Reviews
Rottsolk and plush-voiced mezzo Kristen Dubenion-Smith, as Ino, blended gorgeously in “Prepare then, ye immortal choir.”
-Tim Smith, The Baltimore Sun, April 2012
Kristen Dubenion-Smith sang a moving “He was Despised” that so effectively transported the listener to the foot of the cross. Her compelling rendering was a reminder for many that He was born to die.
-Patrick McCoy, D.C. Performing Arts Examiner, Dec 2011
A highlight of the concert included Elizabeth Merrill, soprano and Kristen Dubenion-Smith, alto who blended splendidly as two plucked stringed instruments called theorboes provided accomaniment in Chiara Cozzolani’s “O Dulcis Jesu.”
-Mark Beachy, MD Theater Guide, Jan 2011
Dubenion-Smith sang with an attractive mezzo-soprano in her one aria, In deine Hände (In your hands), and her expressive scalewise passages were right on-pitch.
-David Abrams, BLOG.CNYCAFEMOMUS.COM, Sep 2010
Dubenion-Smith, a real alto possessed of a lovely low range, sang bass, sometimes transposed and sometimes at pitch.
-Anna Carol Dudley, San Francisco Classical Voice Magazine, Dec 2009
“Sleep, my most beloved,” sung with sweet clarity by alto Kristen Dubenion-Smith and enhanced by oboe’s d’amore and oboes da caccia, was particularly lovely.
-Jane Vranish, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Dec 2007
Dubenion-Smith was yet another strong soloist, with a warm alto sound and sure feeling for line and the way it illuminates words.
-Mark Kanny, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Dec 2007
The orchestra was drawn from leading period-instrument performers from around the United States, including concertmaster Julie Andrijeski. Her solo with the admirable alto Kristen Dubenion-Smith in an aria in the third cantata was richly soulful and technically admirable.
“….A mezzo-soprano with a lilting voice…”
-Rebecca Corbett, New York Times, August, 2007
If we throw in mezzo-soprano Kristen Dubenion-Smith (Hecuba in La Didone) as the dancing bear, we get the full five-part chorus that Handel used. The bear was funny in her rotund costume, whiskers and glasses.
-Charles T. Downey, Ionarts, Jan 2007
Kristen Dubenion-Smith had fine moments – as Hecuba, Queen of Troy.
-Charles T. Downey, Ionarts, June 2006
Dubenion-Smith has a fluid but precise grasp of Latin diction and a keen sense of dynamic shading, and her performance had a power and authority that – paradoxically – seemed just right for her part as Humility.
-James Stevenson, Radar Review, March 2005