Alamiro in BELISARIO
Opera Rara | BBC Symphony Orchestra
“Especially warm applause greeted the American tenor Russell Thomas, another young singer, whose diffident manner was belied by heroically shining tone of exceptional clarity and precision.”
–Yehuda Shapiro, Opera Magazine
"The fluently musical young American tenor Russell Thomas was nothing short of sensational as Belisario’s lost son..."
–Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph
“Russell Thomas, a tenor of growing verbal and musical sensitivity and increasing international reputation, sounds splendid as the warrior Alamiro.”
–David Shengold, Opera News
“Russell Thomas, as the ‘barbarian’ warrior Alamiro, sings with a burly tenor that makes Alamiro’s heroic cabaletta, which has been compared to ‘Di quella pira’, especially exciting.”
–George Loomis, Opera Magazine
"Tenor Russell Thomas brought the house down as Alamiro."
–Tim Ashley, The Guardian
"Here is a singer with a great sense of character, good stage presence and a fine, ringing tenor voice."
–Colin Clarke, Seen and Heard International
"Capping this impressive quartet was Russell Thomas as Almiro. His singing was consistently fine, at times sensationally so, with abundant heroic tone, an incisive technique and a compelling engagement with the music. At the top of his range, his tenor kept its tone without a hint of bleat, and in the gentler music, his voice was notably sweet and seductive."
–Peter Reed, Classical Source
"One of the finest casts Opera Rara has assembled for Donizetti. Joyce El-Khoury (Antonina) and Russell Thomas (Alamiro) are outstanding."
–Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times
“The sweet-toned American lyric tenor Russell Thomas, evoking shades of the great Alfredo Kraus, adds further lustre to this exceptional recording.”
–William Charlton-Perkin, The Mercury
“Tenor Russell Thomas takes a rôle that could all too easily be a standard-issue operatic caricature — that of the child long lost but miraculously found at the most opportune time—and transforms it into a vocal and dramatic tour de force. It is obvious in every line that Mr. Thomas sings in this performance that his is a voice that should be heard in all of the world’s important opera houses. In Alamiro’s aria and cabaletta that open Part Two, Mr. Thomas sings with virile security and brilliant tone that would be welcome in any of Donizetti’s operas; or, indeed, in any of Verdi’s. Alamiro is not called upon for any great philosophical discourses, but he is a hero with an insightful nature, and Mr. Thomas’s performance glows with honesty and open-hearted emotion. Keeping with the nature of the music, interpolated top notes are few, but Mr. Thomas’s excursions into his freely-produced upper register are thrilling. Even very young singers without idiosyncrasies and mannerisms are rare today: Mr. Thomas impresses most by the unaffected simplicity of his singing. This is not to suggest that Alamiro’s music is an easy sing, but the facility with which Mr. Thomas sings it is testimony to the well-schooled completeness of his technique. In every scene in which he appears in Belisario, Mr. Thomas sings with an ideal combination of power and grace — an auspicious launch to what will hopefully prove a long and fruitful career…”
–Joseph Newsome, Voix des Arts