“Then we have our bad guy — not Orpheus but Hades, Lord of the Underworld. He was Barry Banks, the English tenor, who has been nailing high notes for … how long? Forty years? He is nailing them still, and I mean difficult ones, not ones you can slide up to or merely bellow. Banks showed magnificent technical skill, plus beauty of voice, and he was a hoot as Hades.”

“And then there’s the performance of Barry Banks as Hades. From start to finish, Banks’ rat-like Hades was a scene stealer. It helps that Aucoin’s music best defines his character and that Banks fully embraced the overindulgence of high notes to great comic and dramatic effect. He relished each one of these moments and his biting diction added snake-like qualities to his singing.”

“Barry Banks used his high-ranging tenor and natural comic instincts to excellent effect as Truffaldino.”

“As his sidekick Truffaldino, Barry Banks’ pliable tenor soared fearlessly, effortlessly to encompass the heights demanded by this role’s tessitura.”

“Barry Banks brings an appropriately plangent tone to the innocuous Idreno…He sings confidently the character’s two fiendishly difficult arias and makes his mark in the concertato numbers too, soaring with the soprano above the lower voices to exciting effect.”

“Barry Banks sails through Idreno’s vocal flights with ease, and his Act 2 courtship of Azema, ​‘La speranza più soave’, is beautifully shaped, shuddering with passion.”

“The solution to the Tsar’s problem is supplied by a mysterious Astrologer. This tenor altino role has stratospheric demands that include a full-throated high E, dazzlingly sung by Barry Banks”

“Served well by the lighter, clearer textures of the period Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Barry Banks’ Idreno carried beautifully through the hall, his music shaped with a striking range of colours, and his aria ​“La speranza più soave” was a love song of tremendous poignancy.”

“The ever-reliable Barry Banks gave a notable rendition of the strenuous and demanding role of Idreno, culminating in a sterling account of ​‘La speranza più soave’ and its fiendishly showy finish.”

“There are few tenors around capable of doing justice to Arturo, and Barry Banks delivers another outstanding performance with not only remarkable agilità but also a distinctively pinging plangency at the top.”

“Banks [has] passionate commitment, projecting this exceptionally difficult and high-lying music with the same combination of tonal sweetness and pinging clarity that made Pavarotti famous.”