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Becoming Santa Claus: Dallas Opera

 

"As Claus, tenor Jonathan Blalock is outstanding. His crystalline voice and petulant mood make him instantly believable as the 13-year-old Claus. Blalock has to navigate tricky turns both musically and emotionally and he does so beautifully." 

 

Catherine Womack, D Magazine

 

"Jonathan Blalock is perfect as the typically difficult 13-year old Prince Claus. Knowing that he stepped in at the last moment makes his performance even more amazing. His light tenor voice is focused, so it projects as well as bigger voices. That said, it is his right-on and charming characterization that is at the core of this opera’s success. He never crosses that all-important line between bratty and annoying. He goes from sulky to jumping up-and-down-with-excitement in a flash." 

 

-Gregory Sullivan Isaacs, Theater Jones

 

"In an opera in which all seven characters have complex and distinctive vocal sounds, Blalock was the evening’s standout performer." 

 

-William Burnett, Opera Warhorses 

 

"Tenor Jonathan Blalock made a convincing Prince Claus, finding the right vocal colors to convey the boy’s cynicism, frustration, and woundedness."

 

-Mike Greenberg, Classical Voice North America

 

"Tenor Jonathan Blalock plays Prince Claus and delivers a strong performance highlighted by the dramatic arc from a withdrawn spiteful boy to a generous spirit." 

 

-Drew Jackson, Edge Media

 

"Jonathan Blalock embodies Claus’ every emotional nuance."

 

--Scott Cantrell, Dallas Morning News

Becoming Santa Claus DVD: Dallas Opera

 

"Jonathan Blalock stepped into the title role on short notice, yet it’s hard for a viewer to believe anyone else was ever considered. His clean, bright tenor voice displays an absolute command of the challenging score, he’s an affecting actor as always, and he looks gorgeous in Gary McCann's costumes." 

 

--William V. Madison, BILLEVESÉES

"Blalock invigorates Claus with a voice kissed by starlight, here placed at the service of a characterization that is at once subtly perceptive and resoundingly uncomplicated."

 

--Joseph Newsome, Voix des Arts

"Tenor Jonathan Blalock captures the wounded petulance of Claus yet also makes us feel sympathy for his loneliness."

 

--Arlo McKinnon, Opera News

"Jonathan Blalock and Hila Plitmann stand out, particularly."

-Andrew Anderson, Theatre Jones

 

 

Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Loft Opera, NYC 

 

The Brooklyn production fielded a cast of attractive young voices and physically fearless performers: Jonathan Blalock brought a smooth, muscular tenor to the role of Almaviva."

 

-Corinna de Fonseca-Wollheim, The New York Times

 

The true star of the evening was a super-nova on the classical scene, Jonathan Blalock as Almaviva.  This is the first time I'd seen him in a role and this guy can sing! And act! And is strikingly handsome as well, a singer who has it all. He negotiated the extremely challenging bel canto sections with great dexterity and a technique that belies his young age; the audience burst into well-deserved applause halfway through his first aria."

 

-Glen Roven, The Huffington Post

 

 

Paul's Case: PROTOTYPE Festival, NYC 

 

The tenor Jonathan Blalock, onstage throughout a resourceful black-box production directed by Kevin Newbury, is riveting in the title role: his voice sweet and true, his thin smile telegraphing Paul’s honeyed contempt for his working class surroundings in a steel-dominated Pittsburgh.  Mr. Blalock brilliantly captured Paul’s ambiguity, alienation and doomed aspiration, and his dalliance with Mr. Slattery’s character blended giddy reverie and electric tension."

 

-Steve Smith, the NY Times

 

The young tenor Jonathan Blalock, a North Carolina native, proved integral to the success of the Prototype staging, which originated with the Washington, D.C.-area group Urban Arias. A lyric tenor of the Mozart and Rossini type, Blalock had no trouble with the high-lying music of the title role, his sweet, pale voice shining through the silvery mist of Spears’s instrumentation. Beyond that, Blalock’s ironic smile and haughty poses signaled the character’s conflict with his humdrum surroundings.”

 

–Alex Ross, The New Yorker

 

This time around, Jonathan Blalock had even more theatrical and vocal authority as Paul, the alienated young hero, supplying a potent solo element to balance Mr. Spears's agile, overlapping ensembles.”

 

-Heidi Waleson, The Wall Street Journal

 

We only know the main character, and then only through his voice: the sweetly fervent, ceaseless tenor of Jonathan Blalock, who sings and sings for 90 minutes and never seems to fade. Not even Cather could have asked for a more perfectly Paul-like performer."

 

-Justin Davidson, NY Magazine

 

The remarkable young American tenor Jonathan Blalock sustained this grueling tessitura up to and including a tour de force final solo scene with hardly a trace of strain."

 

-James Jorden, The New York Observer

 

Jonathan Blalock made an ideal Paul, dreamy, smirking and vulnerable. He sang the persistently high tenor lines surely."

 

-John Rockwell, Opera Magazine UK

 

Powder Her Face: West Edge Opera

"Tenor Jonathan Blalock brought extraordinary vocal elegance and theatrical vividness to his assignments."

 

-Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle

 

"Jonathan Blalock’s lyric tenor did well with all the sexy juvenile assignments."

-Alan Ulrich, The Financial Times

 

"Tenor Jonathan Blalock brought verve and agility to the high-lying roles."

-Judith Malafronte, Opera News

"Blalock also managed a very high-lying part with robust tone and great vocal agility. He had both the looks and the theatrical flair for his parade of young, sexy characters."

Ilana Walder-Biesanz, Bachtrack

La Cenerentola: Bob Jones University

 

As Prince Ramiro, Jonathan Blalock has a smooth, appealing tenor. He maintains a pure, fluid, unforced sound even in the upper reaches of this notably high-lying role.

 

-Paul Hyde, Greenville Online

 

 

The Abduction from the Seraglio: Des Moines Metro Opera

 

Jonathan Blalock endowed his impish Pedrillo with a honey-sweet timbre."

 

-Mark Thomas Ketterson, Opera News

 

 

Don Giovanni: Cedar Rapids Opera

 

Jonathan Blalock has a moment of magnificence, as well, as Anna’s fiance, Don Ottavio, completely conflicted over his task of avenging the wrongs committed to his Anna. The range and depth of his emotion are stunning, matched only by Talamantes’ love song in which her shimmering high notes float on air."

 

-Diana Nollen, The Gazette

 

 

La Finta Giardiniera: On Site Opera/Atlanta Opera

 

""Jonathan Blalock was properly absurd as the clueless Mayor." 

-Heidi Waleson, The Wall Street Journal

"Jonathan Blalock did a fine job portraying Podesta’s exaggerated wooing of Sandrina, his bright singing layering the work with some tongue-in-cheek comedy to contrast moments of darker humor. His final aria, in which he argues with his niece over her choice of lover, saw his singing grow more and more agitated as he capitulated to the ground.

 

-Operawire

 

La Cenerentola: Opera Roanoke

 

“North Carolina native Jonathan Blalock was a dashing, boyishly suave Ramiro who wore his heart on his sleeve and made expressing adoration in sixteenth notes seem the only meaningful way of doing it. The security and reliability of his upper register were indeed admirable."

 

-Joseph Newsome, Voix des Arts

 

“Jonathan Blalock faced the demanding role of Prince Ramiro, and demonstrated his control over Rossini’s florid melodic style in his aria at the start of Act II."

 

-Matthew Franke, The Roanoke Times

 

 

An American Soldier: Washington National Opera

 

“Tenor Jonathan Blalock, baritone Andrew McLaughlin and bass Michael Ventura handled their multiple assignments with vocal and dramatic vividness."

 

-Tim Smith, Opera News

 

“Andrew McLaughlin, Michael Ventura, and Jonathan Blalock can all outsing the intimate Terrace Theater at the Kennedy Center."

 

-Jessica Vaughan, DC Metro Theater Arts

 

“Singing of this difficult score was excellent.  In multiple roles, Andrew McLaughlin, Michael Ventura and Jonathan Blalock created carefully delineated and individualistic soldiers."

 

-Terry Ponick, Communities Digital News

 

 

Messiah: Lexington Philharmonic 

 

Tenor Jonathan Blalock took vocal honors with his fresh, easy sound. His fleet passagework in the virtuosic Every Valley was a model of precision, and he sang Thou Shalt Break Them with vibrant tone quality and fervent feeling."

 

-Tedrin Blair Lindsay, Lexington Herald-Leader

 

 

Hydrogen Jukebox: West Edge Opera

 

Tenor Jonathan Blalock made sweet-toned, vigorous contributions both individually and to the choral sections."

 

-Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle

 

Jonathan Blalock is very good in this work, and may just be very good, period."

 

-Jessica Balik, San Francisco Classical Voice

 

 

Paul's Case: Urban Arias

 

There’s a rich group of voices assembled for the intimate performance, led by rising tenor Jonathan Blalock, who is youthful enough to be credible as an incorrigible high schooler whose red carnation clashes so much with his dour, monochromatic surroundings."

 

-Roger Catlin, The Washington Post

 

It’s hard to imagine anybody but tenor Jonathan Blalock playing Paul with his light Rossini tenor, a face as easy to read as a TV screen and sense of wonder amid the cold hard reality of his world."

 

-David Patrick Stearns, Arts Journal

 

 

Orphee: Virginia Opera 

 

The large cast had no weaknesses. Jonathan Blalock sang Cegeste, Orphée’s young rival, with a sweet and youthful tenor."

 

-Paul Sayegh, The Virginian-Pilot

 

Blalock delivered a deftly drawn portrayal of the cocky, punk-poet Cegeste, whose new fame threatens to overshadow Orphee's."

 

-Tim Smith, The Baltimore Sun

 

 

Hydrogen Jukebox: Fort Worth Opera 

 

Jonathan Blalock provided a good balancing point with Kempson; his tenor voice was equally as powerful, but also had a delicate tone that added to the atmosphere of the piece."

 

-John Norine, Theater Jones

 

Tenor Jonathan Blalock, so impressive in Before Night Falls, made a welcome return and has clearly joined my list of Fort Worth “discoveries” whom I’ll want to hear again and again."

 

-William Madison, billesvesees.com

 

Creeping, dancing, flinging themselves, the young singers put on heroic performances. With understated amplification to equalize voices wherever they turn, they also sing with handsome tones and uncanny pitch accuracy... and the rest of the cast is really fine: sopranos Rosa Betancourt and Corrie Donovan, mezzo Amanda Robie, tenor Jonathan Blalock and bass Justin Hopkins."

 

-Scott Cantrell, Dallas Morning News

 

 

The Secret Agent: The Center for Contemporary Opera 

 

Jonathan Blalock played Stevie with lyricism and tact."

 

-Steve Smith, The New York Times

 

 

Falstaff: Mercury Opera Rochester 

 

Kathryn Lewek and Jonathan Blalock, who play the underlying love story of Nannetta and Feton, sang touching arias with stirring vocal qualities."

 

-Anna Ruguero, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

 

 

La Fille du Regiment: IVAI Montreal 

 

As the male love interest Tonio, tenor Jonathan Blalock showed a natural free tone in Ah, mes amis, tossing off the nine high C's with ease and sustaining the last note in a way that would make Pavarotti proud. He went on to sing a touching Act II aria."

 

-Wah Keung Chan, The Montreal Gazette

 

Jonathan Blalock [in the role of Tonio] has a beautiful leggiero tenor voice, and he effortlessly sang 9 high C's."

 

-Claude Gingras, La Presse (Translated from French)

 

 

Before Night Falls: Fort Worth Opera 

 

Fort Worth Young Artist Jonathan Blalock as Lazaro, Jesus Garcia as Rey's literary and ideological mentor, Ovidio, and Javier Abreu as Pepe, the boyhood friend who betrays Rey, all made strong and vivid contributions."

 

-Joshua Rosenblum, Opera News

 

The tenderness with which Mr. Blalock sings in his scenes with Rey is immensely moving. Mr. Martín infuses Lázaro’s role with music of lyrical grace, and the ardent beauty of Mr. Blalock’s singing gives his performance an abiding authenticity."

 

-Joseph Newsome, "Voix des Arts"

 

Tenor Jonathan Blalock offered a sensitively acted and sung portrayal of Lázaro."

 

-William Madison, Opera News contributor, posted on "Billevesées"

 

"Tenor Jonathan Blalock, as Lázaro, is another singer with a promising future and a buff frame."

 

-Gregory Sullivan Isaacs, TheaterJones.com

 

 

Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Opera Middlebury

 

Jonathan Blalock as Almaviva is young and adorable, has a great bel canto tenor and as the opera proceeds puts one in mind of the early Jack Lemmon, so light and deft in his comedy."

 

-Nancy Maxwell, Addison County Independent

 

 

Cosi fan tutte: Capital Opera Raleigh

 

Tenor Jonathan Blalock (Ferrando) has the tools of the great Mozartian tenors -- his voice is warm and clear, and his high notes are ringing and perfectly placed."

 

-Martha A. Fawbush, Classical Voice of North Carolina

Becoming Santa Claus, Dallas Opera (photo by Karen Almond)

Becoming Santa Claus, Dallas Opera (photo by Karen Almond)

Becoming Santa Claus, Dallas Opera (photo by Karen Almond)

LoftOpera Barbiere

Il Barbiere di Siviglia: The New York Times, 2014

Paul's Case: The New York Times, 2014

Paul's Case: The New Yorker, 2014

Paul's Case: New York Magazine, 2014

Photo by Cory Weaver, West Edge Opera

Photo by Cory Weaver, West Edge Opera

The Abduction from the Seraglio, Des Moines Metro Opera

The Secret Gardener, Atlanta Opera

La Cenerentola, Opera Roanoke

An American Soldier, Washington National Opera

Hydrogen Jukebox, West Edge Opera

Paul's Case Washington Post

Paul's Case: The Washington Post, 2013

Orphée, Virginia Opera

Hydrogen Jukebox, Fort Worth Opera, 2011

Photo by Ellen Appel

The Secret Agent, Center for Contemporary Opera

La Fille du Regiment, International Vocal Arts Institute

Before Night Falls, Fort Worth Opera.  Photo by Ellen Appel

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