"Musically, you can't fault it. Bostridge sounds particularly good when paired with countertenor Iestyn Davies in Abraham and Isaac. Julius Drake is the outstanding pianist, Sally Pryce his eloquent successor at the harp in the final canticle. Unforgettable." Tim Ashley / The Guardian / 10 May 2013

"Bostridge showed impeccable understanding of its subtle fluctuations between erotic reverie and nightmare." Tim Ashley / The Guardian / 6 March 2013

Bostridge talks from first hand of Britten’s extraordinary gifts as a word-setter 

Edward Seckerson, theartsdesk.com, 21 April 2013

"Ian Bostridge recording is an intoxicating contribution to the composer’s centenary."

Andrew Clark, Financial Times, 19 April 2013

"there is no mistaking the intelligence and bite he brings to this music"

Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 9 April 2013

Please click on the following link to read 'Celebrity Britten' Ian Bostridge, TLS, March 2013

"Ian Bostridge (Evangelist) lives every word of the narration but never over dramatises." Fiona Maddocks, The Observer, 23 March 2013

"Ian Bostridge is the tenor Evangelist, eloquent, pure of tone, fluent and strong in communicating the import of the German narrative." Geoffrey Norris, The Telegraph, 22 March 2013

"Bostridge, especially, was superb — capturing the increasing turmoil of the doomed king without contravening the work’s austere, ritualistic style. With his sudden snarls and deranged glissandos he truly made Oedipus complex."  Richard Morrison, The Times, 14 March 2013

"In the title role, Ian Bostridge sang with clarity, brightness and dramatic effect." Philip Radcliffe, The Arts Desk, 14 March 2013

"And no problem with Ian Bostridge in the title role, displaying all the agility, intelligence and focus it demands"

David Fanning, Telegraph, 14 March 2013

"The British tenor [...] commands a big dynamic range, also a good ear for artful effects and impeccable German diction. [...] And, yes, [...] he sings beautifully." ft.com, Martin Bernheimer, 4 February 2013

Ian Bostridge and Angelika Kirchschlager sang beautifully on Sunday afternoon at Alice Tully Hall. [...] Both singers are big names who rarely appear on opera stages this side of the Atlantic, and the reputations of their voices - Mr. Bostridge's cleareyed tenor, Ms. Kirchschlager's richly hued mezzo - would have been sufficient to draw a capacity crowd to their recital of Hugo Wolf songs, presented as part of Lincoln Center's Great Performers series.

But more important, they are just that: artists who in concert deliver performances so vivid that they create an impression of spontaneous communication with the audience. [...]

Even the religious songs, with which the recital opened, shimmered with ambiguity. In "Nun Wandre, Maria" ("Onward, Now, Mary") Mr. Bostridge brought out the tender urgency of Joseph as he hurries Mary toward Bethlehem, where she is to give birth, while also revealing the sense of foreboding in the crow of the rooster. In "Die du Gott Gebarst, du Reine," a prayer to the Virgin, he leaned into the piano's chromatic chords in a way that suggested doubt in the promise of deliverance.

[...] The texts of the secular songs that followed revisited the familiar topic of love's power to cause ecstasy, agony and embarrassment. Here Ms. Kirchschlager and Mr. Bostridge, who alternated throughout the program, slipped into character even as they passed each other on their way to and from the piano. They exchanged sulking, I-dare-you glances; Ms. Kirchschlager flicked the skirt of her long, flowing dress as if she were a flamenco dancer.

The musicians seemed to be engaged in a three-way game of tease, where the piano most often had the last laugh. In "Trau Nicht der Liebe" ("Trust Not Love"), which Ms. Kirchschlager delivered with a wait-for-it elasticity of tempo, her final threat to make her beloved weep sounded dead serious, except for the mocking retort in the piano.

The encore finally brought Ms. Kirchschlager and Mr. Bostridge together in a duet, Schumann's "Liebhabers Ständchen" ("Lover's Serenade"), which fully exploited their scorching chemistry.

New York Times / 6 February 2013 / Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim

"The most problematic of Britten’s operas seems all the more repellent the better it is performed. I have rarely been as conscious of the salivating voyeurism […] as in Ian Bostridge’s brilliantly creepy singing of the Male Chorus’s graphic description of Tarquinius’s rampant machismo."

Hugh Canning / Sunday Times Culture / 3 February 2013

"This is a remarkable recording. A powerful performance on record may make you feel as though you are in the theatre or even witnessing events, but very seldom do have the sensation of being physically situated amongst the cast […]. The performers are outstanding. Ian Bostridge and Susan Gritton paint vivid scenes as the Male and Female Chorus […]." Opera Now / Francis Muzzu / February 2013

"There are no weaknesses there, either. The Male and Female Chors, Ian Bostridge and Susan Gritton, set the standard in their introduction, each word ringingly clear, every shade of meaning registered. Their commentary is wonderfully objective and humane, […] this performance is surely the best of recent times, redemptive in a way that the work itself can never be."   The Guardian, January 2013

"A deeply affecting experience that ought to win the opera many new admirers.[...] The singers, too, are first rate. Ian Bostridge and Susan Gritton play the storytelling Chorus with impassioned incisiveness, conveying the potentially dry prose with vivid theatricality and, at times, welcome wryness." BBC reviews, Graham Rogers, 6 February 2013

"Ian Bostridge and Susan Gritton display both superb diction and gorgeousness of sound as the narrators."  Sinfinimusic, Warwick Thompson, February 2013

"Bostridge's immaculate diction, every word etched like crystal, certainly allowed the full weight of their meaning to come across. [...] as Bostridge and Drake showed, the cycle is full of wonderful things – Midnight on the Great Western and the final Before Life and After are excellent songs by any standards [...] Bostridge pointed up [this ur-Winterreise] with his usual subtlety, intelligence and discriminating vocal colour." The Guardian, 18 January 2013, Andrew Clements

"Ian Bostridge, one of the leading exponents of the tenor voice today, introduced an audience at The Sage Gateshead to three very different Baroque tenors in a programme that brought their distinctive talents to life.

The first was Francesco Borosini, a singer whose voice had an incredible range and was capable of brilliant coloratura.

He asked the composer Gasparini to break with convention by creating for him the first on-stage death scene for tenor, allowing him to steal the show. And when Borosini went to London, Handel polished the work up further. Bostridge sang both versions of Forte e Lieto, his lithe voice scaling from a rich baritone to tenor with ease.

 And he gave a scorching rendition of Sesto’s aria Scorta Siate a Passi Miei from Handel’s Giulio Cesare.

The Bolognese tenor Annabile Po Fabri’s musical gifts were exploited by Vivaldi.

Bostridge’s quicksilver delivery of the aria La Tiranna, above pulsating strings, was breathtaking.

Last, but not least, was the Englishman John Beard, who was talent-spotted and trained by Handel.

The aria From Celestrial Seats Descending from Hercules was a highlight of the evening, with Bostridge savouring every sensuous syllable of the line “to taste the sweeter heav’n of love”."

Northern Echo, Gavin Engelbrecht, 14 January 2013

Please click here to read the full article The Guardian, Interview by Laura Barnett, January 2013

"In spite of the unseasonal gloom and a change in schedule, the Utzon Room was packed to overflowing to hear British tenor Ian Bostridge sing Schumann and Brahms lieder. [...] Bostridge is internationally renowned for his interpretation of German lieder, and when he opens his mouth, the reason is clear. The sound floats out, drifting across the surface of the rolling piano accompaniment like a skiff, delicate in appearance but still juggling 20 knots from the south.

To call the sound effortless is to ignore the facial contortions and furrowed brow as the singer crafts every note, every phrase. However, close your eyes and you could imagine it is, well, easy.

He began with Schumann, the exquisite Dein Angesicht Op.127 No.2, setting an almost impossible bar of beauty from the outset. With Es Leuchtet meine Liebe, Op. 127 No.3, the mood switched to dark terror, with pianist Sharolyn Kimmorley just about negotiating a stormy mass of chromaticism in the accompaniment. The sun came out with Mein Wagen rollet langsam, Op.142 No.4, with Kimmorley demonstrating the lightest of touches.

The nine songs making up the Op.24 Liederkreis offered another journey, from love to despair to resignation. Putting emotion under the microscope, Bostridge captured every nuance, every passing regret.

[...] Bostridge's voice is sometimes overwhelmingly beautiful. What makes it truly compelling, however, is the range of tone qualities, an edge which reveals 19th century romantic poetry as a gripping drama. The only downside of the concert was the absence of any texts or translations in the program: the music sailed, but the poetry was lost at sea."

Sydney Morning Herald, 12 December 2012, Harriet Cunningham

"For this current program, he presents the Acts 2 and 3 arias for the Cretan king from Idomeneo, carefully positioned to display in turn a mastery of rapid-fire fioriture and a powerful emotional insight. [...] For the more placid Torna la pace, Bostridge showed both strength of projection and timbral purity that give him prime position among Mozart tenors, a status comfortably maintained since the 2001 Mackerras recording of this masterpiece. Just as effective were his accounts of five Schubert lieder in Webern's arrangements from 1903. Here even more inter-dependent as a partnership, Bostridge and the MSO gave gripping readings of Der Wegweiser and the wrenching fusion of sentiment and tragedy in Ihr Bild" The Age, Clive O'Connell, 8 December 2012

"the British tenor Ian Bostridge and German baritone Dietrich Henschel supplied vivid and eloquent declamation, in tones alternately powerful and poignant."

Scott Cantrell / Dallas Morning News / 9 November 2012

'As might be expected, Ian Bostridge was typically attentive to the composer’s response to the nuances of the text, finding sweetness, frustration, assertion, imperiousness and rejoicing in Marino’s Petrarchianisms, and communicating these sentiments through a rich palette of vocal colours. Moreover, he crafted the increasingly ornate expressive decorations with fluency and naturalness, perfectly complementing Marino’s evolving extended metaphor.'

Claire Seymour / Opera Today / 11 July 2012

'Themed concert series can begin to hang heavy as the months pass, but Ian Bostridge's Ancient and Modern concerts have been one of the most consistenly enhancing unifiers of the current Wigmore Hall season. The series has enabled the charismatic English tenor to construct typically intelligent programmes that showcase the range of his own highly distinctive vocalism.'

Martin Kettle / The Guardian / 7 July 2012

'However, the performance was dominated by Ian Bostridge as St. Nicholas. He was simply outstanding. From his very first solo he set his stall out, his voice clear and ringing. His tone has a typically English tenor plangency and it’s quite light but there’s a real touch of steel when necessary. Apart from the sheer quality of the sound he produced I was especially impressed with the clarity of his diction. Granted, I know the work quite well but I had no need whatsoever to refer to the libretto to make out what he was singing. Moreover, he sang off the words, using them as a springboard to communicate very directly with the audience. He was really ardent in ‘Nicholas in Prison’, achieved a fine intensity in ‘Nicholas devotes himself to God’ and gave a moving portrayal of the anguished Nicholas on his deathbed in the last movement. I can’t recall hearing a finer, more convincing assumption of the role, whether live or on disc.'

John Quinn / Seen and Heard / 25 June 2012

'Ian Bostridge, perfectly cast for the entire evening, began the Gloria with a high wail of florid declamation that inhabited a musical landscape not a million miles from Monteverdi’s Venice.'

Hilary Finch / The Times / 24 June 2012