Leonard, who has shown her prowess with this material as recently as last month’s performances of the song cycle “Arias and Barcarolles” with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, delivered all of it with a loving, tender air. Her singing is dark and velvety, with a full-bodied physicality that can taper at will […]

[…] performances by mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard and bass-baritone Ryan McKinny that were little short of revelatory. This suite of half-a-dozen vocal selections, bracketed by a prelude and postlude, give a glimpse of Bernstein romping through a range of stylistic ideas, from pop ballads and Sousa marches to a dark Expressionist undercurrent. SFGate An all-Bernstein concert […]

“Isabel Leonard seems to have reached a luminous maturity that allows her to portray an emotional and never ridiculous Elvira: thanks to the artist and the staging, the character is taken seriously and was very touching at the end of “Mi Tradì” as she nestled against the sleeping body of Don Giovanni.” Laurent Bury – Forum […]

“At the recent gala, a young mezzo, Isabel Leonard, and a young tenor, Ben Bliss, sang music from a fairly new opera, The Tempest, by Thomas Adès. Their singing was unimpeachable: beautiful, accurate, and feeling. It was probably the freshest, and possibly the most correct, singing of the night.” Jay Nordlinger – New Criterion

“The coolly elegant Ms. Leonard was a Charlotte more sophisticated than humble, but she was superbly polished, her voice smooth and supple. If she sometimes seemed to be waiting, prettily and patiently, for another, more patrician Werther — as far as classic Met comparisons go, Mr. Grigolo was likely closer to fiery Franco Corelli than […]