ASHLEY GALVANI BELL
Soprano
Fiordiligi in Cosi Fan Tutte with ABAO Bilbao
“Ashley Galvani Bell was a vocal powerhouse as Fiordiligi and her come scoglio shone at the highest heights”.
- Scherzo, Asier Vallejo Ugarte
“The leading role of Fiordiligi fell to the young American soprano Ashley Galvani Bell, a very well projected voice who has the ability to reach high notes with the greatest ease. Very majestic in “sento Oh Dio che questo piede” and very convincing in the coloratura from “come scoglio” in the first act. In the second act her singing filled all the corners of the Bilbao opera house. The American soprano has a superabundance of talent to have a good career, as she demonstrated in her aria of the second act”
- ProOpera, Jose Nogueira
Cio Cio San in Madame Butterfly
With Mid-Atlantic Opera
"Soprano Ashley Bell wore the role of Cio-Cio San as well as the kimono and tabi she sported. The intensity of her "Un bel di" was shattering and she brought every skill in her armamentarium to bear on her delivery. The remainder of her performance was marked by a bright clear tone, excellent phrasing, and a wide palette of colors. She convinced us as a naive and hopeful 15-year-old, a deluded bride, an angry woman when challenged, and a resolute and noble figure who refuses to live without honor" -Meche Kroop, Voce di Meche
With Boheme Opera New Jersey
Bell is a disarming Butterfly. Having been forced by her family poverty to become a geisha, in this context one who entertains men by singing as opposed to other favors, Butterfly has a sense of how to present herself yet, as Bell plays her, retains an innocence that clouds her sense of reality. Bell lets you see Butterfly’s longing. You can hear genuine optimism and expectation of dreams being fulfilled in her lovely rendition of “Un bel di,” the best-known aria of the opera. The purity of Bell’s pleasingly pitched voice matches the meticulousness of the Boheme production. Her tone makes all she sings more effective.
Musetta in La Bohème at the National Opera Center
Ashley Bell was delightful as Musetta. Of all the singers, she was the most fully off-book, allowing her to devote more energy to the acting dimension of her role. She was charmingly coquettish in the “Quando me’n vo” (aka Musetta’s waltz), and empathetically supportive in Act IV’s conclusion.
- Arlo McKinnon, OPERA NEWS
Norina in Don Pasquale with Rioja Lirica in Logroño, Spain
"Ashley Bell was unstoppable in her brilliant singing and proved herself a true "stage animal" with her hilarious interpretation of the two sided character of Norina/Sofronia."
Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Divaria Productions
"Soprano Ashley Galvani Bell made a superb Donna Anna and sang a melting "Non mi dir". Her duet with Mr. Pitts "Fuggi crudele, fuggi" was masterful."
- Meche Kroop, Voce di Meche
PRESS
Elle in La Voix Humaine at Rioja Forum, SPAIN
TV Interview in Spain
"The soprano Ashley Bell may well have been the person for whom this opera was written, for her brilliant suitability to the intense vocalism that Poulenc demands, with a large voice, dark in her low notes and shimmering in her upper register, with a powerful and overwhelming middle voice and furthermore with world class acting that ignited her entire performance with expressiveness. You might think that an opera with just one female character speaking on the phone with the lover who has left her would be boring, but you have to see how well it works in the hands of a powerful singer and actress like Ashley Bell: it will take your breath away."
- Eduardo Aisa, La Rioja
Elle in La Voix Humaine in New York Opera Fest
"Vocally, Bell crafted a complex Elle.. it was the tender approach that Bell takes, in effect of her own response to Elle’s mental chaos, that brought this character and entire story to life. Bell’s voice is a landscape of unknown depths, in which she conjured a schizophrenic spectrum that easily navigated Cocteau’s story and Poulenc’s music."
- Jennifer Pyron, Opera Wire
"Bell has an unusually lush soprano with just the right amount of rich vibrato riding in her songs....Bell uses this tone to range her portrait from a desperate lover’s last conversation to playful flirtation and the offer of her dog as a companionate reminder of past love."
- Susan Hall, Berkshire Fine Arts
Elle in La Voix Humaine at Bay Street Theatre
“ Ms. Bell dazzled the Bay Street opera loving audience with perhaps her strongest performance on the Bay Street stage to date. Her emotions, her physical acting augmented her beautiful voice as she exemplified the essence of a lover in suicidal pain over a failed relationship. Hearing and watching Ashley Galvani Bell sing in French seemed to put the audience in a trance of awe of Ms. Bell's talents... Ashley Galvani Bell always delivers a strong and memorable performance and in "La Voix Humaine," she was at the top of her skill set all evening long”
-TJ Clemente, Easthampton Patch
“Saturday night's riveting performance of The Human Voice at Bay Street was an artistic triumph..Ms. Bell's exquisite soprano voice, intense facial expressions, and expressive body language made you feel the full depth of this character's despair.. I left the theatre blown away by the extraordinary level of talent that I had just witnessed from this unforgettable production."
-Cindi Sansone-Braff, Southampton Patch
Violetta in La Traviata at Teatro de la Maestranza (SEVILLE)
"Ashley Galvani Bell brought the courtesan of act one to life, with a formidable stage performance and a brilliantly penetrating high register (she topped it off with the traditionally imposed high E flat). She marked the evolution of the character well..She was moving in the last sentences of her intervention (in the last "gioia" she called to mind the woman from the beginning).."
- El Diario de Sevilla, Pablo J. Vayón
"The alternate cast of this emblematic operatic title achieved an outstanding theatrical show with a high musical level..Ashley Galvani Bell was perfectly acclimatized to the demanding coloratura of the first act, she approached with as much emotion as precision, as well as a now thicker and more refined voice, the dramatic second act, where she also exhibited an extraordinary chemistry with her antagonist, Giorgio Germont.."
-Juan Jose Roldán, El Correo
Concert in Old St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York City
"Ashley Bell had wonderful technique. Her appoggiaturas were well controlled. Unfortunately, we live in an age when Italianate singing is a rare gift. This is a skill Miss Bell certainly possessed....Her voice was a glove-like fit for 'Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again' from The Phantom of the Opera and her performance of Entrada de Cecilia Valdes. Here, every facet of her voice and her magnificently coquettish acting brought a complete performance to fruition..."
- Gregory Moomjy, Music and Visions
Anna in Catalini's Loreley with Teatro Grattacielo
Soprano Ashley Bell gave a poignant, vulnerable performance as the embittered Anna.
- Arlo McKinnon,OPERA NEWS
Dolores in La Dolorosa with La Rioja Lirica
"Soprano Ashley Bell has a fine full voice that is strong in the lower register and brilliant in the upper register. She was convincing as the dishonored woman and sang especially well in a glorious duet with Rafael in Act II"
- Meche Kroop, Voce di Meche
Susanna in Nozze di Figaro with Teatro Lirico D’Europa in Wilmington, NC
“Ashley Bell as Susanna and Melliangee Perez were highly expressive in the letter duet.”
- Barry Salwen, CVNC
Cio Cio San in Madame Butterfly with Townsend Opera (California)
"Ashley Bell playing Madama Butterfly stunned in this woman-driven story. Bell played her role as faithfully as Butterfly feels it."
- Kathryn Ann Casey, Hughson Chronicle
Serpina in vaudeville adaptation of La Serva Padrona Off-Broadway
“A high E-Flat is impressive in and of itself but even more incredible given the soprano is being flung around like a trapeze artist throughout the show. ”
- Columbia Radio News
CLICK HERE FOR Southampton Press Article, La Serva Padrona
Interview with WMNR Fine Arts Radio host Jeane Eddy
"A truly remarkable lady you will soon discover....and a beautiful voice."
