“Musically, it’s astonishing. Melrose, giving the performance of a lifetime, charts Wozzeck’s disintegration with unflinching veracity and an extraordinary expressive range that veers from lyrical intensity to snarl or eerie falsetto”
The Guardian, May 2013
“It’s hard watching Leigh Melrose as Wozzeck, a broken man shuffling from one abuse to another, fixated only on providing for Marie and his son in troubled times. That’s the other thing this opera is about – poverty and what it does to people. And the way Melrose conveys the hopelessness of uncontrollable torment through the huge dynamic range of his vocal performance is both thrilling and deeply upsetting. It may be the performance of his life.”
The Arts Desk, May 2013
“But Leigh Melrose has done nothing better than this Wozzeck, never overplaying his doltishness and singing throughout with clarity and musicality”
The Telegraph, May 2013