Lawrence Zazzo

"If Andreas Scholl is the Rolls-Royce of countertenors, then Zazzo is the Maserati. Not that he races through everything he sings — though he can certainly accelerate when given the chance, and do some fancy turns. But he’s an open-top virtuoso of a singer with, as we used to say, a tiger in his tank. Match him with some of the earliest opera written by the teenage Mozart and you’re witnessing two miracles in one." (The Times, September 2011)

“Anna Bonitatibus's limpidly sung Sifare and Lawrence Zazzo's permanently infuriated Farnace were the vocal stars of the enterprise... This Mitridate was the festival's surprise hit and a perfect use of the Prinzregententheater for gourmet operatic pleasure.” (Mitridate, re di Ponte – Bayerische Staatsoper – Opera Magazine, October 2011) 

“Zazzo and Noiri thrive in this madhouse of a recital, their respective instruments as well adapted to bringing out the subtleties and ambiguities inherent in a de la Mere, Auden or MacNeice poem as in the discords that infect the melodiousness of Dowland and Burgon alike. Lunarcy it may be, ‘though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.'" (International Record Review, September 2011)

"But the star "international" turns come from Lawrence Zazzo (Radamisto) and Christine Rice (Xenobia), dramatically and musically a really telling alliance of male and female altos. Rice's luscious aria with aching oboe obbligato "When will cruel fortune free my heart" was a highlight as were Zazzo's great laments. "Soul and Shadow" was soulful and searching, his opulent and beautiful countertenor at the service of heartfelt musicality. Very special." (The Independent, October 2010)

"Lawrence Zazzo sings the title role with such beauty, all the while acting like an Oscar winner, that he deserves to be known as the king of countertenors." (Financial Times, October 2010)

"Best of all was the American countertenor Lawrence Zazzo in the title role, which must originally have been written with a castrato in mind. In Handel's day, the castrati were the true stars of the opera – a stardom for which I suppose they considered their sacrifice worthwhile – but hearing the surgically unmodified Zazzo reaching the same notes in a powerful, clear and totally natural-sounding high voice is surely just as gripping as anything the 18th century could offer." (The Daily Express, October 2010)