Innocence reviews
The standout performance of the evening, however, comes from Romanian mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose. Her portrayal of a woman grappling with an unfathomable loss is nothing short of devastating. Her aria in the second act, in which she reflects on her memories of the day of the shooting, is a masterclass in poignant storytelling.
( stageandcinema.com, Michael M. Landman-Karny, 20June2024)
Mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose (Waitress) is the most devastating though, her pain felt very real to me, and her rich, powerful voice showed the anguish of losing a child.
( the Opera tattler, 2.June.2024)
Romanian soprano Donose is a dramatic standout as waitress and mother Tereza;
(Bay City News, Caroline Crawford, 3. June 2024)
Mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose sings gloriously as Tereza, the Waitress, still haunted by the death of her daughter a decade before.
(Classical voice in SF, Lisa Hirsch, 4. june 2024)
Tereza, the waitress, is the pivotal role. Ruxandra Donose and her rich mezzo-soprano assayed it for the first time here, portraying a character with ever-rising anxiety.
(Seen and heard international, Harvey Steiman 3 June 2024)
Most prominently in San Francisco was the role of the waitress Tereza, here performed by Romanian mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose. Mme. Donose possesses a great warmth of voice, as well she projected a humbled, beaten but proud persona, and a mother obsessively grieving for her murdered daughter — who was, and still is, the center of her life. This was the role that held the pivotal humanity of Innocence.
( Opera today, Michael Milensky, June 2024)
A superb singing actress, Donose vividly portrayed a deeply hurt woman consumed by her anger at losing her daughter Marketa to the elder son of the family she has been called upon to serve.
( Opera Warhorses, William Burnett, 7 June 2024)
In a cast full of glinting specificity, mezzosoprano Ruxandra Donose is the opera’s defining center of gravity
(San Francisco Chronicle, 2 June 2024)
