IN THE PRESS

IN THE PRESS

NOMINATION

SHORTLIST

NOMINATION

DAS JAGDEWEHR AT BAYERSICHE STAATSOPER CUVILLES THEATER

  • “… above all Juliana Zara as lover's daughter Shoko, seem[s] to blossom in the soprano stratosphere and demonstrate[s] that rounded tones and textual presence are possible at every point on the musical scale and far beyond.”

  • “A quintet that truly gives everything here, singing with the emotions largely denied by the staging. Foremost among them is Xenia Puskarz Thomas, whose sonorous mezzo provides a captivating counterbalance to the wildly ornamented flights of her soprano colleagues Juliana Zara and Eirin Rognerud. And although the female figures are clearly at the center, baritone Vitor Bispo also knows how to assert himself with equal confidence, as does Dafydd Jones, who slips with great eloquence into the role of the narrator with his slender, instrumentally guided tenor. Five voices from whom one hopes to hear much more in the future.”

  • “The three singers (Juliana Zara as Shoko, Eirin Rognerud as Midori, Xenia Puskarz Thomas as Saiko) embody their roles with warmth and restraint, without ever slipping into sentimentality, yet they are also capable of virtuosic coloratura, as this artful score occasionally demands.”

NOMINATIONS

Ariadne auf Naxos at Nederlandse Reisoper

  • “Zerbinetta’s “A moment means nothing, a glance means all… I am so lonely” in the Prologue was the emotional highlight of the evening, her vulnerability and the unlikely attraction between the two feeling dangerously real. ... Zara's seductive trills and tireless vocal acrobatics were dazzling. It was not Bacchus, the “newer God” to whom we ultimately surrender, but Zerbinetta herself...”

  • “What a virtuosity and clarity she showed in Grossmächtige Prinzessin... As a spectator, you couldn't help but join in.”

  • “Zerbinetta’s long-awaited exuberant aria Großmächtige Prinzessin finds an enchanting performer in the American Juliana Zara: with her costume sparkling in the spotlight, she flutters like a swallow from one coloratura to the next. What an enrichment that the Reisopera tours the provinces with such vocal highlights.”

  • “[The] duet with Zerbinetta (Juliana Zara) was phenomenal, not least because of the deliciously singing Californian soprano Zara: what ease, what elegance, but also expressiveness and empathy. Her dog-toiling aria later in the evening also sounded flawless and senent, with her remaining warm and penetrating in the very many high notes and coloratures, truly not a sincure in the somewhat dry acoustics (fortunately the excellent acoustically shaped decor helped well). She was the star of the evening...”

  • “Juliana Zara does it all in a sexy Moulin Rouge-minded costume full of feathers and with delicious vocal acrobatics. That coupled with a sparkling interpretation and a never too far-reaching, frivolous and sensual physicality, make her Zerbinetta not only a showstopper, but also a fully integrated character in the narrative.”

MKO SONGBOOK WITH NACHO DE PAZ AND THE MUNICH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

  • “She is a vocal powerhouse, giving Paul Clan's words the consistency Coates demands – sometimes in long, taut lines, sometimes as a viscous drop, yet striking and with pure beauty of sound.”

PUZZLES AND GAMES at Carnegie Hall with Sejong Soloists

  • “Making her Carnegie debut tonight, soprano Juliana Zara was the soloist in the Unsuk Chin work, a daunting 20-minutes of singing which at times carries the singer into the highest range of the soprano voice. Ms. Zara never seemed daunted by the vocal writing: in fact, she seemed to revel in it."

    "In Cat's Aria, Ms. Zara ventured impressively into the upper extremes of the soprano range, lingering there is a series of amazing (and intentionally annoying) meows-in-alt."

    "Ms. Zara didn't simply manage it, she triumphed over it - as cymbal crashes bring this dazzling, quirky piece to a close. The soprano basked in a shouting ovation from the crowd, so truly deserved; she graciously signaled her thanks to the musicians and the Maestro.”

  • “American soprano Juliana Zara, who's spent much of her career in Europe, delivered a wild, no-holds-barred performance..."

    "While the Sejong players (conducted by Earl Lee) were uniformly excellent, Zara stole the show; keep an eye out for her on an opera stage near you."

lulu at staatstheater Darmstadt

  • “The brilliant… Juliana Zara, whose soprano sounds glassy clear, high, pure and at the same time completely unstrained, plays a terrifically noncommittal Lulu who is nevertheless devoted, in that uniquely Lulu-like way. So unbelievably youthful, fit and without exaltation, she conquers the role and she does so until the end, without any tiredness that so often characterizes the role.”

  • “Her Lulu in the opera of the same name at the Staatstheater Darmstadt was an event that made waves throughout Germany in the recent season. In Ewa Maria Höckmayr's production, the American coloratura soprano juggles with male fantasies and plays them against each other with virtuosity. Zara's Lulu moves across the stage with the infinite lightness of being until she gets caught up in the mills of sex work and is physically and emotionally crushed. The compelling acting is matched by stupendous vocal merits. Juliana Zara's voice is also ideal for this delicate role. Slender, fluid and with weightlessly dabbed top notes, she exuded that rare vocal mercury which the role absolutely needs and which makes it a phenomenon in the first place. Not in a metropolis, but on the edge of the Odenwald.”


  • “Above all, Juliana Zara in the title role proves her central part in extreme complexity. She succeeds, despite a permanent onstage presence, to keep a secret. Vocally, the young Californian soprano is an ideal choice because, in addition to her stage presence, she possesses the certainty in the extreme high notes that Berg expressly demands. Thus Zara maintains the desirable fascination of Lulu in the second part of the opera as well, embodying Lulu’s descent with dissecting sharpness and clarity.”

  • “For Zara, it is a highlight of her young career. For years, the soprano has been dealing with this complex part, with this dazzling character, you can feel it in every moment. She spreads a fantastic spectrum of vocal colors and expression: Seductive oaths with velvety soft timbre, the ecstatic top notes clear and electrifying when her Lulu sings the misery of the soul.”

  • “Simply magnificent... Juliana sings this insane role with an ease that is very impressive... She plays the ambivalent Lulu very convincingly, sometimes very fragile, then again very antagonistic, and all this in this small space, on this pedestal that is maybe a good metre long. That was really incredible to watch.”

Alice in Wonderland At Concertgebouw Zaterdag Matinee

  • “...in addition to her breakneck-beautiful coloratura, she impressed with her natural sounding booming laughter (as the Cheshire Cat).”

  • “Juliana Zara virtuosically crooned as the Cheshire Cat...”

  • “Juliana Zara as Cheshire Cat looked equally so enchanting, and she sang accordingly.”

l’elisir d’amore at staatstheater darmstadt

  • “Adina is ravishingly embodied by Juliana Zara. Zara lets her focused soprano voice flatter, glitter and shine according to all the rules of the art of seduction. She convincingly and movingly transforms the flighty love fugitive into a being deeply in love who has to capitulate to the overwhelming power of her own feelings.”

  • “Juliana Zara shines as Adina.”

    “There was even an extra round of applause for her octopus skirt with tentacles.”

  • “Juliana Zara as Adina is in no way inferior to him in the audience's favor, effortlessly serving up her coloratura lines with a clear soprano…”


  • “The soloist roles are also ideally cast, with the soprano Juliana Zara, a highly expressive Lulu by Alban Berg in Darmstadt last season, and now, a completely relaxed bel-canto singer as Adina…

    Everyone finds happiness in Darmstadt.”


Alcina at Staatstheater Darmstadt

  • “Juliana Zara as Alcina's softer, silvery-singing sister Morgana is in a class of her own.”

  • “Audience favorite Juliana Zara, as the love-struck Morgana, is given the dramaturgically dispensable longest number. But it is worth listening to Handel's heavenly lengths.”

    "Juliana Zara... also shines as an actress”

LES CONTES D’OFFMANN AT STAATSTHEATER DARMSTADT

  • “Juliana Zara's performance is magnificent. Her movements are precisely choreographed. Great acting combined with singing. She brings out the doll-like qualities and, as a viewer, one truly enjoys her movements and her performance.”

  • “… from the razor-sharp coloratura, which Juliana Zara underpins with grotesquely exaggerated movements of the puppet Olympia…”


  • “Juliana Zara gives the most virtuoso performance as Olympia. Between her breakneck coloraturas, the soprano acts like a creature from a Frankenstein laboratory - a sewn-up creature in sky blue with only one breast and twisted limbs. She is not entirely harmless: in an unobserved moment, she greedily bites into a pigeon.”


  • “Juliana Zara is a grandiose Olympia…”


DON GIOVANNI AM STAATSTHEATER DARMSTADT

  • “Juliana Zara also masters the role of Zerlina — too often unjustly dismissed as a minor character — with vocal and dramatic conviction, and for a time dominates the stage.”

  • “With Juliana Zara, Zerlina sings with silvery delicacy, yet can summon great sadness.”

  • “And as the young peasant couple Zerlina and Masetto, Juliana Zara and Eric Ander contribute charmingly to letting this new Darmstadt Don Giovanni move lightly and nimbly toward its downfall.”

  • “Mozart’s way of showing through musical means how the three women of the piece are both angered and, with open eyes, still aroused by the Don Giovanni principle is excellently brought out by the singers: Megan Marie Hart as Donna Anna, outstanding in dramatic quality; Solgerd Isalv as Donna Elvira, most impressive in her shift toward the lyrical; and Juliana Zara as Zerlina, the most modern, active, and youthful figure.”

MYSTERIES OF THE MACABRE WITH WUPPERTAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

  • “In three arias for coloratura soprano, this comprehensive worldview was, so to speak, condensed and concentrated. Centuries of music history appear here musically broken down into pure nonsense, ironically distorted with quotations, pseudo-quotations, pop music, doorbells, brushing the grand piano strings, and very, very deep trombone sounds.

    The excellently agile Juliana Zara, vocally confident even in the highest registers, enchanted the audience with this music — occasionally even driving the general music director from his podium. He turned to the audience and complained bitterly. The text, at any rate, was serious and mad at once, here a sample: ‘Morbid! Perfidious! Threatening! Dangerous! Deadly. Measures! Measures! Measures? Measures? Kukuridu! Cock-a-doodle-doo! He is coming. He is coming…’. Frenzied applause was the result, so that there was even an encore before the interval. With the aria Glitter and Be Gay(Candide, Leonard Bernstein) and her radiant coloratura, she finally swept the audience away, who again thanked her with prolonged applause.”

  • “In Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre, Juliana Zara takes it to the extreme: theatrical, clownish, and with unbridled energy she bursts through everything that defines a normal performance with orchestra. Juliana delivers a brilliant vocal and acting performance and is celebrated with storms of enthusiasm.”