SIMON BAILEY - REVIEWS

Press Reviews

Frankfurter_Allgemeine_Zeitung_6.3.07.doc

Simon Bailey´s powerful and rich-toned Figaro portrayed the balancing act between loyalty to his master, simmering resentment and jealousy.
ELLEN KOHLHAAS

Frankfurter_Neue_Presse_6.3.07.doc

Von Michael Dellith
There was unrestrained acclaim for the singers, who with their voices ideally suited to Mozart´s vocal demands made up a well-balanced company. Simon Bailey was an impressive, good-natured Figaro, and sang in a noble and refined bass-baritone.

Frankfurter Rundschau - Neue Drehung im Intrigen-Getändel

VON HANS-KLAUS JUNGHEINRICH
Finally, Simon Bailey in the title role - not exclusively focussed on the intrigues, a good compromise between vocal weight and a light touch, pulling the strings of the action from behind the scenes.

Hanauer_Anzeiger_Autorenversion_Maerz_07.doc

Simon Bailey´s flexible, casual Figaro combined vocal virility with wit and cunning, the British singer delivering the feared high-lying parts of the role with aplomb.
Klaus-Dieter Schüssler

Rhein-Neckar
Zeitung_Heidelberg_Autorenversion_Maerz_07.doc

Von Bernd Zegowitz
Johannes Martin Kränzle was an elegant, frustrated Count, Simon Bailey a strong and good-natured Figaro, Neither singers has sounded better in Frankfurt.

Wiesbadener_Kurier_6.3.07.doc

Volker Milch
.also Simon Bailey´s Figaro - an urgent presence and a well-produced baritone.

www.der-neue-merker.at_Maerz_07.doc

Simon Bailey´s Figaro was more a straightforward human portrayal than as a friendly revolutionary. His bass baritone is resilient and agreeable, the arias delectable.
Friedeon Rosén

www.klassik.com Maerz_07.doc

Andreas Schubert
.a characteristic and successful portrait of the title role throughout.

Darmstaedter_Echo_9.3.07.doc

The fast-moving events demanded great virtuosity from the singer´s portrayals. Miah Persson as Susanna and Simon Bailey as Figaro were convincing as the burlesque couple, brightly hued and vocally incisive.
Rotraut Fischer, 9.3.2007

Curlew River, Oper Frankfurt at the Bockenheimer Depot, February 2005

"Simon Bailey, ensemble member of the Frankfurt Opera, showed just how impressive his healthy baritone voice is as the Ferryman"
Ellen Kohlhaus, Frankfurter Allgemeine, 11.02.05

"Simon Bailey showed impressive articulation of his mother tongue, English, as the Ferryman"
Axel Zibulski, Offenbacher Post, 11.02.05

"At the upper end of his vocal range Simon Bailey presented the role of the Ferryman.. the long narration of the fate of the missing boy was delivered with strength and authority"
Klaus-Dieter Schüssler, Hanauer Anzeiger, 11.02.05

"Simon Bailey voiced the Ferryman in a robust, sturdy bass - not quite the bitter boatman Britten had intended, more a grouchy, Cristophorus-like figure" Gerd Döring, Stuttgarter Zeitung, 15.02.05

Khovanscchina, Oper Frankfurt, April 2005

"Simon Bailey sang and sighed the the folk-like, melancholic aria of the Boyar Schakloviti in his robust and powerful bass-baritone."
Ursula Böhmer, Bonner General-Anzeiger, 6.04.05

".the real ´hero´of the evening is the Boyar Schakloviti. In his denunciation of Prince Khovanski he sets the whole intrigue in motion. The wonderful Simon Bailey proves himself once more as a great ´human´ performer. Constant security of tone and extreme beauty of sound brings an operatic character to life. His dramatic credibility paired with the highest levels of musicality place Bailey at the centre of the Frankfurt ensemble."
Klaus-Dieter Schüssler, Hanauer Anzeiger, 1.04.05

"The young British bass.baritone Simon Bailey made an excellent impression, singing the Boyar Schakloviti with noble tone and security in the expressive passages, whilst being fully in control of a remarkable voice of unusual power"
Maintal Anzeiger, 29.03.05

".the bass-baritone Simon Bailey impressed as the traitorous Boyar Schakloviti in the latter´s great 3rd act aria."
Anita Kolbus

Il viaggio a Reims, Oper Frankfurt, December 2004

".the famous English bass Simon Bailey [Lord Sidney] is an Englishman of Great British stature.."
Gerd Döring, Stuttgarter Zeitung, 10.12.04

Lulu, Oper Frankfurt, September 2004

"Simon Bailey, of the Opera Frankfurt ensemble, won the public over with his voice and commanding stage presence."
Ellen Kohlhaus, Frankfurter Allgemeine, 13.9.04

".new to the production: Simon Bailey as a sharply defined but vocally refined Animal Tamer and Athlete."
Frankfurter Neue Presse, 14.9.04

Missa Solemnis, Beethoven, Alte Oper Frankfurt, October 2005

"Simon Bailey, insistent and vivid whilst at the same time cautious in his solo to begin the Agnus Dei."
Daniel Honsack, Main Echo, 26.10.05

"Immaculate, the tenor Yves Saelens and the bass Simon Bailey, whose solo in the Agnus Dei was full-voiced, unaffected and struck the right tone of pleading for redemption."
Berhard Uske, Frankfurter Rundschau, 11.10.05

".the fine British singer Simon Bailey (a favourite of the Frankfurt opera audiences) completed an ideal soloist quartet with his richly resonant bass voice."
"In the soloist quartet.the sumptuous tone of the English bass-baritone Simon Bailey"
Frankfurter Neue Presse, 11.10.05

Mozart Requiem, Alte Oper Frankfurt, October 2004

"...Simon Bailey [sang] with a truly profound bass voice..."
Berhard Uske, Frankfurter Rundschau, 26.10.04

Schostakovich 13th Symphony ´Babi Jar`, Alte Oper Frankfurt, April 2004

"The bass baritone Simon Bailey performed the solo parts with beautifully measured articulation, and an absence of unnecessary sentimantality or affected gesture."
Berhard Uske, Frankfurter Rundschau, 27.4.04

".the excellent bass soloist Simon Bailey, from Frankfurt´s opera house, dealt with a really substantial task with bravura"
Harald Budweg, FAZ, 26.4.04

"Simon Bailey, from the Frankfurt Opera, used his lean bass voice carefully but sympathetically."
Frankfurter Neue Presse, 27.4.04

L´enfance du Christ, King´s College Cambridge, November 2003

"Simon Bailey´s Herod inspired both sympathy and fear."
Jo Kirkbride, Cambridge Evening News, 27.11.03