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I and Silence: Women's Voices in American Song
Delphian Records. Pianist / Lana Bode (2019) "a remarkable exploration of women’s voices in American song" (Sunday Times) “Especially worthwhile for Peter Lieberson’s cycle of five Rilke settings, touchingly done.” (The Guardian) “the plush tones of the singer allied to a searing musical intelligence perfectly match the unflinching honesty and seriousness of the verse... Fontanals-Simmons and Bode are fine advocates of this enigmatic repertoire.” (Classical Source) “Her operatic experience shows in her natural handling of the quasi recitative style Argento uses in setting Woolf’s prose reflections...her excellent breath control and an ability to keep full tone on longer notes play a key role in making these elliptical pieces convincing, as does the expertly calibrated playing of pianist Lana Bode.” (BBC Music Magazine) “Hugely ambitious; Marta Fontanals-Simmons brings a depth of tone to a programme of American Song...yet where else will you find this music in one, well planned disc?” (Gramophone) 
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The Tuning: Martin Suckling
Delphian Records. Pianist / Christopher Glynn (2021) 'Marta Fontanals-Simmons reinforces the emotion in the words with her rich tone, eloquent legato and impeccable intonation and diction. On piano...Glynn is an equally impassioned advocate.' (BBCMusicMagazine) 'The pianist and singer are fully engaged with both words and music. Their partnership has a striking assurance, each clearly having full confidence in the other...One of the very finest new settings of contemporary poetry by a British composer that I have heard for quite some time.' (MusicWebInternational) Higgins: The Faerie Bride BBC National Orchestra of Wales / Martyn Brabbins (cond) Aldeburgh Festival (2022) Two excellent soloists — Marta Fontanals-Simmons and Roderick Williams — take the parts not just of the fairy and her husband but also (singing in strident octaves) the indignant villagers. (The Times) Fontanals-Simmons imaginatively evoked the contrast between the Woman’s strength and vulnerability. Her singing of a Welsh folk song possessed an elemental purity. (Opera Today) Elgar: The Music Makers Three Choirs Festival (2021) Here is a singer whose tone is firm and very well-focused. She used vibrato intelligently to warm the tone, but the vibrato was never excessive ... she achieved admirable clarity both in the music and the words. At the words ‘But on one man’s soul it hath broken’, ... It’s a truly touching moment and the simplicity with which Ms Fontanals-Simmons sang at this point was just right. ... the soloist’s grand outburst at ‘Great hail!’ was thrillingly done, after which she led the passage beginning ‘Bring us hither’ eloquently. The most memorable moment in Music Makers occurs at ‘Yea, in spite of a dreamer who slumbers, / And a singer who sings no more’. Marta Fontanals-Simmons waited just long enough to make a telling silence and then sang the word ‘Yea’ with simple eloquence. Elgar then tugs at our heart strings by quoting ‘Novissima hora est’ from The Dream of Gerontius. Here, Ms Fontanals-Simmons, sensitively supported by Samuel Hudson, made the music memorable without any excess of emotion. I am not ashamed to admit that my eyes prickled at this point...this was a marvellous performance by Marta Fontanals-Simmons. (Seen and Heard) Handel: Messiah Royal Albert Hall (2019) She has a lovely clarity to her voice, with a velvety quality. Her version of "He Was Despised" was full of sorrow and sadness. (BroadwayWorld) Marta Fontanals Simmons, sang with lovely straight, well modulated tone. Her Part One solos were full of lovely sculpted phrases and 'Refiner's Fire' had some impressive passage-work. In Part Two, 'He was despised', which was sung complete with its Da Capo, had quite a fast tempo, but Fontanals Simmons gave it a sober performance, singing with lithe tone yet full of meaning. (Planet Hugill) |
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Gounod | Faust (Siebel)
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. April 2019 “British-Spanish mezzo-soprano Marta Fontanals-Simmons… captured Siébel’s adolescent gaucheness and frustration… offering a welcome freshness amid the dark goings-on.” (Opera Today, April 2019) Marta Fontanals-Simmons brings an ardent, warm mezzo to Siébel.” (The Telegraph) “Marta Fontanals-Simmons is the touching Siébel.” (The Guardian) “Marta Fontanals-Simmons as a lush-voiced hapless Siébel” (Classical Source, April 2019) "Marta Fontanals-Simmons’ plum-toned mezzo made for a lovely Siébel" (Bachtrack) |
Gavin Higgins | The Monstrous Child (Hel)
Royal Opera House, Linbury Theatre. March 2019 “Hugely impressive individual stage performances, especially from the mezzo Marta Fontanals-Simmons, who is on stage throughout as Hel. She dominates..." (Guardian) “The show’s most impressive aspect is the velvet-voiced mezzo-soprano Marta Fontanals-Simmons” (Daily Telegraph) “An awesome performance from Marta Fontanals-Simmons in the title role. Fontanals-Simmons anchors the whole thing with panache, actively involved in every minute of the opera, shifting seamlessly between sardonic wisecracks and true pathos, drawing you into empathy with her fantastic character. We are looking at a creature whose lower body has merged with a giant, fetid mound of rotting vegetation around which she drags herself, and yet Fontanals-Simmons gets us completely inside her head, sharing in Hel’s hopes, illusions, hatred, despair. It’s an excellent vocal performance also, strong through the range and proving that beauty of lyrical timbre needn’t prevent perfect diction with every word intelligible (no surtitles were provided, nor were they needed) (Bachtrack) “Hel, expertly sung and acted by Marta Fontanals-Simmons…The mezzo amazes throughout; capturing the self-absorbed, under-confidence of a depressed teenage girl through every hand wring, scratch and eye roll.” (Rhinegold) “Hel, vividly acted and sung by Marta Fontanals-Simmons” (The Times) “it’s Marta Fontanals-Simmons as Hel who is the dramatic pulse of the show. Immobilised within an enormous, overspilling mound of rotten flesh she must do all with face and voice, and does.” (The Arts Desk) |
Harrison Birtwistle | The Mask of Orpheus (Euridice the Woman)
English National Opera, London. Nov 2019 "the astonishing Marta Fontanals-Simmons, whose recent disc I and Silence with superb pianist Lana Bode on Delphian was such an unforgettable eye-opener. Fonanals-Simmons has real stage presence and threw herself physically into the role. But it was vocally that she was most mesmerising, a perfect mix of power and musicality – and accuracy. Birtwistle’s endless melodies, it seems, come as easily to her as a Schubert song." (Seen and Heard) "The staging is eye-catching and the singers engage heroically with the production and the music. Peter Hoare is an abject Orpheus, while Marta Fontanals-Simmons’s vocal and dramatic glamour makes Eurydice touchingly, at times amusingly, human." (Evening Standard) "Amid the surfeit, isolated moments of lyrical and emotional truth hit home: the first entry of Eurydice (an exemplary Marta Fontanals-Simmons) as a gorgeous white insect creature against a pink nimbus; the insidious snakebite; her disappearance, sucked back into Hades, when Orpheus looks back" (The Guardian) Eurydice the Woman was sung with seductive melancholy by Marta Fontanals-Simmons (MusicOMH) |
Michael Hurd: The Phoenix and the Turtle
St John Smith Square (2018)
"The important mezzo part is sung lustrously by Marta Fontanals-Simmons; she and the chorus give an eloquent account of the piece." (Musicweb International)
Alasdair Nicholson: Shadows on the Wall
Barbican Hall (2017)
"Marta Fontanals-Simmons sang them with a warm, mezzo lyrical quality." (Financial Times)
Verdi: Requiem
Huddersfield Town Hall (2015)
Marta Fontanals-Simmons, delivered some of the most humble and movingly human moments of the evening, an almost sisterly prayer in the Recordare stands out. Soli in the haunting Lux Aeterna and Offertorio were also among the best moments. (Huddersfield Examiner)
Mozart: Mass in C Minor
St John's Smith Square (2015)
Marta Fontanals-Simmons, who describes herself as a mezzo, initially raising doubts as to whether she would manage the high B-flats in Domine Deus. It seems, though, that the appellation is more about the gloriously creamy texture of her voice than her range, and the contrast between her and Parton in the movement was a delicious treat. (Barry Creasy, MusicOMH)
Britten: Canticles
Rolston Hall, Banff Centre, Canada (2013)
Canticle II, “Abraham and Isaac,” features the gloriously haunting "Voice of God” opening duet, so famous in the Britten canon, and sung tonight by the talented, beautifully-hued mezzo-soprano Marta Fontanals-Simmons. The performance, an audience favourite, was every bit the inspiring live experience of this piece one could hope for ... Both singers undertook their roles with a traditionally dramatic approach that made this more appropriately a mixture of cantata and opera scene. The tenderest moments of the evening are fully recounted here in the farewell scene, set to tonal broken-chord writing, as Isaac submits to the prospect of being slain by his father, which the performers brought off with a surreal eerie calm. Yet what struck as most impressive was the performers’ knack for projecting our cognitive dissonance when we are forced to deal with Britten’s depiction of Isaac’s terror, apparently combined with his calm acceptance of his cruel fate. This musical masterpiece was perfectly executed through careful balancing of this contradictory duality, and thus we were compelled to confront such a horrifying scene that captures perfectly the irreconcilable awe of the Sublime. The ending of the Canticle is one of the most beautiful Britten wrote and both singers spared little expense in bringing this astounding piece to a musically thoughtful and lyrical close. (Stephan Bonfield, Calgary Herald)
Mozart: Die Zauberflöte (Second Lady)
Garsington Opera (2018)
Her Three Ladies - Katherine Crompton, Marta Fontanals-Simmons and Katie Stevenson - formed a particular mellifluous trio, the individual voices distinctly characterised and sweetly blended. (Opera Today)
Cenerentola: La Cenerentola
Diva Opera (2017)
The casting is particularly coherent, clear cut and appropriate. This is true of the fruity, velvet tones of Marta Fontanals-Simmons’ Angelina. (Robert Penavayre, (Classic Toulouse)
Special mention goes to Marta Fontanals-Simmons as Cenerentola herself, whose final aria in particular was breathtaking, effortless in its runs and leaps across the vocal range. (Amanda Sadler, Henley Standard)
Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro (Cherubino)
Garsington Opera, (2017)
Marta Fontanals-Simmons must be the most convincing Cherubino around – her biography photo in the programme shows a beautiful girl, but so persuasive is her characterisation here that you really can see this impetuous, randy youngster as a boy. Both her arias were beautifully done, full of warmth and tenderness – the best Cherubino we’ve heard in a long while. (Melanie Eskenazi, Music OMH)
The laurels must go to Australian baritone…and especially to Marta Fontanals-Simmons as Cherubino, possessed of a voice with highly individual character matched by natural dramatic instincts which, quite simply, made you forget she was acting (Andrew Green, Opera Now)
My first thought was that Marta Fontanals-Simmons was too tall for the adolescent Cherubino, but she proved a master (mistress) of fresh-voiced enthusiasm and cross-dressing faux-awkwardness. (Claire Seymour, Opera Today)
Marta Fontanals-Simmons’s performance as Cherubino was one of the highlights of the evening, not only for her sounding clear and earnest in charting the character’s burgeoning romantic feelings, but also for the capricious, mercurial way in which she brought the part to life. (Seen and Heard)
David Bruce: Nothing (Ursula)
Glyndebourne Youth Opera (2016)
Marta Fontanals-Simmons, a mezzo of tremendous promise, was superb as Ursula, forced into some horrific bargaining as the nominations get personal and she descends into madness. This young singer possesses a lovely, even tone allied to great stage presence (Mark Pullinger, bachtrack)
Bizet: Carmen (Mercedes)
Mid Wales Opera (2014)
Marta Fontanals-Simmons was an assured and engaging Mercedes (Seen & Heard International)
Daisy Brown and Marta Fontanals-Simmons presented the roles of Frasquita and Mercedes in this interpretation perfectly (Wales Online)
Jonathan Dove: The Adventures of Pinocchio (Pinocchio)
Barbican, Guildhall School of Music & Drama (2014)
Marta Fontanals-Simmons's Pinocchio has real star quality: she may be playing a puppet but there's nothing wooden about this young mezzo-soprano's fabulous performance. (Neil Fisher, The Times)
Marta Fontanals-Simmons in the title role gives a powerhouse performance that's a vocal and physical tour de force. (Mark Valencia, whatsonstage)
From an adult perspective, Pinocchio’s repeated failures make it hard to warm to his plight. That we didn’t lose all hope was down to a stunning performance from Marta Fontanals-Simmons, utterly convincing as the little wooden boy, with a mezzo just as polished. In Act II, she fully explored the character’s growth, her efforts paying off in the moving final scenes, with all thoughts of the selfish child forgotten and the reward of becoming a real boy feeling entirely deserved. (Penny Homer, backtrack)
Fontanals-Simmons gave a mesmerising performance as the naughty puppet. Present on stage for virtually the whole opera, her account of the role was a tour-de-force made all the more remarkable for seeming so natural and clear. In the first half she did not allow charm to get too much in the way of Pinocchio's annoying naughtiness and there were certainly moments when you wanted to slap the character; but that is the point. In act two her Pinocchio made a very poignant journey learning the result of his mistakes. (Robert Hugill, planethugill)
Donizetti: Francesca di Foix (Paggio)
Barbican, Guildhall School of Music &Drama (2013)
Marta Fontanals-Simmons was a vividly performed Page, the attention she gave to vocal colour and grading of volume distinguishing her fine contribution. (Peter Reed, classicalsource)
Britten: Owen Wingrave (Kate)
Eric Harvie Theatre, Banff Centre, Canada (2013)
Marta Fontanals-Simmons thoroughly impressed once again, this time as Kate Julian, the woman torn between love and rejection of Owen. Last month, she gave the most musically splendid accounting in tenor Adrian Thompson’s outstanding recital of the Britten Five Canticles. Here, as a very different performer, she showed flexibility with her luscious mezzo, and proved to be the correct choice to perform a disdainful Kate, replete with multiple vocal timbres to show every shade of her scorn for the man she has now rejected as a husband, whose pacifism she finds unintelligible. Her dramatic qualities and vocal control were outstanding when she realizes she cannot reconcile with Owen and must face survival on her own. Also memorable was the scene near the end of Act II when she confesses she made Wingrave sleep in the haunted room, in which she sings descending cascading scales on a remorseful-sounding ‘o’ vowel. (Stephan Bonfield, Calgary Herald)
St John Smith Square (2018)
"The important mezzo part is sung lustrously by Marta Fontanals-Simmons; she and the chorus give an eloquent account of the piece." (Musicweb International)
Alasdair Nicholson: Shadows on the Wall
Barbican Hall (2017)
"Marta Fontanals-Simmons sang them with a warm, mezzo lyrical quality." (Financial Times)
Verdi: Requiem
Huddersfield Town Hall (2015)
Marta Fontanals-Simmons, delivered some of the most humble and movingly human moments of the evening, an almost sisterly prayer in the Recordare stands out. Soli in the haunting Lux Aeterna and Offertorio were also among the best moments. (Huddersfield Examiner)
Mozart: Mass in C Minor
St John's Smith Square (2015)
Marta Fontanals-Simmons, who describes herself as a mezzo, initially raising doubts as to whether she would manage the high B-flats in Domine Deus. It seems, though, that the appellation is more about the gloriously creamy texture of her voice than her range, and the contrast between her and Parton in the movement was a delicious treat. (Barry Creasy, MusicOMH)
Britten: Canticles
Rolston Hall, Banff Centre, Canada (2013)
Canticle II, “Abraham and Isaac,” features the gloriously haunting "Voice of God” opening duet, so famous in the Britten canon, and sung tonight by the talented, beautifully-hued mezzo-soprano Marta Fontanals-Simmons. The performance, an audience favourite, was every bit the inspiring live experience of this piece one could hope for ... Both singers undertook their roles with a traditionally dramatic approach that made this more appropriately a mixture of cantata and opera scene. The tenderest moments of the evening are fully recounted here in the farewell scene, set to tonal broken-chord writing, as Isaac submits to the prospect of being slain by his father, which the performers brought off with a surreal eerie calm. Yet what struck as most impressive was the performers’ knack for projecting our cognitive dissonance when we are forced to deal with Britten’s depiction of Isaac’s terror, apparently combined with his calm acceptance of his cruel fate. This musical masterpiece was perfectly executed through careful balancing of this contradictory duality, and thus we were compelled to confront such a horrifying scene that captures perfectly the irreconcilable awe of the Sublime. The ending of the Canticle is one of the most beautiful Britten wrote and both singers spared little expense in bringing this astounding piece to a musically thoughtful and lyrical close. (Stephan Bonfield, Calgary Herald)
Mozart: Die Zauberflöte (Second Lady)
Garsington Opera (2018)
Her Three Ladies - Katherine Crompton, Marta Fontanals-Simmons and Katie Stevenson - formed a particular mellifluous trio, the individual voices distinctly characterised and sweetly blended. (Opera Today)
Cenerentola: La Cenerentola
Diva Opera (2017)
The casting is particularly coherent, clear cut and appropriate. This is true of the fruity, velvet tones of Marta Fontanals-Simmons’ Angelina. (Robert Penavayre, (Classic Toulouse)
Special mention goes to Marta Fontanals-Simmons as Cenerentola herself, whose final aria in particular was breathtaking, effortless in its runs and leaps across the vocal range. (Amanda Sadler, Henley Standard)
Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro (Cherubino)
Garsington Opera, (2017)
Marta Fontanals-Simmons must be the most convincing Cherubino around – her biography photo in the programme shows a beautiful girl, but so persuasive is her characterisation here that you really can see this impetuous, randy youngster as a boy. Both her arias were beautifully done, full of warmth and tenderness – the best Cherubino we’ve heard in a long while. (Melanie Eskenazi, Music OMH)
The laurels must go to Australian baritone…and especially to Marta Fontanals-Simmons as Cherubino, possessed of a voice with highly individual character matched by natural dramatic instincts which, quite simply, made you forget she was acting (Andrew Green, Opera Now)
My first thought was that Marta Fontanals-Simmons was too tall for the adolescent Cherubino, but she proved a master (mistress) of fresh-voiced enthusiasm and cross-dressing faux-awkwardness. (Claire Seymour, Opera Today)
Marta Fontanals-Simmons’s performance as Cherubino was one of the highlights of the evening, not only for her sounding clear and earnest in charting the character’s burgeoning romantic feelings, but also for the capricious, mercurial way in which she brought the part to life. (Seen and Heard)
David Bruce: Nothing (Ursula)
Glyndebourne Youth Opera (2016)
Marta Fontanals-Simmons, a mezzo of tremendous promise, was superb as Ursula, forced into some horrific bargaining as the nominations get personal and she descends into madness. This young singer possesses a lovely, even tone allied to great stage presence (Mark Pullinger, bachtrack)
Bizet: Carmen (Mercedes)
Mid Wales Opera (2014)
Marta Fontanals-Simmons was an assured and engaging Mercedes (Seen & Heard International)
Daisy Brown and Marta Fontanals-Simmons presented the roles of Frasquita and Mercedes in this interpretation perfectly (Wales Online)
Jonathan Dove: The Adventures of Pinocchio (Pinocchio)
Barbican, Guildhall School of Music & Drama (2014)
Marta Fontanals-Simmons's Pinocchio has real star quality: she may be playing a puppet but there's nothing wooden about this young mezzo-soprano's fabulous performance. (Neil Fisher, The Times)
Marta Fontanals-Simmons in the title role gives a powerhouse performance that's a vocal and physical tour de force. (Mark Valencia, whatsonstage)
From an adult perspective, Pinocchio’s repeated failures make it hard to warm to his plight. That we didn’t lose all hope was down to a stunning performance from Marta Fontanals-Simmons, utterly convincing as the little wooden boy, with a mezzo just as polished. In Act II, she fully explored the character’s growth, her efforts paying off in the moving final scenes, with all thoughts of the selfish child forgotten and the reward of becoming a real boy feeling entirely deserved. (Penny Homer, backtrack)
Fontanals-Simmons gave a mesmerising performance as the naughty puppet. Present on stage for virtually the whole opera, her account of the role was a tour-de-force made all the more remarkable for seeming so natural and clear. In the first half she did not allow charm to get too much in the way of Pinocchio's annoying naughtiness and there were certainly moments when you wanted to slap the character; but that is the point. In act two her Pinocchio made a very poignant journey learning the result of his mistakes. (Robert Hugill, planethugill)
Donizetti: Francesca di Foix (Paggio)
Barbican, Guildhall School of Music &Drama (2013)
Marta Fontanals-Simmons was a vividly performed Page, the attention she gave to vocal colour and grading of volume distinguishing her fine contribution. (Peter Reed, classicalsource)
Britten: Owen Wingrave (Kate)
Eric Harvie Theatre, Banff Centre, Canada (2013)
Marta Fontanals-Simmons thoroughly impressed once again, this time as Kate Julian, the woman torn between love and rejection of Owen. Last month, she gave the most musically splendid accounting in tenor Adrian Thompson’s outstanding recital of the Britten Five Canticles. Here, as a very different performer, she showed flexibility with her luscious mezzo, and proved to be the correct choice to perform a disdainful Kate, replete with multiple vocal timbres to show every shade of her scorn for the man she has now rejected as a husband, whose pacifism she finds unintelligible. Her dramatic qualities and vocal control were outstanding when she realizes she cannot reconcile with Owen and must face survival on her own. Also memorable was the scene near the end of Act II when she confesses she made Wingrave sleep in the haunted room, in which she sings descending cascading scales on a remorseful-sounding ‘o’ vowel. (Stephan Bonfield, Calgary Herald)
© Marta Fontanals-Simmons 2023, all rights reserved