“But it’s the second half where this show really comes into its own. Soprano Alexandra Lowe is Schoenberg’s moon-struck Pierrot – holding her audience through every shift of mood and character: now a Madonna mourning in a twisted Pieta, now a murderous revenger drilling through his rival’s skull to smoke it like a pipe…Committing absolutely to each reinvention, from cabaret-performer to crawling animal, ballroom dancer and androgynous lover, Lowe gives us madness that’s never less that precise, underpinned less by the whimsy we often see than a slow-bubbling rage and bitterness. The control of Lowe’s sprechstimme, plucking pitches from the air, morphing her tone to mirror or battle the orchestra’s flute or clarinet, is absolute: a carefully calibrated negotiation between speech and song. Madness can be anarchic, but it’s far more compelling when we feel the underlying order and logic as we do here.”

(THE ARTS DESK, MAY 2022)

“Anchored by a stunningly assured and superbly expressive performance from the soprano Alexandra Lowe, Pierrot gripped me from first swoop to last. How well Lowe conveys that disintegration too; her body imploding from confident swagger to writhing turmoil as she drifts through the work’s sequence of increasingly deranged visions. I have rarely heard sprechstimme delivered so persuasively, either. She seems to make each slithering syllable mirror the poetry’s Freudian metaphors.”

(THE TIMES, MAY 2022)

“Alexandra Lowe met all these demands head on, never appeared fazed by any of the vocal acrobatics required of her and delivered a performance that was quite simply sensational…. This allowed us to focus solely on Lowe – first appearing as an androgynous Marlene Dietrich-type figure who slowly morphed into a glamorous, silver lamé dress wearing femme fatale – who held the audience spellbound in a vice-like grip from the very first notes.

Not only was her singing persuasive and high voltage throughout, but she also contorted her body to mirror Schoenberg’s constantly shifting musical textures. Indeed her acting and singing were indivisible from one another. And what a voice – full and voluminous at the top, burnished towards the bottom, and all aligned to a rock solid technique. Based on this tour de force performance, she’s already a star – so we can’t wait to see how her career develops.”

(MUSICOMH, MAY 2022)

“Lowe gives a sensational, career-making performance here, pushing herself to her vocal limits in order to realise the expressive extremes of Schoenberg’s Sprechstimme.”

(THE GUARDIAN, MAY 2022)

“With soprano Alexandra Lowe seizing all opportunities in a tour-de-force of vocal and physical variety carried off with boldness and elan.”

(THE STAGE, MAY 2022)

“It can be done coolly, detached, but here Almeida encouraged Alexandra Lowe into a powerful, no-holds-barred performance.”

(THE TELEGRAPH, MAY 2022)

“In soprano Alexandra Lowe’s yearning performance, the flutterings of love and the burgeoning of nature were nicely blended. She has a lovely light soprano voice; in the duet from Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, she nicely caught the change from despairing resistance to her wooer, to her final yielding.”

(THE TELEGRAPH, FEBRUARY 2021)

“The second half opened with the balcony scene from Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, showcasing the talents of Egor Zhuravskii and Alexandra Lowe. Lowe did stroppy and playful to a tee… Lowe too has spryness on her side, was always zesty and effervescent, and never wanted for power.”

(MUSICOMH, JULY 2021)

“Alexandra Lowe is a lyric soprano who should be welcomed by opera houses all over the world.”

(THE ARTS DESK, JULY 2021)

“Lowe likewise conveyed the tremulous excitement of the approach of spring in Bizet’s Chanson d’Avril, bringing an appealing, alluring tone also to Chausson’s Le Colibri.”

(EVENING STANDARD, FEBRUARY 2021)

“Alexandra Lowe, another rising Jette Parker star, matched characterful singing with a deft comic touch as Musetta in La bohème.”

(THE TIMES, DECEMBER 2020)

“Alexander Lowe (a Jette Parker Young Artist) caught the eye and ear as a sweet-voiced Daphne, eliciting our sympathy for her plight.”

(SEEN AND HEARD, OCTOBER 2020)

“Daphne, sung with a beguiling mix of feminine grace and withering fire by soprano Alexandra Lowe.”

(BACHTRACK, OCTOBER 2020)

“In Elvira’s ​‘Mi tradi’ she revealed a gleaming big voice with an easy top”

(OPERA NOW, MARCH 2020)

“Vocal highlights came from Alexandra Lowe as Elvira…every time Elvira came onstage, we were treated to scrumptious tone, engaging rubato and all the poignancy that the jilted Elvira oozes.”

(OPERA NOW, JULY 2019)

“The other standout in this talented cast was Alexandra Lowe’s committed Elvira, tearing at the heartstrings with an impassioned but nicely focused ​‘Mi tradi’.”

(OPERA MAGAZINE, JULY 2019)

“Lowe shows rare, eye-catching talent, in singing and acting.”

(THE OBSERVER, JUNE 2019)

“Alexandra Lowe has the dramatic edge for ​‘Come scoglio’ and the emotional complexity for her ​‘Per pietà,’”

(SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL, JUNE 2019)

“Standout contributions come from soprano Alexandra Lowe as The Bride in the first story,”

(THE GUARDIAN, SEPTEMBER 2017)

“I was particularly struck by the rich lyric soprano of Alexandra Lowe”

(THE TELEGRAPH, SEPTEMBER 2017)

“The three ladies, Alexandra Lowe, Hanna Hipp and Stephanie Wake-Edwards, are an excellently imperious trio”

(THE TIMES, SEPTEMBER 2021)

“Alexandra Lowe, Hanna Hipp and Stephanie Wake-Edwards made a distinguished trio of Ladies”

(BACHTRACK, SEPTEMBER 2021)

“Her formidable trio of Ladies, incisively sung and characterised by Alexandra Lowe, Hanna Hipp and Stephanie Wake-Edwards.”

(CLASSICAL SOURCE, SEPTEMBER 2021)

“It was difficult to imagine Alexandra Lowe’s personal combination of speech, pitch, and gesture being readily improved upon.”

(SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL, MAY 2022)

“…Alexandra Lowe does a superb job of thoroughly commanding it. There are still many ways of obeying Schönberg’s quite prescriptive instructions regarding how to deliver the Sprechstimme, and Lowe’s interpretation would certainly stand towards the ‘musical’ end of the spectrum, thus ensuring that this is a particularly thrilling presentation of the composer’s seminal creation.”

(OPERA ONLINE, MAY 2022)

“By setting the hermetic Pierrot lunaire in Sprechgesang – unpitched sung speech – Schoenberg made extraordinary technical demands on his solo singer. Luckily, with Alexandra Lowe in the role we get an extraordinary performance, purveying a combination of mime and vocal virtuosity.”

(INEWS, MAY 2022)

“The soprano Alexandra Lowe delivered the taxing sung speech (Sprechgesang) with well-drilled flair and a sense of improvisation.”

(THE OBSERVER, MAY 2022)

“Alexandra Lowe gave a serious star-is-born performance as Pierrot, sending her elegant, sensuous soprano skittering, rasping and swooning over the shot-silk sonorities that flickered up from the Britten Sinfonia and Michael Papadopoulos in the pit. The audience, naturally enough, exploded.”

(THE SPECTATOR, MAY 2022)

“Radiant Donna Elvira

The performance’s most outstanding vocal performance is delivered by the young Spanish-British soprano Alexandra Lowe in the role of Donna Elvira. Lowe has a wonderful voice and effortlessly and convincingly alternates between rage, passion and despair.

Southerners should know their visiting times, because this lady is going to be sought after.

In addition, many of the opera’s beautiful vocal ensembles are also magnificent, which are consistently sung with perfect balance and precision.”

(NRK, NORWAY POST, SEPTEMBER 2022)