“Strongly expressive…and also in the Senta Ballade from Flying Dutchmann she was brilliant, especially in the intense dramatic passages…”
— (Werner Schilling, Mannheimer Morgen – March 18, 2005)
“Brenda Roberts obtained a sensational success in her debut as the Dyer’s Wife in Frau ohne Schatten at the Met. Her success was based on a vocally extraordinary achievement as well as a dramatically convincing comprehension of the role. As the Dyer’s Wife in shy humility as well as wild ecstasy, Brenda Roberts commanded the same rank as a Lotte Lehmann, Marianne Schech, Christl Goltz and Inge Borkh.”
— Metropolitan Opera New York (Robert Breuer, Aufbau)
“Soprano Brenda Roberts, making her debut with Baltimore Opera, was the Sieglinde sounding like a young Birgit Nilsson.”
— Die Walküre at the Baltimore Opera (Maryland Center for Public Broadcasting Television)
“The Roberts voice is opulent, large, extraordinarily beautiful, and made to order for the big, dramatic roles in Wagner and Strauss.”
— (Chicago Tribune)
“Brenda Roberts, as Ortrud, possesses a ‘hoch-dramatic’ voice with striking power, without ‘alto’ gloom, but with Isolde’s radiance and Irish hate-temperament.”
— Mannheim National Theater (Wiesbaden Kurier)
“Also vocally there were astonishing impressions… above all from Brenda Roberts who debuted as Isolde… finally a youthfully-acted attractive woman, with beautifully carrying soft tones as well as dramatic power even up to the very end. The brilliance of this soprano is enormous.”
— Isolde at the Mainz State Theater (Wolf-Eberhard von Lewinski, Süddeutsche Zeitung)
“Now a cast was presented that made a fury! In the title role was the American Brenda Roberts, a perfect representative of the main role, singing all the great outbursts naturally and effortlessly. To experience this Elektra is not only a special event for native opera-goers, but also worth a trip to Dresden for the cultural tourists.”
— Elektra at the Dresden Semper Oper (Oper und Konzert)
“Soprano Brenda Roberts, making her debut with the Baltimore Opera, was sounding like a young Birgit Nilsson.”
— (Maryland Center for Public Broadcasting Television)
“Brenda Roberts was a very intensive Dyer’s Wife with an impressive sonorous soprano voice and genuine ‘hoch-dramatic’ substance, with steely brilliance in the high and middle registers.”
— Mannheim National Theater
“The Elektra was Brenda Roberts, who sang this most difficult role with stupendous vocal power and condition all the way to the very last tone; a huge, expressive voice.”
— Dresden Semper Oper (Der Neue Merker)
“Brenda Roberts possesses a voice that is equally beautiful-sounding in the lyrical as well as in the ‘hoch-dramatic’ passages, and all that with gleaming high notes. She masters the vocally-technical difficult intervals admirably and even in the dramatic outbursts she leads her voice perfectly.”
— Färberin in Frau ohne Schatten at the Hamburg State Opera (Oper und Konzert)
“Brenda Roberts, youthful, agile and slender, was the most believable Dyer’s Wife to date. She was also the most believable vocally: with a youthful, fresh and never-forced voice, she can also sing a genuine and beautiful piano.”
— Färberin in Frau ohne Schatten at the Hamburg State Opera (Die Welt)
“Brenda Roberts…a voice of almost chamber-music qualities, without losing the death-defying heights and the increasing dramatic challenges of brilliancy and mastership. From the child-like joy to the perfection of the satanic woman – that spread fear to the men’s world – she increased her power to the sensual summits of the ending monologue. This was definitely a world achievement.”
— Title role in Salome at the Dortmund Opera (Dr. Ulrich Gehre, Die Glocke)
“The Roberts voice is opulent, large, extraordinarily beautiful, and made to order for the big, dramatic roles in Wagner and Strauss.”
— Title role in “Elektra” at the Chicago Lyric Opera (Thomas Willis, Chicago Tribune)
“Sure enough, the Roberts voice has power to burn. Her high, full voice could soar through the house, and most unusually these days, maintain its beauty of tone (like Leonie Rysanek in timbre) with some burnished bronze of a Strauss-Wagner specialist.”
— Georgetta in Il Tabarro – San Francisco Opera (Heuwell Tircuit, San Francisco Chronicle)
“The American soprano, Brenda Roberts, who possesses an excellently-led metallic, brilliant voice of the heavy Wagnerian repertoire, mastered her role splendidly.”
— Soprano in Britten’s “War Requiem”
“With her sonorous voice that possesses a brilliant, effortless high range and through an emphatic performance Brenda Roberts presented a fine achievement.”
— Soprano in Britten’s “War Requiem”
“Brenda Roberts is a great Leonore: very moving, intensive and fine-detailed in her acting and vocal expression, with an incontestable vocal technique, with brilliant high tones. She received indisputably this year the Hersfelder Opernpreis.”
— (Hersfelder Zeitung)
“Brenda Roberts…a top Elektra.”
— (Horst Kögler, Opernwelt)
“Sure enough, the Roberts voice has power to burn. She possesses a high, full voice that can soar through the house and most unusually these days, maintain its beauty of tone. A voice like Leonie Rysanek in timbre, with some burnished bronze of a Strauss-Wagner soprano.”
— Georgetta in Il Tabarro at the San Francisco Opera (Heuwell Tircuit, San Francisco Chronicle)
“A storm of jubilation was unleashed at the premiere of Elektra. At the center of ovations stood Brenda Roberts in the title role. Brenda Roberts, as an angel of revenge, mastered her role…one of the most difficult in operatic literature. With absolutely unbelievable condition she increased her vocal and acting performance all the way to the bloody orgy in the finale.”
— (Erhard Boettcher, Deutsche Presse Association)
“An unsurpassed Elektra, American Brenda Roberts is experienced in this role in many international theatres. She has developed a highly expressive, moving concept, and brings above all extraordinary and seemingly effortless high notes with much metal in the voice, that marks her as a great Wagnerian soprano.”
— Kiel Opera (Lübecker Nachrichten)
“Brenda Roberts could intensify her acting performance admirably. Her voluptuous soprano voice fulfilled all aspects of the ‘hoch-dramatic’ repertoire, and she can also sing very sensitively beautiful piano tones.”
— Mannheim National Opera (Mannheimer Morgen)
“As Ortrud, Brenda Roberts threw herself in real ‘hoch-dramatic’ style into the role, a true theatre-temperament.”
— (Horst Koepke, Frankfurter Rundschau)
“Brenda Roberts, as Leonore, was the vocally amazing event of the evening. With precise acting characterization and powerful sound, she rules over the stage.”
— Fidelio (Heinz Ludwig, Die Welt)
“Brenda Roberts let it be known that she is closely related to this role of Ortrud. Absolutely everything was right, even her dominating dramatic soprano passages. The listener could not escape the spellbinding force of this voice.”
— Mannheim National Theater (Allgemeine Zeitung)