Ellen West

prototype festival (january 2020)

“Persuasive and powerful, too, was Jennifer Zetlan as the tormented psychoanalytic patient at the center of “Ellen West”; Ms. Zetlan was focused through rangy, angry vocal lines and sweetly plangent in nostalgic reflection.” The New York Times

“Soprano Jennifer Zetlan gave a committed performance as the unstable, tormented Ellen, sounding strikingly at home in the music of Gordon, with whom she collaborated on the 2018 album Your Clear Eye. Zetlan embodied Ellen’s vulnerability in moments of vivid introspection as well as her frantic agony. In one therapy session, in which Ellen delivers a monologue about Maria Callas, weight and Tosca, Zetlan personified the somber situation of a mentally ill woman born both in the wrong time and as the wrong sex.” Opera News

“Zetlan gave an outstanding performance of Ellen West, Dr. Binswanger’s pseudonymic patient… Zetlan accurately portrayed someone who wanted to jump out her skin, out of her body and the sickening feeling of being hemmed in by a corporeal world. She pushed out into the audience an itchy, claustrophobic vibe that was thick and palpable. That was the key ingredient in bringing the audience along with her as she communicated Ellen’s tormented inner life. Gordon wanted Zetlan in this role, and after seeing her perform, he was spot-on in his selection.” Opera Wire

“The central pillar of the production is Jennifer Zetlan’s captivating performance as Ellen… her firm soprano has a way of grabbing the listener’s attention and not letting go. Titles were projected above the stage, but they were hardly needed, as Zetlan’s delivery brought intention and clarity to every syllable. From beginning to end, she disappeared entirely into the painful psychology of her character...” New York Classical Review

“Jennifer Zetlan’s portrayal of Ellen is brilliantly executed, her voice wide-ranging, powerful and displaying considerable tonal variety.” Musical America

“For me, the highlight of the evening was the portrayal of the afflicted title character by the brilliant soprano Jennifer Zetlan
Zetlan did outstanding work in making the tale of gender and eating disorder issues an emotional tour-de-force with the material she was given. Her strong soprano showed off some of the best aspects of Gordon's score…” Broadway World

“The soprano Jennifer Zetlan copes tirelessly in the title role…” The Financial Times

Ellen West

Opera Saratoga (World premiere, June-July 2019)

“Ms. Zetlan’s tour de force Ellen commanded unwavering attention; she was unafraid to edge her soprano into harshness for the sake of intensity.” Wall Street Journal

“Potent and resourceful soprano Jennifer Zetlan is listed as playing Ellen West, though it’s clear that she, too, is at times called upon to channel other personae… Zetlan makes a true vocal and acting tour de force of her role throughout.” La scena musicale

“Soprano Jennifer Zetlan as the frail Ellen moves as if in a trance… In moments of fury, she sings with a force that comes from the gut and lands in the gut.” timesunion

“Through Zetlan’s penetrating performance, we understand the torments of the doomed Ellen through her songs.” Troy Record

“The opera belongs to the title character, and soprano Jennifer Zetlan’s portrayal of Ellen West was spellbinding. She was fearless vocally and dramatically in portraying the whirlwind of complex and unfathomable thoughts and emotions that course through West’s mind. Each scene exhibited a different facet of Zetlan’s artistry, culminating in the final one, where Ellen West was giddy with joy and eating with abandon, knowing that she would soon be dead.” Seen and Heard International

Rhoda and the Fossil Hunt

On Site Opera (September 2017)

"As parents and bustling children filled the area sectioned off for the performance, I thought nothing of it when a small figure in stripes and a suspendered skirt brushed past me; with a vocal flourish that was undoubtedly operatic, this figure turned out to be none other than soprano Jennifer Zetlan in the role of eight-year-old Rhoda, whose energy caught the eyes and ears of all gathered." Opera Wire

"Soprano Jennifer Zetlan is especially engaging as the young Rhoda..." Hyperallergenic

Crossing

American Repertory Theater at BAM (October 2017)

"The radiant soprano Jennifer Zetlan appears in a brief, climactic late scene as a messenger with news that the Union has won the war." The New York Times

"Jennifer Zetlan comes as a bolt from the blue as the sole female, her clean, clear soprano delivering the slightly pat news of the end of the War." Limelight

Oratorio Society of New York

Teatro Solis, Montevideo, Uruguay (March 2017)

"Zetlan sang with singular and expressive musicality, perfect intonation and passionate timbre flexibility in the soft as well as the loud sections." translated from El Pais

Lonh

Circle Map, New York Philharmonic (October 2016)

"Jennifer Zetlan brought her luminous soprano to the solo part, while also moving ritualistically among people seated on the floor. Her warm sound carried the elegiac vocal lines beautifully and mingled with the diaphanous, tingling electronic sounds." The New York Times

The Classical Style

Ojai Music Festival and Ojai North, Ojai and Berkeley, CA  (June 2014), Carnegie Hall/Zankel Hall (December 2014)

"the radiant, feisty soprano Jennifer Zetlan in a pants role" The New York Times

"...an excellent eight-member cast assuming 18 roles." Los Angeles Times

"The cast is uniformly strong, with a special note to ... Jennifer Zetlan as a perky Mozart." SFist

"enlightened whimsy" Financial Times

Stravinsky Japanese Lyrics and Balmont Songs

Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Feburary 2014)

"Mezzo soprano Sasha Cooke and soprano Jennifer Zetlan, both young Americans, seemed born to sing the Ravel and Stravinsky works, respectively. All three works require detail and confidence but also a certain disappearing into the texts, and both women demonstrated this as if it were second nature." Chicago Sun-Times

Two Boys

Metropolitan Opera (October 2013)

"...Jake’s older sister, Rebecca, a tough-talking temptress sung here with brash coolness by the soprano Jennifer Zetlan." The New York Times

"...the bright-voiced Jennifer Zetlan as Rebecca, a teenage siren in peril..." Wall Street Journal

"uniformly well sung"  The Washington Post

"Jennifer Zetlan exuded faux-innocence as his would-be love..." Financial Times

"Jennifer Zetlan displayed a bright, girlish soprano." New York Classical Review

"The most persuasive of these were delivered by ... soprano Jennifer Zetlan, as Rebecca, an elusive rich girl." Opera News

Juilliard Vocal Arts Recital

Alice Tully Hall (November 2012)

"Ms. Zetlan’s finely structured, fresh and luminous voice would be enough to ensure her growing popularity on the concert stage. ...But on Thursday she presented herself above all as a singing actress who combines a lively curiosity and playful disposition with serious attention to text."  Read the whole review in The New York Times

Opera News Sound Bites

October 2010 Issue

"Jennifer Zetlan, who sings Xenia in this month's premiere of the Met's new Boris Godunov, has already managed a career feat that eludes many singers decades her senior: she's cultivated a truly distinct artistic profile."   Read more of Adam Wasserman's article here.

Jane Eyre

Center for Contemporary Opera (October 2016)

"As Jane, the compelling, rich-voiced soprano Jennifer Zetlan…"  The New York Times

"The title role, Jane Eyre, is a big soprano role, a tour de force. It was created—i.e., premiered—by Jennifer Zetlan... She has a lot to offer, and offered it as Jane Eyre... And she was undaunted by the theatrical responsibilities of her role. She can be proud of this night, and look back on it with great satisfaction." The New Criterion

Cosí fan tutte

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (September 2015)

"Built of more small vocal ensemble numbers than solo arias, 'Cosi' requires a well-matched bunch of very fine voices — and oh, what voices these were. Each of the six singers had the musical sensibility and capability to meld their unique ranges and timbres into seamless, sparkling ensembles that were perfectly balanced in power and fluid technique, and full of musical and theatrical nuance.
They delivered glorious singing and delightful theater and made it all look easy." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

NYPhil Biennial; Beyond Recall

MoMa (May 2014)

"It is sometimes said of great actors, "I'd listen to him read the phone book."  Well, let the record show that I listened to Jennifer Zetlan sing the numbers of the Fibonacci series — in German — and it was pretty dazzling." Read more in Opera News

"Mr. Hughes was an impressive presence in several works, as was the soprano Jennifer Zetlan, her voice precise without being too cool in the impassioned lyricism of Dai Fujikura’s 'silence seeking solace' and the sly, sinuous lines — a setting of the Fibonacci number sequence — in Olga Neuwirth’s 'Piazza dei Numeri.' Ms. Zetlan was game for the music’s daunting demands, which in Nina Senk’s 'In the Absence' alone ranged from skittish whispers to full wails." The New York Times

"[Jennifer Zetlan's] sound was consistently crisp and her phrasing was uncomplicated. She has a free, easy tone throughout her voice..." New York Classical Review

"The soprano Jennifer Zetlan could sing the Fibonacci sequence and make it sound expressive—and that’s exactly what she did in Olga Neuwirth’s Piazza dei Numeri..." New York Magazine

Rigoletto

Seattle Opera (January 2014)

"...a compelling Sunday performance opposite the Gilda of Jennifer Zetlan, whose agile coloratura and impassioned acting made a fine impression." The Seattle Times

Ring Cycle

Seattle Opera (August 2013)

"Zetlan warbled winningly as the Forest Bird." Opera News

"On the lighter side, the three Rhinemaidens (Jennifer Zetlan, Cecelia Hall, and Renée Tatum), beautiful singers trained to a fare-thee-well in their daring aerial maneuvers, also provided some of the richest comedy in the cycle..." Classical King FM

The Last Savage

Santa Fe Opera (July-August 2011)

“...especially this Sardula, the sweet-voiced and charming soprano Jennifer Zetlan.”  The New York Times

“…Jennifer Zetlan sang it with a charm that engaged our emotions.” Opera News

“Jennifer Zetlan makes a high point of the fine aria in which Sardula, Abdul’s former girlfriend, agonises over how to tell Abdul she loves Kodanda.” Financial Times

“Sean Panikkar and Jennifer Zetlan were both vocally assured and endearing as the young Indian couple, Kodanda and Sardula, with Zetlan delivering an affecting performance of her Act 3 aria.” The Classical Review

“Ms. Zetlan’s silvery lyric voice was a good match for one of the show’s most extended arias, and she managed to imbue it with more interest than its generic sentiments invited.”  Opera Today

“soprano Jennifer Zetlan is both scheming and affecting, providing some wonderful singing in an Act Three aria that parodies Donizetti-style bel canto;”  The Santa Fe New Mexican