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"Anna Tonna shapes the vocal phrases beautifully..."
Fanfare Magazine, February 2022
OPERA NEWS
"Tonna boasts an old school mezzo, dark enough in color for Beppe in L'amico Fritz and Laura Adorno in La Gioconda. Yet she also commands the agility for Rossini and for the Spanish recital literature that has figured signally in her repertory, not least in Spain itself."
- David Shengold
Review of The Unknown Pauline Viardot
Peoria-Times Observer (Illinois)
"Mezzo soprano Anna Tonna as Rosina displayed brilliant coloratura in the upper register and a clear, darkly beautiful lower register in her opening aria "Una voce poco fa". Her singing only got stronger and more focused as the evening progressed"
Review of Il barbiere di Siviglia
LGNY
“Among the singers, the standout was Anna Tonna, performing a st of zarzuela arias with charm and magnetism of a born star. Her dark, compact lyric mezzo-soprano flung the flamenco like vocal flourishes with an arresting rhythmic snap, and she had the Spanish-speaking members of the audience smiling and nodding at her crisp delivery of the comic lyrics”
Review of Spanish music recital in NYC:
Third Place - Audience Prize
"Sparks and Wiry Cries online competition"
Anna Tonna, Voice
Alexa Babakhanian, Piano
Ritmo.es
"The concert was started...to go directly to the eight songs in the collection “Easter Sunday”, which the singer Anna Tonna exposed with ease, courage and precious expression, wearing a voice full of power in the center, beauty of timbre, with safe emission, solid support in the bass and authority in the difficult trebles that emerge in any of the songs. Preciously sung "Rest in San Nicolás", "Tinieblas en el convent" or "Nana del amor perdida", a duende waste of a Spanish song in "Yo saber un cantar moro" or "Cádiz has set sail" and brilliant final closing with "April morning."
Review on Recital "1915: A Trip to Granada" -
“Lucrecia Arana” Lyric Week in Logroño
Ritmo.es
Of clear Spanish inspiration, one of them, 'Caña española' is a piece to which the composer had a special attachment and which is documented Viardot sang on numerous occasions throughout her career. Anna Tonna sang it in Spanish, not in French as it was originally published, saving the difficulties of the score with style and grace.
Review on "La Pauline Viardot Desconocida"-
Museo del Romanticismo in Madrid (Spain)
Opera Magazine
“Anna Tonna’s fine Laura proved most elegant in deportment, line and authentic proto-veristic style.”
Review of Ponchielli’s La Gioconda
New York Times
“Anna Tonna brought a penetrating sound to her portrayal of Donna Mercedes”
Review of Zandonai's La Farsa Amorosa
New York Times
“Anna Tonna kept a bright but cool quality in her voice, a distance, that worked well for Gualterio's intense affectlessness”
Review of Vivaldi's La Griselda
El Nuevo Siglo (Colombia)
"As Adalgisa was the mezzo soprano from the United States Anna Tonna, a voice of notable volume, good projection and important agility, with good acting and most importantly, with the ability to fill the Metropolitano Theatre, whose acoustic is impossible, and has been known to put a damper on voices such as that of Eva Marton"
Review of Bellini's Norma
Opera News Magazine
“Mezzo Anna Tonna found opportunities for robust vocalism as Gualtiero, the Thessalian head of state
Review of Vivaldi's La Griselda
“Anna Tonna effectively stole the show as Ernestina, offering a prototype of the classic quick-witted Rossini heroine with a heart of gold as well as showing off her warm, secure mezzo-soprano to maximum advantage”
Review of Rossini's L'equivoco stravagante
New York Magazine
Platea Magazine (Madrid)
“The American mezzo soprano Anna Tonna demonstrated the largest voice of the evening, which was well projected, although in Rossini's opera she had less opportunity to show it. Her ample voice shone in the first work of the evening, (A Hand of Bridge) by Barber".
Review of Rossini's La cambiale di matrimonio
OperaWire
“Mezzo-soprano Anna Tonna played the diva La Roldán, who gets one major musical moment to really showcase why she is a powerhouse diva in the story. At the start of the aria, La Roldán sings about how clear and polished her singing is, and that description could not have been more accurate of Tonna’s own voice. Every pitch was precise and every phrase flowed luxuriously. But what was most enjoyable about her performance of this particular passage was the clarity of her text and how it fit perfectly into the musical language. As evidenced in other performances, this is undeniably one of Tonna’s strengths and it allows for a immersive experience of her singing that not all singers possess. This was only furthered by her stage presence. While there is no denying that the direction of this character was one-note, but Tonna, while maintaining that truth on stage, never felt exaggerated or over-the-top in her execution”.
Review of the zarzuela El barbero de Sevilla
Opera L-News
“Anna Tonna, with her beautiful, rich lyric mezzo was an alluring Lola”
Review of Cavalleria Rusticana
The Daily Mail(New Jersey)
"The scenes from Bellini's opera were ravishingly sung and acted. In their closing duet, mezzo Anna Tonna and the beautiful soprano, Ana Camelia Stefanescu, a Modigliani portrait come to life, merged soaring intensity and caressing 'bel canto' in a perfection that would proudly grace any of the world's great opera houses."
Review of Bellini's Capuletti ed I Montecchi
The Star-Ledger (New Jersey)
“As Rosina, Anna Tonna voiced her recitative with delightful zest and snag such central arias as "Una voce poco fa" with bright, brilliant coloratura...the mezzo-soprano's ringing volume seemed designed to show off her suitability for a bigger house."
Review of Il barbiere di Siviglia
Opera Wire
Tonna, meanwhile, relies on what is in essence a very distinctive sound, warm at its core but sharp towards its extensions or, in the words of Saint-Saëns, “un peu âpre, faite pour la tragédie et l’épopée (“a little bitter, made for tragedies and the heroic epic”).”
CD Review: "The Unknown Pauline Viardot"