The Turn of the screw   -     (madison opera)

production photo by James Gill

From dane 101.com - Maddie Greene

January 29, 2010

"Anyone with a heart will thrill to soprano Caroline Worra, an absolutely delightful performer.  I smiled when she smiled, I frowned when she fretted.  Her performance as the Governess is exhilerating."

From The Daily Cardinal - Katie Foran McHale

January 28, 2010

"But it is Worra's show all along.  Her incredible enunciation makes the display of the libretto seem unnecessary, and the way she approaches melodic climaxes by way of phrasing and melodic contour is tremendously moving."

From The Capital Times - Lindsay Christians

January 28, 2010

"Worra is a fine dramatic performer, with a bright, clear soprano.  When the governess frets before meeting the children in the first scene, Worra's voice reveals doubt but her tone never falters."

From The Mad Opera Blog - Brian Hinrichs

December 8, 2009

Eye on the Cast: Caroline Worra

The Madison Opera Blog

 

Madison Opera's casting high point promises to be the gifted Caroline Worra as the Governess in The Turn of the Screw...
-Opera News, "Hot Tickets"

Soprano Caroline Worra has been hailed as "a new soprano powerhouse" by The New Yorker. In Time Out New York, the composer Mark Adamo had this to say: "Caroline's an immaculate musician and vocally complete, but that's only where a singer starts. Her sound is utterly her own--rich, bright, crackling with intensity--and every time I hear her, she's a bolder, more inventive actress." From January 28-31, you can hear her sing the role of The Governess in Madison Opera's production of The Turn of the Screw.

There's a reason our casting of Ms. Worra as The Governess caught the attention of Opera News magazine: she is known for excelling in contemporary repertoire. I first heard her as a stunning Eurydice in Philip Glass's Orphee at Glimmerglass Opera in 2007; with that same company, she earned a Grammy nomination for a recording of The Mines of Sulphur and high-praise for creating the title role in The Greater Good: The Passion of Boule de Suif. Earlier this season, she was Miss Rose in the world premiere of Stephen Schwartz's new work, Seance on a Wet Afternoon.

But to focus only on her work in contemporary opera would ignore her huge range. She's recently performed Marguerite in Faust with Opera Memphis, and this month, she is in Chicago at the Lyric Opera for Hanna in The Merry Widow. Perhaps these two videos of Caroline (Verdi's Il Corsaro and Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress) capture it best.

Rehearsals for The Turn of the Screw start January 11th, and we can't wait!

a midsummer night's dream    -     (the princeton festival)

Caroline Worra as Helena and Daniel Bubeck as Oberon in Britten’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” conducted by Richard Tang Yuk at the Princeton Festival.

photo by Daniel Barry for The New York Times

From Opera-L - Beckmesserschmitt

June 28, 2009

"I spent the afternoon in Princeton, New Jersey, with a very rewarding Midsummer, of which more a bit later in the day, but the singer who stood out was Caroline Worra, incandescent in the roll of Helena. She is simply the most instantly communicative and immediate artist I have seen on the stage since Beverly Sills. Worra has been singing for almost 14 years, if I look at her performance history, although she couldn't be much over thirty two or so, and when she began to sing her plea to Hermia, the audience was electrified. I do not think it is necessarily a large voice, although that's hard to tell in the McCarter Theatre, but the vocal quality is luminous, there is a throb in the vibrato that gives a real sense of vulnerability and femininity, and she has precisely the same magical quality that Sills had - the ability to seem, on stage, completely self-confident and self- possessed, and yet with a warmth in her voice and manner, a sense of being 'personal' and 'caring', that spoke directly to the audience. There is also a bit of physical similarity to Sills - the large front teeth, the way she has of tossing her head at times, and that wonderful smile. Perhaps it was just the mood of the afternoon, but there were moments when she was singing when I was close to tearful, hearing such an intimate and personal sense of presence in a young singer.

She is, I believe, on the verge of a stellar career - she's been covering now at the MET, is getting just the reviews she deserves (and more so), and it's just a matter of a couple of years for her to meet up with a signature role which will skyrocket her to where she is entirely entitled to be. If I were Princeton Festival next year, I'd mount Baby Doe for her. This summer you can hear her in the Wintergreen Festival in Virginia (including Barber's Knoxville - THAT might be worth a trip - and later in the year she will be the Governess in Screw in Madison (which really would be worth while, and in the Spring of 2010 Elettra in Boston. You can find out more about her here

http://www.carolineworra.com/

We have heard a number of very fine young sopranos in recent years, including Irini Rindzuner, Fabiana Bravo and Eglise Guttierez, but Worra is I think unique among them in the sheer human communication and expressivity she is bringing to the stage right now."

KNOXVILLE, Summer of 1915     -     (Wintergreen festival)

From Opera-L - Beckmesserschmitt

July 21, 2009

...she is such a luminous presence on stage, and such an incandescent artist, that you really should do everything you possibly can to experience this type of artistic communication, which is increasingly rare today, I am afraid."

the mines of sulphur     -     (WEXFORD oPERA FESTIVAL)

WINNER BEST OPERA OF IRELAND AWARD 2009

From Opera News - Brian Kellow

February, 2009

From The London Financial Times - Andrew Clark

October 21, 2008

"This was one of the most homogeneous Wexford casts I've heard, with one outstanding voice - Caroline Worra's Jenny, who made much of Bennett's grateful soprano lines while also articulating her poignant role in the drama."

From The Sunday Tribune (Ireland) - Karen Dervan

October 26, 2008

"...there were vocal talents aplenty to admire (Caroline Worra in particular)."

From Spectator.co.uk (Ireland) - Tom Sutcliffe

October 25, 2008

"The best show this year is Richard Rodney Bennett's The Mines of Sulphur...it's character's gripped...and Caroline Worra as Jenny the actress, who proves infected with plague, all acted and sang enthrallingly.  Wexford's new era is better than ever"

 

The pick: Caroline Worra, operatic soprano, seen above

The fan: Mark Adamo, composer of the operas Little Women and Lysistrata

What’s the story? Caroline’s an immaculate musician and vocally complete, but that’s only where a singer starts. Her sound is utterly her own—rich, bright, crackling with electricity—and every time I hear her she’s a bolder, more inventive actress.

First encounter? I met her as a Glimmerglass Young Artist, preparing her first Amy in the Little Women production she later accompanied to New York.

Latest sighting? I engaged her to sing Lysia on the demo recording of Lysistrata. I’ve also heard her in The Mines of Sulfur, The Greater Good and most recently in Lance Horne’s terrific Three Lost Chords at the Zipper Theater. In “The Girl I Left Behind Me,” the central scene of Three Lost Chords, her intensity was such, you could hardly draw breath.

Stolen anything? By definition, I can’t really steal anything from Caroline. But, as Leonard Bernstein once said of Maria Callas, if I could sing like that I’d never write another note again.

the mines of sulphur     -     (NEW YORK CITY OPERA)

From Martern Faller Aparten - bella figlia dell'amore

November, 2005

"Caroline Worra, as Jenny.  She frankly stole the show.  Her voice is round, brilliant and lovely all the way from bottom to (considerably high) top, and she can do ANYTHING with it.  The cherry on top: she is electric onstage, and a gorgeous blond, too."

From Sequenza21/The Contemporary Classical Music Weekly - David Salvage

October, 2005

"Among the cast, the standout is Caroline Worra, who sings the role of Jenny - a pivotal member of the troupe of actors.  Her vocal power and vivid presence rescue the second act just in time...as soon as Jenny re-enters, the pace picks right back up again, and the opera burns steadily to its close."

From A.J. Goldmann's BLOG

October 27, 2005

"New York City Opera has struck operatic gold with a new production of The Mines of Sulphur by Sir Richard Rodney Bennett....While all the singers of this All-American cast sounded great, the women stood out more than the men....Caroline Worra, made a feisty and distressed Jenny.  With a voice that was at the same time big and intimate, she reached her high notes with precision and clarity."

From The New York Times - Allan Kozinn

October 24, 2005

"The cast is remarkable...both she [Jessie Raven] and Caroline Worra, as Jenny, provide the productions high-wire vocal fireworks as well as its sharpest emotional edges."

From The New York City Newsday - Russell Platt

October 27, 2005

"...the soprano Caroline Worra, in the coloratura role of Jenny, offered singing of power, grace, and dramatic understanding."

DON GIOVANNI     -     (CONNECTICUT GRAND OPERA)

From Opera News (August 2005, vol 70, no. 2) - David Shengold

May 14, 2005

"...handsome Caroline Worra (Anna) acted enough for three, with sobs and even words ("Grido...'Aiuta!'")...Worra sang all of her music wonderfully, with clean attack and informed stylistic mastery: clearly this is a serious artist destined for international stages."

From The Stamford Advocate - Jerome R. Sehulster

May 22, 2005

"Caroline Worra's Donna Anna was in constant pain.  She commanded the stage dramatically and vocally...praise for the attractive brightness to her voice..."

IL CORSARO    -     (pittsburgh opera center)

From the Pittsburgh Tribune

Dec 11, 1999

“Soprano sails high C's in delightful staging of Verdi's Il Corsaro”

“Soprano Caroline Worra stole the show as Gulnara, villain Pasha Seid's favorite slave girl in his harem.  She handled the coloratura challenges with panache, inflecting ornate parts expressively, tossing off a fabulous fast trill, and projecting thrilling high notes above high C.  She is as impressive singing softly as powerfully, and was sensitive in ensemble work.  Worra is a singer to watch.”

the rake's progresS    -     (pittsburgh opera center)

From the Pittsburgh Tribune

March 2, 2000

“Soprano Caroline Worra was a brilliant Anne Trulove as outstanding as she was in Verdi's "Il Corsaro" in December.  If Verdi demanded bel-canto brilliance, Stravinsky challenges with irregular intervals.  Worra triumphed over both.  She has quite a career ahead of her.”

From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette

February 28, 2000

“Outstanding in the role of the ignored lover, Anne Trulove, Caroline Worra proved that good acting and good singing in opera are not mutually exclusive. With a minimum of motion, she appeared comfortable on the stage while never forgetting the importance of being understood vocally.  Worra captivated the audience with her rich voice and she executed Stravinsky's interval leaps and sudden dynamic shifts brilliantly."

Carnegie Hall Recital    -     (weill hall)

From Felsenmusick - Daniel Felsenfeld

February 12, 2006

"I absolutely must rave about a recital I happened to catch at Weill Recital Hall the other snowy night, joint effort between soprano Worra and Tenor MacPherson, joined by pianist Janice Wenger and pianist/composer Edwin Penhorwood.  Both singers are consummate artists, excellent actor/singers with an eye to music's future.  The fare was lovely, from arias by Tobias Picker and Mark Adamo to art songs by Benjamin Britten, Richard Rodney Bennett and (surprisingly, fascinatingly so) by Charles Griffes, one of those too overlooked composers.  Both performers are not only very attractive, but are gifted with those fortunate faces that read as beautiful from the back row--and they both know how to work this to their advantage.  Worra's soprano manages to be both broad and pointed, never shrill, always careful, and perfectly expressive...and both are able to sing in their native tongue, also too rare.  (And I must say, from a composer's perspective, it is refreshing to hear an entire evening in English.)  An especial highlight for me was Caroline's gently insane reading of Penhorwood's intentionally demented setting of e.e. cummings' "who knows if the moon is a balloon," a realistic and yet amusing mad scene.  This was followed by a lush, fearlessly tonal setting of "A Lute Will Lie"...and a cheekily rollicking rendition of Dickinson's "Wild Nights!"...Her wistful portrayal of Carlisle Floyd's "Ain't it a pretty night" from Susannah reminded all present that someone ought to cast her in this part and quick--she was born for it!"

THree lost chords - the girl I Left behind ME    -     (off-broadway)

From The New York Times - Allan Kozinn

January 9, 2008

"Caroline Worra brings a persuasively carefree style and a lovely vocal timbre to "The Girl I Left Behind Me."

From Sunday Arts Blog - Jennifer Melick

April 23, 2008

The three singers in the show each portray a character based on short stories: Franz Kafka’s A Hunger Artist (about the predicament of a man who hates food), Muriel Spark’s The Girl I Left Behind (about a young woman struggling with a strange kind of memory loss), and Edgar Allan Poe’s well-known A Tell-Tale Heart. Nathan Lee Graham, with a resume that is a mix of television and movie roles, Broadway, and classical, portrays Kafka’s hunger artist, while Michael Slattery (Poe’s guilt-plagued murderer) and Caroline Worra (the woman trying to remember what she is missing) are both well established in the classical universe.

I’d somehow managed to miss Worra when she sang Jenny in Bennett’s The Mines of Sulphur at New York City Opera in 2005, for which she got excellent reviews, and was glad of an opportunity to hear this singer that has had New Yorker critic Alex Ross calling her a “new soprano powerhouse.” Worra is intriguing indeed—she has a big voice of exceptional beauty that has sharp edges and is also capable of precise coloratura, and she has a voracious appetite for new music. She sings everything from Handel’s Semele to Mozart’s Donna Elvira to music by composers such as Stephen Hartke, Philip Glass, and Richard Rodney Bennett; one the upcoming performances she’s most excited about is the Composers & the Voice Workshop Series, presented next month in New York by American Opera Projects. This fall she takes on a world-premiere opera, Blizzard Voices, at Opera Omaha, and reprises her role as Jenny in Bennett’s The Mines of Sulphur at Ireland’s Wexford Opera.

When I spoke to Worra for a few minutes after her Sunday performance in Three Lost Chords, she explained how it is she has come to sing so much new music. “I’m a fast learner,” was her understated response. Uh, it turns out she learned the lead role, Boule de Suif, in Hartke’s The Greater Good in exactly one week when she sang that at Glimmerglass Opera in 2006. She says it helps speed up the learning process that she started off as a piano major before switching her main focus to voice; she still has a piano teaching studio of 35 students. Right now, she’s excited about her first Metropolitan Opera engagement: understudying the role of Mrs. Naidoo in Philip Glass’s opera Satyagraha, a highly anticipated co-production with English National Opera, scheduled to have its Met premiere on April 11. This is not Worra’s first Glass opera; she sang in his Orphée last summer at Glimmerglass. As she describes it, “In Satyagraha, there are a lot of instructions in the score like ‘repeat these two measures eight times’ or ’sing this whole section twice.’ The wonderful acting troupe Improbable is constantly onstage with us, manipulating these giant puppets and crinkling paper and so forth. I play an ‘Indian lady’ who’s an adviser to Gandhi. There are no Met Titles at all! It’s in Sanskrit, and there will be just a few projections of text on the stage, so people have a general idea of what’s going on.”

Since Worra’s an understudy in Satyagraha, you’ll only hear her in that if someone else gets sick. This Wednesday, April 9, is your last chance to hear her in Three Lost Chords. Definitely worth a listen.

THE GREATER GOOD    -     (cd reviews)

From Opera News - Joshua Rosenblum

September, 2007

"As Boule de Suif, Caroline Worra, in a glowingly humane performance, gives the piece its moral frame of reference.  Her candid, emotionally revealing aria about being left in Rouen with the occupying Germans reveals layers of roiling emotion, and the women respond to her as a person for the first time.  A singer without Worra's warm, naturalistic delivery couldn't pull this off."

From NPR's World of Opera

August 19, 2007

",,,starring Caroline Worra in a brilliant and touching portrayal of Boule de Suif. 

The normally svelte soprano Caroline Worra needed some high-tech costuming to portray the notoriously rotund Boule de Suif. "

From Naxos.com (Classical Music Review) - David's Review Corner

July, 2007

"The role of Boule is that of a dramatic soprano, here taken with vigour, refinement and impeccable intonation by Caroline Worra, an extremely gifted young singer who has come through the Glimmerglass Young American Artists Program."

From All Music Guide (CD Reviews)- Stephen Eddins

July, 2007

"Soprano Caroline Worra, as Boule, stands out for the richness of her voice and the warmth of her portrayal."

From Classics Today.com (CD Reviews) - Robert Levine

July, 2007

"The cast is excellent, with Caroline Worra shining as Boule, expressing the character's complexity well."

From San Francisco Chronicle (CD Reviews)- Joshua Kosman

July 8, 2007

"...the cast...led by former Merola soprano Caroline Worra in the title role, does a wonderful job of bringing out its twists and turns."

ORPHÉE    -     (glimmerglass Opera)

From The New Yorker

July 21, 2007

"...the City Opera stars Lisa Saffer and Caroline Worra take the leading roles."

From Opera Today - James Sohre

August 27, 2007

"Phillip Cutlip and Caroline Worra each contributed solid singing and dramatic commitment as the title role and his doomed spouse...both fleshed out their portrayals with fire and commitment."

From The Wall Street Journal - Heidi Waleson

August 16, 2007

"The best show of the season turned out to be the most recent: Philip Glass's "Orphee" (1993)....."Orphee" also had the most consistently top flighted cast:...Caroline Worra was forthright and warm as Eurydice, an ordinary girl saddled with a genious."

From Syracuse New Times - James MacKillop

August 15-22, 2007

"...In contrast, tall, blonde Caroline Worra's golden soprano as Eurydice captures the sunshine of life."

From Ithica Times - Jane Dieckman

August 14, 2007

"Eurydice was played by soprano Caroline Worra who performed her special situations with strength and clean intonation."

From Financial Times - George Loomis

August 8, 2007

"...and Caroline Worra in luminous voice as Eurydice."

From Classics Today - Robert Levine

August 4, 2007

"Caroline Worra, a soprano making quite a name for herself, was an appealing Eurydice, the point being that she was worthy of not only attention, but being brought back to life."

From Post Standard Critics (Syracuse) - Chuck Klaus

July 22, 2007

"The Eurydice of Caroline Worra is both sweet and robust both in voice and presentation."

From Oneida Dispatch.com - Wayne Meyers

July 23, 2007

"Sopranos Saffer and Worra were a double treat handling a score that kept the pressure on...Worra and Saffer filled Kaye Voyce's costumes nicely."

From Times Union.com (Albany) - Joseph Dalton

July 23, 2007

"Sopranos Caroline Worra as Eurydice and Lisa Saffer as the Princess were both excellent."

From The New Yorker

June, 2007

"Three estimable singers - Phillip Cutlip, Lisa Saffer, and Caroline Worra take the leading roles."

From Opera News Online - Janet A. Choi

June, 2007

"Anne Manson conducts and Sam Helfrich directs a stellar cast - Phillip Cutlip's Orphee, Caroline Worra's Eurydice, and Lisa Saffer's princess."

carmen    -     (opera memphis)

From Memphis Commercial Appeal - Christopher Blank

March 27, 2007

"The brilliant, classic opera voice in the production belonged to Caroline Worra, crying out in desperation as Micaela."

DIALOGUES OF THE CARMELITES    -     (kentucky opera)

From Opera in America - J. Valois

December 13, 2007

"Caroline Worra...a coloratura with a bright yet handsome sound, her performance as Sister Constance made the character believable."

LA RONDINE    -     (dallas opera)

From Texas Monthly (High Notes) - Chester Rosson

February, 2007

"...most of the entertainment came from the comic duo of soprano Caroline Worra as Magda's maid Lisette and Gordon Gietz as the flippant Prunier...Both were refreshingly funny and also excellent singers in their supposedly secondary roles."

From Star-Telegram.com - Matthew Erikson

January 28, 2007

"The evening's most outstanding voices came in the supporting roles...Massimo Giordano...the perky soprano of Caroline Worra...and Gordon Gietz."

From Dallas Opera Press Release - Jonathan Pell, Dallas Opera Artistic Director

October 4, 2006

"Caroline is a remarkable young soprano who has an amazing ability to impact audiences in a way they don't easily forget.  We are extremely lucky to get her."

the Greater good    -     (glimmerglass opera)

From Opera News - John W. Freeman

November, 2006

"Worra, leading light of the Greater Good"

"Caroline Worra, visually and vocally blooming, musically pin-point accurate, (after "cramming" the difficult role in two weeks), radiated Boule de Suif's simple warmth..."

From The New Yorker - Alex Ross

August 14-21, 2006

"The radiant Caroline Worra takes the leading role."

"Caroline Worra created a radiant and heart breaking Boule de Suif."

From The Wall Street Journal

August, 2006

"The excellent Caroline Worra...."

"Caroline Worra has a rich soprano and her demeanor nicely characterized Boule de Suif."

From Rochester Democrat and Chronicle - John Pitcher

July 16, 2006

"In addition to some old favorites, Glimmerglass' lineup includes a new opera starring a gifted young soprano"

"It's every opera company's worst nightmare, losing its star singer before a historic performance...  Clearly, whoever was going to be [the replacement] would have the unenviable task of having to learn a challenging contemporary opera role from scratch, no mean feat.  But Glimmerglass had at least one soprano on hand who was equal to the challenge.  Caroline Worra, a graduate of Glimmerglass' Young American Artists Program, had already appeared in two of the company's recent contemporary opera productions.  Mark Adamo's Little Women (2002) and Richard Rodney Bennett's The Mines of Sulphur (2004).  So she was practically like a house soprano.  More importantly, though, Worra is a consummate musician.  In addition to being an opera singer, Worra is a gifted pianist...If anyone was going to memorize Hartke's new opera in a flash, it was going to be Worra.  "This is a tough opera full of spiky melodies," says Glimmerglass spokesman Donald Marrazzo.  "It's mind boggling that Caroline could learn it so quickly."

From Oneida Dispatch - Wayne Myers, Dispatch Drama Critic

July 26, 2006

"Greater Good gets a grand world premiere at Glimmerglass Opera"

"Soprano Caroline Worra delivered a vocally elegant performance as the buxom Boule de Suif, achieving more and more poignancy and sympathy in the role as pressure on the character mounted.  This thin lady sings a great fat lady. (Worra, a New York City opera favorite who appeared as the plague carrier Jenny in Richard Rodney Bennett's The Mines of Sulphur at Glimmerglass Opera in 2004 wore a fat suit with "strategically placed" ice packs for the role.)  Worra learned the role of Boule de Suif on short notice."

From The Ithaca Journal - Stephen Landesman

July 24, 2006

"The main role of Elisabeth was splendidly performed by Caroline Worra, the slender, sickly ingenue of last year's The Mines of Sulphur, here transformed into the very plump but pretty prostitute.  Worra, unsparing of voice, sang some demandingly high passages with great clarity, but also a more sweetly subdued "I have a child" in response to her companions' curiosity about a chance village baptism."

From Syracuse.com - The Post Standard - Chuck Klaus

July 24, 2006

"The singers and elements of this production could scarcely be improved upon...  As Boule de Suif, the noble lady of the evening, soprano Caroline Worra displays a fine, clear voice and alert dramatic abilities."

From Austin360.com - Michael Barnes

July 23, 2006

"On opening night, the cast handled the difficult, often dissonant score with generous aplomb, especially immensely likeable Caroline Worra as the Boule de Suif."

From Los Angeles Times - Mark Swed

August 1, 2006

"The singers were all impressive, with Caroline Worra making an especially winning protagonist."

From Metroland Online - B.A. Nilsson

August 3, 2006

"Not Greater, Greatest"

"Boule de Suif, played by Caroline Worra in a beautifully designed fat suit (credit to David Zinn, whose work throughout the piece was magnificent), this is a character of rich complexity, and a role with extraordinary musical demands.  You may leave the opera with a silent picture of Worra's face framed in the cell of her carriage seat, but be assured she was working hard all night.  She met all demands."

From Advocate Weekly Online - Classical Beat - Stephen Dankner

August 10, 2006

"...Boule de Suif, sung superbly by Caroline Worra."

From Gay City News, Vol.5, No. 32 - David Shengold

August 10-16, 2006

"The splendid figure of Caroline Worra was augmented by padding for "Boule de Suif," and her thousand-watt smile and compelling personality made her erotic pull credible.  Vocally she was excellent, cleanly articulating the wide-ranging part; Worra's rising career should go truly international any day now."

From Syracuse.com - The Post Standard - Joan E. Vadeboncoeur

August 16, 2006

"Hartke's music is potent when it comes to Boule, and Caroline Worra does it full justice."

la bohÈme    -     (connecticut grand opera)

From OperaOnline.us - Paul Joseph Walkowski

November 19, 2005

"Caroline Worra, sang the role of the bawdy, saucy, sexy Musetta...Ms. Worra's "Quando m'en vo" was saucy, flirtatious, fun and sung with just the right mixture of sass and feigned coyness to make it a truly standout performance, deserving the wild applause it received."

From The Greenwich Times - Jerome R. Sehulster

November 24, 2005

"Worra was a perfect fit for a glamorous and brassy Musetta.  She strutted around her elderly sugar daddy, making a scene in the cafe, but she also conveyed a depth of tender feelings for Marcello and, in the final act, for a dying Mimi."

arianna in creta    -     (gotham chamber opera)

From Alex Ross - Music Critic of The New Yorker

February 23, 2005

"Caroline Worra might be a new soprano powerhouse."

From The New York Times - Anne Midgette

February 12, 2005

"Caroline Worra also had a star turn in the title role, showing a free voice with a touch of metal that helped to carry it to ringing volume, particularly on her top notes.  (In her first aria, Mr. Alden had her put her hand to her head and wince every time she let loose a particularly big one.)  Another showstopper was an aria she sang entirely quietly, with her head leaning against the empty bed where Teseo had slept."

February 18, 2005

"A seldom performed opera from Handel's prime becomes sung drama at the Gotham Chamber Opera, thanks to Christopher Alden, but the lasting impression is of talented young singers flinging themselves headlong into their music...Caroline Worra, as Arianna (Ariadne) gets to use her free slightly metallic voice in a diva turn."

February 11, 2005

"The cast includes some notable young singers. Caroline Worra and Hanan Alattar among them."

From Classics Today.com - Robert Levine

February 17, 2005

"Caroline Worra's Arianna was a mass of anxious tics.  Clearly a princess in a pink evening gown, she dispatched her rapid-fire music with glorious ease, ringing, secure high notes and great expressivity throughout the entire, wide range of the role.  One wished Handel had given Arianna another aria or two."

From The New Yorker

February 14, 2005

"Neal Goren conducts an early-music band and a cast that includes such City Opera stalwarts as Caroline Worra and Kevin Burdette."

From The Financial Times - Martin Bernheimer

February 16, 2005

"...the cast performs as if lives are at stake. Caroline Worra manages to be both radiant and silly in the agonies and ecstasies of Arianna."

From New York City Newsday - Russell Platt

February 15, 2005

"Caroline Worra, the Ariadne, not only has a big-boned old fashioned beauty but a coloratura soprano of force and style."

From The New York Observer - Charles Michener

February 28, 2005

"Caroline Worra, a magnetic Ariadne in the Gotham Chamber Opera Production of Handel's Arianna in Creta."

From Opera News Online - Marion Lignana Rosenberg

February 15, 2005

"A wasted bottle-blonde a la Monroe, Caroline Worra's Arianna first knitted in a manic stupor, then wrestled with gigantic needlesnwhen torn between "love" and "disdain."  The needles suggested the horns of her half brother, the Minotaur; the web that she wrought presaged the thread with which Teseo would defeat the labyrinth; her mind and her handiwork unraveled together.  It was all too clever by half, but Worra plumbed the depths of Arianna's despair, singing and acting with an arresting emotional rawness."

The MINES OF SULPHUR     -     (GLIMMERGLASS OPERA)

From Time Out New York Magazine

February 10-16, 2005

"Goren and Alden have assembled a compelling young cast:  Caroline Worra, a knockout in The Mines of Sulphur at Glimmerglass Opera last summer, plays the titular princess...[in Handel's Arianna in Creta]"

From The Wall Street Journal

August 11, 2004

"...the company [Glimmerglass Opera] unearthed a forgotten gem: The Mines of Sulphur (1965), a taught theatrical drama by Richard Rodney Bennett...the impressive cast powerfully defined their characters...the dying ingenue of the troupe [was] sung with explosive ferocity by soprano Caroline Worra."

From The New York Times

August 4, 2004

"The Mines of Sulphur, which sets grimness to luscious 12-tone music...The cast...seemed utterly in command of this difficult score...The bright-voiced coloratura Caroline Worra as the haunted actress [was] impressive."

From Opera Japonica - Maria Nockin's Letter's from America

July, 2004

"Caroline Worra sang with a silken sound and gave a touching performance as Jenny who portrays the young wife in the all too real play."

From www.OPERA-L.org - Stephen G. Landesman

July 29, 2004

"As Jenny, the acting troupe's frail ingenue, Caroline Worra sang a lovely account of the high-lying ballad ("The wind doth blow tonight my love") she teaches to Rosalind.  Worra's complete vocal and physical involvement in the final frightening revelation was shattering."

From Opera News

November, 2004

"Of the theatrical intruders, Caroline Worra spun a spooky aura around the stricken Jenny, carrier of the plague."

From The Daily Gazette, Schenectady NY

July 26, 2004

"Worra has a low key role during most of the opera, but it's up to her to crank it up to a riveting conclusion and she managed that perfectly on opening night."

From The Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester NY

August 1, 2004

"...this attractive cast could easily make it in Hollywood. The women were consistently the most impressive singers...Caroline Worra (Jenny) suggested all of her character's vulnerability (and horror) with a sound that was positively luminous."

From The Record, Troy NY

August 12, 2004

"There isn't a weak link in the cast, either in the singing or acting department.  The two leading ladies, Rosalind and Jenny, as the music calls for, have similar voices - soaring, lyric sopranos with a dramatic edge.  Each, of course, has her own distinction...Caroline Worra gives Jenny a gossamer eerieness that turns into a volcanic outpouring by evening's end."

of mice and men    -     (kansas city Lyric opera)

From The Kansas City Star

November 8, 2004

"Dazzling Caroline Worra as Curly's Wife threatened to steal every scene she was in. ...Worra's voice was splendid and true."

semele    -     (long beach opera)

From Gazettes.com  - (Long Beach, CA) - Jim Ruggirello

November 2-8, 2006

"Caroline Worra's Semele was gorgeous, vocally and visually."

From The LA Times - Mark Swed

June 6, 2005

"Semele is one of Handel's most demanding roles; in the last act she has a string of arias that are both a vocal and emotional roller coaster.  Caroline Worra...came to life dramatically, and everything flowed."

From The Orange County Register - Timothy Mangan

June 6, 2005

"Semele...gives new meaning to the art of Baroque ornamentation...Caroline Worra was Semele in a slip. A radiant shivering soprano with agility to burn."

La Traviata    -     (the merola opera program - western Opera theatre tour)

From the San Francisco Chronicle

August 11, 1998

“With her pearly tone and elegant technique, soprano Caroline Worra was a cool self-possessed Violetta, letting the character's uncertainties and misgivings register gradually over the course of the performance.  Her singing was clear and often unruffled, growing deeper and more thoughtful in "Dite alla giovine,"when she finally decides to renounce Alfredo's love; … she reeled off the glittering coloratura in Act 1's "Sempre libera" splendidly.”

ORESTEIA    -     (off-off broadway production)

From Theater Mania.com

January 28, 2004

"Caroline Worra displays an impressive operatic voice when she sings an aria from Richard Strauss' Elektra in a bathtub."

From nytheatre.com

January16, 2004

"The extra Electras oocassionally add something to the mix - as when the one in the bathtub sings the aforementioned aria (beautifully; kudos to Caroline Worra)..."

From NYTimes.com

January 22, 2004

"...the most memorable sound is another Electra lounging in a bathtub singing, beautifully, a bloodily enticing aria to Orestes from Richard Strauss' opera Elektra."

The Good SoldieR Schweik    -     (glimmerglass Opera)

From Classics Today.com

August 12, 2003

“Caroine Worra excelled in clarity and dead-on pitch in soprano flights.”

From The Ithaca Journal

July 30, 2003

“Worra Shines”

“As Mrs. Mueller, Schweik’s Prague Landlady (and later as Lt. Lukash’s two mistresses), soprano Caroline Worra was excellent.”

Little Women    -     (new york City Opera)

From Opera News

March 2003

“Caroline Worra’s vibrant rendition of the letter contributed considerably.”

From The New York Observer

August 2002

“Caroline Worra’s petulant Amy was deliciously feminine.”

Hansel and Gretel    -     (new york city Opera)

From The New York Times

October 2002

“Caroline Worra sings the Dew Fairy’s song with radiant beauty.”

Madama Butterfly    -     (new york city opera)

From The New York Times - Anne Midgette

September 2002

“…the statuesque Kate Pinkerton sang this tiny role with an easy voice that made one want to hear more of it.”

Merola Grand Finale    -     (the merola Opera Program)

From the San Francisco Classical Voice

August 20, 2000

“Caroline Worra, another first-class performer, sang a thoroughly believable Nedda (I Pagliacci) in a beautifully developed, luscious voice that delighted the heart and ravished the ears.  In the finale, “Ah! A tal colpo inaspettato”, from Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Reims, she proved herself adept at comedy as well.”

Die Fledermaus    -     (the merola Opera program - Western Opera Theatre tour)

From the San Francisco Chronicle

August 14, 2000

“Soprano Caroline Worra sang alluringly as his wife Rosalinda…as well as bringing a welcome measure of hauteur to the role.”

From San Francisco Classical Voice

August 11, 2000

“It required no imaginative leap on my part for Caroline Worra to seem a beautiful romantic lead.  …her performance throughout was as ingratiating musically as it was visually.  The evening’s singing was consistently lovely.”