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Sein instrumentaler geführter Tenor ist zu höchst differenzierten Piani und exquisiten Legatobögen befähigt.

Online Merker

Matthew Polenzani ist ein sympathischer, erfahrener Hoffmann, der sich darstellerisch eindrucksvoll und ideal in diese Inszenierung einfügte und auch gesanglich vollends überzeugen konnte. Sein heller höhensicherer Tenor hat Schmelz, er setzt ihn stilvoll und geschmeidig gleich in seiner ersten Arie vom Kleinzack ein.

IOCO

Il tenore americano Matthew Polenzani sfoggia ad esempio per il ruolo del titolo tinta chiara e una propensione lirico-leggera che lo porta a raffinare e a tradurre in belcanto tutto ciò che intona.

Connessi all'Opera

Tenor Matthew Polenzani was also in prime vocal estate and cut a youthful and dashing figure as Giasone. As demonstrated in his portrayal of the title character in last season’s Don Carlos, Polenzani’s voice is becoming richer and gaining more dramatic thrust with passing time, while retaining its essential lyrical quality. For his many fans, Giasone is yet another role in which to enjoy this...

Rick Perdian

New York Classical Review

...when he hit that thrilling high note at the end you could feel the hairs on your arm stand up."

Tucson.com

As 2019 comes to a close, it is time for the seventh annual Excellence in Opera Awards, also known as the Freddies. I have seen and heard a lot of excellent performances and, though the art form always faces challenges, I am sanguine about its future — especially if audience members support it by attending live performances and are open to experimentation.

Operavore

WQXR

Mr. Polenzani, ardent and impetuous as Rodolfo, summoned Italianate colorings and ringing top notes, while singing with subtlety and rhythmic punch.

Anthony Tommasini

The New York Times

He’s got a buttery, rich, smooth tenor that never veers into too-nasal, and an incredible way of delivering full voiced high notes with grace and ease, letting the sound pour out like hot caramel.

Parterre

Matthew Polenzani was both ardent and plush-voiced in his role debut, especially in a passionate, honeyed offering of his Act 2 Flower Song

James Ambroff-Tahan

San Francisco Examiner

He was my favorite of the evening because of his musicality and the detail he gave to every phrase he sang

Gregory Sullivan Isaacs

Theater Jones

(Michael Mayer’s production) sets the story in 1960s Las Vegas, with the Duke, the tenor Matthew Polenzani, in excellent voice, presented as a sort of headliner on the strip.

Anthony Tommasini

The New York Times

As Tito, Matthew Polenzani makes a brilliant impression, using his gorgeous lyric tenor to great vocal and dramatic effect.

Susan Stempleski

Classical Source

Mr. Polenzani brought baffled tenderness to the opening songs, in which Jan is distressed by his longing. But he sang with piercing intensity and terror during the cycle’s tumultuous episodes, when Jan becomes unhinged.

Michelle V. Agins

The New York Times

Un contatto: Che gelida manina, se la lasci riscaldar. Polenzani presenta il suo Rodolfo esibendo il suo talento vocale. Appassionato, dal bel timbro, sicuro negli acuti, molto espressivo, preciso nel fraseggio. L’aria iniziale, iconica, è la cifra di una serata di bel canto, di profonda padronanza del ruolo, che restituisce un personaggio in cui leggerezza e drammaticità si mescolano...

Rosellina Garbo

GBOpera

In every way, Polenzani’s performance was a genuine event. He is one of the finest tenors around today and the splendid acoustic of New World Center allowed the beauty and power of his voice free reign.

Lawrence Budmen

South Florida Classical Review

Polenzani could hardly be a better-suited to this role, with his suitably nuanced, expressive range of timbres and phrasings. Offsetting delicate, airy shadings conveying Idomeneo’s pain and vulnerability was ample vocal power and punch to embody the king’s strength and resolution.

Kyle MacMillan

Chicago Sun Times

The great American tenor Matthew Polenzani treads British boards all too rarely but his gilt-edged voice and artistry place Rodolfo unequivocally centre stage.

Mark Valencia

WhatsOnStage

Matthew Polenzanis robuster, heller Tenor scheint über unermessliche Kräfte zu verfügen, der Sänger weiss jedoch, sein Volumen im richtigen Moment zurückzuschrauben, er gestaltet selbst die schwierige Arie Quando le sere, al placido mit bestechendem Schmelz und biegsamer Stimme, wunderbar phrasierend und die Kantilenen einfühlsam auskostend.

Oper Aktuell

Most valuable player: The Evanston-born tenor is singing magnificently these days and Chicago audiences were able to hear Polenzani in Magic Flute, Rigoletto and Pearl Fishers at Lyric Opera as well as Haydn’s The Creation at Ravinia.

Lawrence A. Johnson

Chicago Classical Review

Polenzani made an ardent ... Nadir, the adventurer who returns to a Ceylonese village to learn that his old friend Zurga (Kwiecien) has been elected king."

John von Rhein

Chicago Tribune

That left two Lyric stalwarts, tenor Matthew Polenzani and bass-baritone Eric Owens, to demonstrate to their younger colleagues what stellar vocalism and surpassing artistry are all about. Each singer was heard in selections from a work in which he will be starring in the season ahead – Verdi’s “Rigoletto,” in Polenzani’s case; Wagner’s “Die Walkure,” in Owens’."

John von Rhein

Chicago Tribune

Polenzani–also a Richard Tucker winner–showed why he is the finest Mozart tenor of our day, singing Haydn’s arias with vibrant liquid tone and the lyric sensitivity of a lieder singer."

Lawrence A. Johnson

Chicago Classical Review

... his singing this evening remained youthful, delivering “Dies Bildnis” with princely elegance."

Joseph So

Musical Toronto

In this performance, featuring two Met stars, the mezzo-soprano Susan Graham and the tenor Matthew Polenzani, the storytelling aspects of the songs were paramount and the mood less heavy; profundities came through without undue emotiveness."

Anthony Tommasini

The New York Times

The Les Troyens duet between Susan Graham and Matthew Polenzani was delightful for their precise, perfectly matched voices."

Ilana Walder-Biesanz

Opera-Online

... Matthew Polenzani delivers a star turn as the Italian tenor."

Wilborn Hampton

The Huffington Post

“Polenzani is one of the Met’s top tenors, and his second-act aria “Fuor del mar” is a show-stopper. He has the breath control of a deep-sea diver and his long runs, from the bottom to the top of the register, are remarkable. His phrasing is also consistently and notably excellent.”

Wilborn Hampton

Huffington Post

But the concert began gathering real momentum when operatic tenor Matthew Polenzani dared to take on "Be My Love," a song universally identified with the unrivaled Mario Lanza. The tenderness of Polenzani's opening notes instantly marked this as an interpretation apart from Lanza's, as did the ardor of Polenzani's phrasing and inexorable swell of his crescendos ...

Howard Reich

Chicago Tribune

Is there a better Mozart tenor before the public than Matthew Polenzani? Unlikely. The Evanston native brought a fresh element to the show, singing with rich, vibrant tone as well as a dramatic urgency that elevated the entire production.

Lawrence A. Johnson

Chicago Classical Review

Tenor Matthew Polenzani was an exquisite Fernand, skillfully mixing Italianate tone with French style, showing a robust upper register in “Ange si pur” but tempering phrases above the staff with effective use of voix mixte, not to cover up any vocal deficiencies but to fit voice to line.

Jeffrey A. Leipsic

Opera News

Polenzani is an elegant singer, and he brought a sense of vigor to his tenor part not usually heard in this piece."

George Grella

New York Classical Review

in Munich they were on fire, particularly Polenzani, who created a complete and striking character as the conflicted Fernand."

James Jorden

Observer

... tenor Matthew Polenzani brought down the house with his ravishing take on “Dalla sua pace.”

James Jorden

Observer

The proverbial hometown boy who made good, Matthew Polenzani apprenticed for two seasons at the Ryan Opera Center and has been a familiar and welcome presence on the Lyric roster ever since. So it came as a surprise to discover that Monday marked the Illinois-born tenor's Ravinia recital debut — and a most auspicious debut it was."

John von Rhein

Chicago Tribune

In the title role of Roberto Devereux, Matthew Polenzani once again showed why he is one of the leading tenors in the world. His voice continues to be a wonder in the lyric repertoire and this time it took on some dramatic colors that one had never heard."

Francisco Salazar

Latin Post

He was as fine as ever on Saturday, particularly in his aria, which he maintained, along with Noseda, as a musical trance, emphasized by clear, pale falsetto high notes in the best old-school French tradition."

Anne Midgette

The Washington Post

Mr. Polenzani makes a poignantly believable Nadir, who arrives soon after the election of his old friend."

Anthony Tommasini

The New York Times

Many tenors can hit the notes in the high-lying aria "Je Crois entendre encore" but the music only makes its distinctively pensive impression if the singer can live comfortably up there for entire phrases while inflecting them with the intimacy of art song. And Polenzani is the guy to do that.

David Patrick Stearns

WQXR Operavore

... Matthew Polenzani, singing his first Hoffmann at the house, a vocally compelling and emotionally rich account of a challenging role."

Anthony Tommasini

The New York Times

... neither his brawny appearance nor focused stage presence could fully prepare the listener for the torrent of magnificent sound this exceptional American tenor produces."

Steven Winn

San Francisco Classical Voice

Polenzani was sensational, going beyond the plaster saint to create a rounded and conflicted human emperor—angry at the betrayal of those he trusted and conscious of his duty yet also wanting to forgive his enemies."

Lawrence A. Johnson

Chicago Classical Review

An ironclad technique allows him to faithfully respect all the dynamics indicated by Donizetti. The recitative “Povero Ernesto” is an imaginative play between forte and piano; in the first phrase of the aria, he adheres to every marking, from the staccatos on the first two syllables of ‘Cercherò lontana terra’, to the marcato on ‘Lontana’, all in the same breath ...

Nicola Lischi

Opera Brittania

... this American tenor has a voice of steel and milk, authority and the utmost controlled gentleness: reason enough to go to this revival.”

Fiona Maddocks

The Observer

Fresh from Così fan tutte at The Metropolitan Opera, Polenzani declaimed all that striking poetry with fine diction, clear tone and flawless vocal prowess, floating the scary ‘This ae nighte’ at the beginning and end of the Dirge and tossing off the complex runs in the Hymn with clarity and ease.”

Daniel Hathaway

Cleveland Classical

His singing of Ferrando had Mozartean elegance along with exciting, tenorial ping."

Anthony Tommasini

The New York Times

The formidable role of Hoffmann is ideal for Mr. Polenzani, who seems in his prime these days. It requires lyric tenor colorings and bloom. Yet there are heroic elements to the part for which a tenor must summon vocal heft and stamina. Mr. Polenzani had it all: refinement, sweep, passion and power."

Anthony Tommasini

The New York Times

Matthew Polenzani, who is becoming the Met’s go-to tenor in bel canto repertory (he was wonderful as Nemorino in the company’s new production of Donizetti’s ‘Elisir d’Amore,’ which opened the season) brings melting sound and appealing vulnerability to the role of the hapless Robert Dudley (Roberto), the Earl of Leicester.”

Anthony Tommasini

The New York Times

Tenor Matthew Polenzani gave a benchmark performance as her suitor Nemorino, acting with great charm, spinning out lines of silky, elegant tone and stopping the show with a masterful rendition of the opera’s well-known tune ‘Una furtiva lagrima.’”

Eric Myers

Variety

Matthew Polenzani had a stellar night as an emotional Alfredo, his lovely voice strong and supple and his graceful phrasing laudable in his passionate rendition of ‘De’ miei bollenti spiriti.’”

Vivien Schweitzer

The New York Times

In Polenzani’s role debut as the tortured protagonist, it’s clear from the start the Ryan Center alumnus was born to sing this touchstone French tenor part.

John von Rhein

Chicago Tribune

Wilmette native Matthew Polenzani is singing his first ever Hoffmann, and he has become a splendid purveyor of French style and idiom with technical skills that carry him through major numbers in the three acts, prologue and epilogue.”

Andrew Patner

Chicago Sun Times

Matthew Polenzani has the perfect tone for the role of Ferrando. He sings with a class and comfort that allows [his voice to go] to the extremes, while keeping the courage needed to dominate the formidable range [in the] tense final cavatina ‘Tradito, schernito.’”

Marcel Quillévéré

ForumOpera.com

[Matthew Polenzani] remains ... an extraordinarily communicative Lieder singer, possessed of an agile and flexible voice of tremendous versatility. In the most intimiate of these settings, as well as in the quasi-operatic ones, Polenzani and Drake create performances that are at once thoughtful, richly atmospheric and never less than compelling.”

Patrick Rucker

International Record Review