“She was matched by Emma Bell, never better, as the sympathetic Gretchen pleading for Christ’s soul.”

“Emma Bell, whose voice has become darker, portrays Elizabeth … her powerful spinto reflecting the relative power of the two monarchs during Mary’s captivity.”

“Boasting the necessary vocal amplitude, Emma Bell’s Duchess [Foreign Princess] never overdoes her character’s nastiness.”

“and Sieglinde sings ​“O hehrstes Wunder! Herrlichste Maid! …” with enormous power and feeling. This is Wagner’s lyricism at one of its highest points, beautifully expressed by Emma Bell, who was outstanding in the role.”

“the love (and lust) between him and his twin sister, Emma Bell’s
impressive Sieglinde, feels real.”

“Elisabeth found Emma Bell at her vibrant, full-blooded best, raising the rafters with an impersonation that was intensely human and refreshingly un-saintly.”

“Bell was sensational as the devout self-sacrificing ​“angel”, giving a powerful, highly emotional and moving performance.”

“the arrival of the British soprano Emma Bell as Elisabeth reminded us that for a major European opera company only the best will do: here was a voice that opened from a murmur to a full fortissimo with hardly a ruffle, floating with apparent ease on the highest registers.”

“Bell’s richly upholstered tone, capable of encompassing regal, menacing and self-doubting modes alike.”

“the seductive Foreign Princess who tempts the Prince becomes a fashionable Duchess, superbly sung by Emma Bell.”

“…it’s an undeniably exciting [voice], climaxing in an Abscheulicher! aria that moved from controlled rage into radiant hope”

“Emma Bell is terrifying as Aunt Lydia, delivering music of extreme virtuosity that perfectly depicts the overzealous certainty of this true believer of the Gilead doctrines.”

“The Aunts are led by Emma Bell’s ferocious Aunt Lydia, whose stratospheric coloratura vocal line is as taut as a steel wire but who, when joining in the singing of hymns, ironically proves capable of sweet sincerity. Bell whips up a terrifying tension, viciously relishing her control”

“Emma Bell acts with the requisite narcissistic passion and sings with security and point”

“Finally, the soprano Emma Bell captures without fail the many strong passages of the score, with dark toned voice but crystal clarity, all served by an irreproachable projection and oh how necessary in this work.”

“Emma Bell , quintessentially the ideal kind of full, dark Wagner soprano, responded with queenly poise and command, her clearly dictioned words winging their way across orchestra and auditorium. If Renes provided the paragraphing of the music, she it was who touched the poet’s phrasing – spinning spells of unendlich anhaltende Liebe, eloquently paced and peaked. Twenty-three distinguished minutes.”

“Musical values represent the company at the very top of its game, with soprano Emma Bell alternately portraying a seer-like figure and a universal mother, her empowered vocalism setting the seal on the central trio of principals.”

“Emma Bell is a painfully fragile Vanessa who veers between elated rapture, soaring gleamingly at the peaks, and agitated restlessness. Like Tennessee Williams’ Blanche DuBois, Vanessa is feverish from the first and Bell uses the florid ornamentation and chromatic disruption of the vocal line to convey her impetuousness and her anguish.”

“Emma Bell gets some big singing as Vanessa, in which she is impressively fearless, and creates a highly charged character, coming alive with all the pent-up emotions of the previous 20 years.”

“The response of Emma Bell’s Ludmila was genuinely luminous; her tone was pristine, heroic and swelled with the exultation of one who has genuinely seen the light.”

“That woman, Elisabeth, is played by Emma Bell and the British soprano rockets herself into the Wagnerian premiere league with this performance. Her timbre has always been unique – imagine Kathleen Ferrier up an octave – but now Bell shows so much more: perfect intonation, tenderness, subtle variation, compelling acting.”

“Emma Bell’s Elisabeth emerged as a fully convincing stage presence (somehow both formidable and vulnerable as the bride-in-waiting)…her quiet singing in Act 3 was particularly enchanting.”

“Emma Bell was the ideal Elisabeth…Beautiful to look at, a radiant stage presence, passionate and poignant, she was by far the star of the show. She made one of the most exciting entrances I have seen, and her defence of her wayward lover had all the required power and intensity. This was one of the great Wagnerian assumptions at the Royal Opera in recent years.”

“Emma Bell is not only warm and secure in tone as Elisabeth, but tingling with sensuality.”

“The role’s fierce musical glories (superbly rendered by the soprano Emma Bell”