REVIEWS
Soloist
Selbyville, DE -2020
"The final soloist of the night was soprano Kristin Sampson, who has made her name in recent years singing such dramatic parts as Tosca and Minnie “La Fanciulla del West.” However, on this night Sampson opted to perform from the lyric repertoire....That said, she was very dramatically invested in her characters and her diction was top notch.
— Francisco Salazar, Operawire
La bohème, Mimì
South Orange , NJ -2019
"In the role of Mimì, Kristin Sampson carried herself with a delicate but lively energy that heard expression through her singing as well. Her entrance in Act one came after a rather hurried knock, but she entered more bashfully, displaying a rich soprano through her opening lines.
Her rendition of “Si, mi chiamano Mimi,” saw her thoughtfully introduce herself, as if just figuring it out while putting it into words; this made it all the more meaningful when she crested for the rising phrases of passionate certainty such as “April’s first kiss is mine!”
Sampson’s numbers in Act three bore a tenderness that highlighted Mimi’s suffering heart, as heard when she confided to Marcello about Rodolfo, “He loves me but he flees from me!” Her number, “Donde lieta usci,” was full of a soft, hesitant beauty as she arranged for her things to be sent, and coloring her last, sustained “Goodbye, without hard feelings.”
In Act four, her weaker, lyrical phrases were tinged with mortality, but handled the vocal leaps well. Her phrase “you should have said ‘beautiful as the sunset,’ was as touching as it was bittersweet. As she reminisces with Rodolfo, Sampson seemed to take on a healthier vocality, lending some sense of hope as she died peacefully.
— Logan Martell, Opera Wire
