Exceprts and links to recent critical reviews are posted here.

For previous reviews, please see Opera Lafayette: Fifteen Years of Musical Artistry.

"The early music scene in our region -- the early music scene, period -- is particularly fortunate to have Opera Lafayette as a major player.'"

-Tim Smith, The Baltimore Sun, January 24, 2012, on Opera Lafayette's January 21, 2012, performance of Monsigny's Le Roi et le fermier. Read full review.

"Opera Lafayette ... has built a sterling reputation through specializing in rarities by Gluck, Grétry and the like.... On [October 30] the company mounted an economical event with oversize appeal: a concert featuring French singers ... in a mix of French and Italian works at Weill Recital Hall ... their ranges converging and crossing is selections from Lully's 'Atys' and Charpentier's 'Circé.' They concluded the concert with a scene from Monteverdi's 'Incoronazione di Poppea,' then returned to offer the splendid final duet from that opera 'Pur ti miro.'"

-Steve Smith, The New York Times, November 2, 2011, on Opera Lafayette's October 30, 2011, performance, "Duetto/Duo" with Jean-Paul Fouchécourt and Gaële Le Roi. Read full review.

"My choice right now for a composer deserving of revival would be André-Ernest Modeste Grétry, though I would never have thought of him even a few months ago. In February, Opera Lafayette ... brought a winning semi-staged production of a beguiling Grétry's comedy, 'Le Magnifique,' to Lincoln Center's Rose Theater."

-Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, May 19, 2011, in a review of the American Classical Orchestra's  May 18, 2011, performance of Grétry's Richard Cœur de Lion. Read full review.

"[Opera Lafayette] returned to the Rose with a real find ... beguiling music ... Grétry's score abounds in lyrical grace and imaginative strokes.'"
 

-Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, February 11, 2011, on Opera Lafayette's February 9, 2011, performance of Grétry's Le Magnifique. Read full review.


 

"Opera Lafayette ... underlined its own unique place in Washington's, or even America's, cultural life."
 

-Anne Midgette, The Washington Post, May 26, 2010, on Opera Lafayette's May 24, 2010, performance of Philidor's Sancho Pança. Read full review.

"That Gluck's magnificent 1777 'Armide,' a seemingly flawless masterpiece, continues to be a rarity is inexplicable. ... It was presented by Opera Lafayette, an adventurous period company in Washington celebrating its 15th season. ... Mr. Brown conducted a stylish and flowing performance, with an admirable cast headed by the lustrous soprano Dominique Labelle in the title role. ... Rose Hall was filled for this performance. The time has come for Gluck's 'Armide.'"
 

-Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, February 4, 2010, on Opera Lafayette's February 3, 2010 performance of Gluck's Armide. Read full review.


 

"On February 3, at Lincoln Center's Rose Hall, a sold-out house witnessed one of the most musically rewarding evenings yet of New York's opera season. The Washington-based baroque music group Opera Lafayette, founded and led by conductor Ryan Brown, presented a musically sparkling, intelligently conceived concert reading (with dances) of Gluck's Armide."
 

-David Shengold, Opera News Online, May 2010 on Opera Lafayette's February 3, 2010 performance of Gluck's Armide. Read full review.