REVIEWS
La Sonnambula, The Opera Orchestra of New York
"Gabriela Garcia, a Puerto Rican mezzo with a plummy, attractive voice, made a strong Carnegie Hall debut as Teresa, Amina's mother, indignantly defending her daughter's reputation. She replaced Laura Vlasak Nolen, who had been scheduled to sing the role."
- Vivien Schweitzer, The New York Times
L'Italiana in Algeri, Dicapo Opera Theatre
"It all seemed in good fun, largely due to strong performances from Gabriela Garcia, playing Isabella as a commanding, va-va-voom Italian beauty...Garcia is a singer to watch, and not just because of her stunning looks; even with some throatiness in the lower range, her singing was attractive and secure, with lots of bite in recitatives, and she brought both authority and ease to the title role."
- Judith Malafronte, Opera News
Verdi's Messa da Requiem, Music in the Mountains
"the dark-haired Garcia showing the concentration and energy of an athlete"
- Patricia Miller, The Durango Herald
Les Nuits d'Eté, Berkeley Symphony Orchestra
"Garcia is a tall, raven-haired woman whose attractiveness can be distracting from her tremendous musical talent. This biologist turned opera singer offers marvelous umber tones, a fine deep register, no noticeable breaks, and a surprisingly good command of subtle French romanticism in Berlioz' song cycle "Les nuits d'été" (Summer Nights). She held the large Zellerbach Hall audience enthralled, providing haunting pianissimos, fine-spun floating tones, and the right plaintive theatricality to dramatize songs of isolation like the Lament, and "Absence." And her French was excellent.
Gautier's ardent texts reflect mostly loves lost and separation, as felt by a male narrator. Nevertheless the half-hour-long song cycle has been all but adopted by the mezzos, following Berlioz's original casting. This fit Garcia like a glove, and at the same time awakened hopes of some day seeing her play Bizet's "Carmen" on stage. Her poise was extraordinary."
- Paul Hertelendy, artssf.com
Time and Again Barelas, New Mexico Symphony Orchestra
"We were in good vocal company, too: Gabriela García's Marcelina and Rafael Dávila's Ignacio were beautifully conveyed, in terms of vocal and expressive command."
- Josef Woodard, Opera Now
"In mezzo-soprano Gabriela García, del Águila had an ideal Marcelina Barela. A tall, black-haired woman, García possesses a strong musical intelligence and a vibrant, dark chocolate vocal quality that made her every solo thrilling."
- Joanne Sheehy Hoover, The Sunday Journal
Cendrillon, The Santa Fe Opera
"Apprentices Anne-Carolyn Bird and Gabriela Garcia were hysterical as the stepsisters…with facial expressions, gestures, and vocal characterizations evoking the vapid airheads the stepsisters are (not the singers)."
- Charles T. Downey, ionarts.com
"Second year apprentices Anne-Carolyn Bird and Gabriela Garcia twittered and simpered hilariously as the stepsisters…"
- The Los Alamos Monitor
"…Gabriela Garcia's valiantly clunky Dorothée…"
- Craig Smith, The New Mexican
Rigoletto, Teatro de la Opera
"García, an imposing presence in both her small roles, sings with a sure, clear and strong voice, which lends credibility to her two dissolute characters, almost a stereotyped foil of the villain."
- Peggy Ann Bliss, The San Juan Star
"The acting of the young mezzo Gabriela García deserves its own paragraph. With impressive command of the stage, she interpreted two different but equally seductive women. Her voice projected clearly and refreshingly in the quartet and she used her lower register with intelligence during the storm trio. We hope to see her again."
- Antonio Salgado, Claridad
"Mezzo Gabriela García displayed a beautiful, round and dark voice, which was very much the character of Maddalena."
- Victor R. Castro Gomez, El Vocero
Die Fledermaus, Fundación de Zarzuela y Opereta
"Gabriela García, mezzo-soprano, who interpreted the role of Prince Orlofsky, showed the core of her instrument, underlined by the ease with which she portrayed the character."
- Ileana Cidoncha, El Vocero
"Prince Orlofsky, performed by mezzo-soprano Gabriela García, could be heard in the mezzanine with elegant humor and excellent vocal definition of her character."
- Marc Jean-Bernard, El Nuevo Día
Roméo et Juliette, Teatro de la Opera
"The surprise of the evening was the brief but extraordinary appearance of the mezzo-soprano Gabriela García in the role of Stéphano. With her impeccable diction, natural grace and impressive domain over the stage, the young lady delighted everyone with Que fais-tu blanche tourterelle. Her movements on the stage and fluidity while interpreting her aria, confirmed that we have to follow the steps of this diamond in the lyrical world very closely because she is in the process of becoming a beautiful gem with a sparkling voice that will dazzle many."
- Marjorie Aponte Gómez, El Nuevo Día
Faust, Teatro de la Opera
"Gabriela García, mezzo-soprano, was a lovingly boyish Siébel."
- Jorge E. Martínez Solá, The San Juan Star