenge of any Handel opera is maintaining dramatic flow through endless da capo arias. Without a lot of set to work with the young singers are tasked with, the young singers are tasked with trusting their physicality, mixing stillness with blocking and gesture. Some were still finding their feet with this, however in the opera’s greatest hit ‘Dopo notte’, Rowlands showed great versatility, comfortable stage presence and maintained the jubilant scene with a vibrant, flexible voice, and a confidence in the space.”
- Gramophone

“Both Angharad Rowlands as Ariodante and Rebecca Hart as Polinesso in their different way leveraged a remarkable sense of androgyny when playing the male roles. Rowlands cut a dashing figure, all in white and incarnating very much the virtuous, moral heroic ideal. Rowlands has a lovely, well-modulated, rich-toned mezzo-soprano which she used admirably, giving us lots of lovely well-moulded phrases and creating a certain style for Ariodante. Physically she was confident too, making a fine hero. 'Scherza infida', which is very long, was confidently and impressively done, successfully drawing us into Ariodante's world, and here Rowlands was partnered by the fine bassoon playing of Shelby Capozzoli. Then at the end, Rowlands rose to the very different, bravura challenges of 'Dopo notte'.”
- Planet Hugill

LONGBOROUGH FESTIVAL OPERA
PURCELL’S THE FAIRY QUEEN (AUGUST 2023)

“Angharad Rowlands (Quince) from the World of Mechanicals, is another debutant making an impression with her lush sound.”
- Seen & Heard International

“Angharad Rowlands’ wonderfully droll Peter Quince.”
- Opera Today

“Angharad Rowlands has a rich sound as Quince.”
- British Theatre Guide

“Angharad Rowlands, a cleverly drawn Peter Quince.”
- Opera Scene

“Angharad Rowlands and Alys Mererid Roberts - fairies doubling as Quince, Flute attract a lot more laughs and add a Classical feel - both shine among the bizarre rustics.”
- Classical Music Daily

OXFORD INTERNATIONAL SONG FESTIVAL
EMERGING ARTISTS PLATFORM (OCTOBER 2022)

“Mezzo-soprano Angharad Rowlands and pianist Joseph Cavalli-Price, both already multiple prize-winners, had curated an imaginative programme, focussing first on French poetry and music from Paul Verlaine and Claude Debussy. “En sourdine” (“Muted”) set the tone with rich, sonorous opening chords in the accompaniment, supporting Rowlands’ velvet, soaring lyricism as the nightingale’s song overcame, finally, the voice of despair. This was followed by “Fantoches”, a humorous song referencing Scaramouche and Pulcinella, stock characters from the Italian commedia dell’arte of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as well as a handsome Spanish pirate. Here, the soprano contrasted well the sense of impish fun with the powerful song of the “lovelorn nightingale”. Finally, Cavalli-Price’s piano positively shimmered in “Clair de lune” (“Moonlight”), and Rowlands’ voice was suddenly marble itself, exactly what the nocturnal scene demanded.

In the centre of their mini-recital came one of its highlights. Richard Strauss’s “Das Rosenband” (“The Rose Garland”). Its characteristic enharmonic sequences enabled Rowlands to portray so sweetly the slumbering maiden and the young lover sensing Paradise as he watched her. She illustrated this passionately in her singing of “Leben” (“life”). In the final group of three songs by Edvard Grieg, the duo performed with complete authority. A rose is greeted as a lover’s proxy in “Gruss” (“Greeting”), the soprano positively twinkling at the end of Heine’s poem. Cavalli-Price sensitively brought out the melody of the broken soul and sounded the village bells with insistent emphasis, his final, sad chord the perfect complement to Rowlands’ movingly portrayed despair and grief. Finally, in “Ein Traum” (“A dream”), the duo together communicated so well with, it seemed, every member of the audience. The delight and ecstasy of the mezzo-soprano telling how dream became reality built to a perfectly judged climax of telling passion.”
- Daily Info

“In the opening section of the recital by this evening’s selected pair of emerging artists, Angharad Rowlands and Joseph Cavalli-Price set the scene for the French repertoire to come with animated performances of three Debussy songs. That urgency, and her bright, wiry vocal production carried over into the pieces by Richard Strauss and Grieg, where the German words seemed to suit better the solid projection of her singing."
- Seen & Heard International

HURN COURT OPERA
PURCELL’S DIDO & AENEAS (SEPTEMBER 2021)

“As to the ear, filling the lead role was Welsh mezzo-soprano Angharad Rowlands, and she was a mesmerising Dido – quite the match for any established singer already. Rowlands and her counterpart – Theo Perry as Aeneas – were hugely impressive, expressing power and tenderness, never losing clarity.”
- Bournemouth Echo

MONTEVERDI CHOIR
LOVE IS COME AGAIN - SDG RECORDS
(APRIL 2019)

“The first sequence, ‘The Crucifixion’, opens with a Herefordshire carol The Seven Virgins sung with arresting simplicity by Angharad Rowlands.”
- Gramophone