“Familiar to Seattle Opera audiences from such earlier roles as the passionate Tatyana (“Eugene Onegin”) and the generous-hearted courtesan Violetta (“La Traviata”), Focile is both appealing and harrowing as the distraught Elle… we see Focile anxiously stroking the receiver, as if willing it to speak. By turns beseeching, despairing, and momentarily furious, Focile makes the audience indignantly sympathetic â and also appalled at her neurotic clinging, especially when she grovels to her callous lover (telling him "I know this is more painful for you than for me"). Her clear, expressive voice packs an emotional punch, and her unfussy, natural acting (directed by Bernard Uzan) makes this a tour-de-force performance.”

                                                                                                                           

Seattle Times, Melinda Bargreen

"Both Nuccia Focile as Donna Elvira – torn between love and loathing for the Don – and Camilla Roberts as the wronged Donna Anna, are extraordinary sopranos and their voices were in fine form last night."

Birmingham Express and Star, November 2011

"Nuccia Focile’s nuanced, genuinely affecting Donna Elvira stood out"

Birmingham Post, November 2011

"The main attraction was La Voix Humaine by Poulenc, brilliantly performed by Nuccia Focile with the Southbank Sinfonia under the direction of Garry Walker. It was given in English, and Ms. Focile’s enunciation was extremely good, which was important since there are no surtitles at the Linbury. The fact that she retained my attention for her 50 minute solo performance speaks for itself...Well done to Nuccia Focile for her engagingly strung-out performance."

markronan.wordpress.com, June 2011

"Focile holds our attention, her voice ranging from quavering chatter to bursts of pique, and swelling, briefly, to the soprano ecstasies of anguish."

The Guardian, June 2011

"It’s a major challenge, to which Focile rises with much skill...rising with engagement to the more heightened lyricism at the emotional extremes, and charting the piece’s physical as well as vocal trajectory impressively."

The Stage Reviews, June 2011

"Nuccia Focile played it straight, with disarming truthfulness, and with just a few, very telling histrionic moments. Her light soprano recalls that of Denise Duval, who first sang the role. Focile was superbly natural in her presentation of a conversation of which we only hear one side, and her wheedling pleas and threats to her ex-lover, expressed in the familiar intimacy that is about to be history, was just how it is – unbearable, an Erwartung with manners or a Marschallin who cannot let go with middle-aged, dignified resignation. Focile has the full measure of how the role sits in between speech and song, so that the moments of unbridled lyricism came as quite a shock; and her continental delivery of the cleverly French-inflected English translation gave it a sexy exoticism. She was very impressive."

ClassicalSource.com, June 2011

"Nuccia Focile clearly has a gorgeous voice, glittering and beautiful"

blogspot, June 2011

"The most beautiful singing came from Nuccia Focile as the Countess: 'Dove sono' was exquisite, and she was persuasive as a rather younger Countess than usual, still Rosina-ish, as it were"

Opera magazine, October 2010

"Nor did Dallas Opera disappoint on the casting of Despina. Nuccia Focile is one of the world’s most impressive lyric sopranos, and she proved to be a sprightly, arrestingly likeable soubrette."

Opera Warhorses, February 2010

"As Violetta, world-class Italian soprano (and frequent Seattle Opera singer) Nuccia Focile is a lithe performer with a precise and vigorous voice, handling the repeating coloratura of “Sempre Libera” with seeming effortlessness as she proclaims devotion to her party-girl freedom."

Seattle PostGlobe, October 2009

"Soprano Nuccia Focile brings to the title role the same musicality and insight as she did to her Katya Kabanova for WNO, almost wilful in her passion for Števa and thus more vulnerable."

The Guardian, Autumn 2008

"The big question was, could the wonderful Sicilian soprano Nuccia Focile pull off one of the toughest roles in 20th Century opera? It was, to say the least, a resounding success. Her voice had the perfect Central European timbre, the range ideal, and best of all, she proved to be an actress who immersed herself in teh role, a victim of one of opera's most tragic situations." Awarded 5/5*s. 

Echo, Autumn 2008

"The singing is also  generally excellent.  Nuccia Focile - recently returned from show-stopping successes as Nedda and Violetta in Seattle offers a touching portrayal of Tatyana, moving effortlessly from the hesitant girl of Act I to the mature woman of Act III with an easy grace and displaying a fine range of vocal colour to match her character's development..."

Seen & Heard, February 2008