Opera
The Marriage of Figaro, Contessa
Skylight Opera Theatre
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"Plenty to Like in Skylight’s “Marriage of Figaro”
January 2010, Shepherd Express "Tanya Kruse’s earnest vulnerability matches the spurned Rosina. She conjured the best singing and most touching emotion of the evening in her Act III aria, and in her brief lines of forgiveness at the end of the opera." (for full article click here) A Look Back at an Amazing Weekend February 2010, Milwaukee Magazine "Then, in the middle of Act Three, Tanya Kruse (playing the Countess Almaviva) steps to the front of the stage. After a few angry outbursts, the music settles into the achy lilt of “Dove sono”. Suddenly time seems to stop. The small musical ensemble in the pit seems just right. And the candy-colored energy that has bounced around the theater for almost two-hours vanishes with the vision (and sound) of a woman saturated with sadness. Kruse caresses her husband’s desk chair as if it hints of the couple’s past were embedded in the leather." (for full article click here) Review: Skylight’s Marriage of Figaro January 2010, Third Coast Digest "The Marriage of Figaro is a lot of fun, but it’s not merely fun. The moral depth of it comes from the betrayed and humiliated Countess. Tanya Kruse Ruck played and sang the role with heartbreaking nobility tempered by a touching longing for a man’s touch." (for full article click here) Skylight offers second part of Figaro story February 2010, Waukesha Freeman "Both (Susanna) and Tanya Kruse as the Count’s wife, Rosina, have exquisite voices." (for full article click here) |
The Midnight Angel, Margaret
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Madama Butterfly, Cio Cio San
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Concert and Recital |
Published CD Review |
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William V. Johnson, President WASBE
August 3, 2015 "Having conducted the Bernard Gilmore “Five Folksongs…” on numerous occasions, I was amazed at the extraordinarily beautiful performance of this work by Soprano Tanya Kruse Ruck. Personally I was very moved, not only by the magnificent musical product your group created, but also the great love and integrity you demonstrated in its preparation. We all relish those moments when music opens the heart and exposes the soul." German Art Songs as they ought to be heard October 2009, Third Coast Digest "Kruse Ruck has a big, Verdi/Puccini soprano and showed it to stunning effect in three ambitious, complex, dramatically charged songs by Richard Strauss." (for full article click here) Chamber music earns ballpark cheers September 2008, JSOnline.com "Soprano, Tanya Ruck, whose voice seems to grow richer and more lustrous each time I hear it, sang Heitor Villa-Lobos' 'Bachianas Brasileiras No.5.' Ruck brought both swaying melisma and the passionate, rapid-fire articulation of this music to full flower, as eight cellists added visually and sonically extravagant support." (for full article click here) Chamber brings out best in obscure Russian works Tom Strini, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Posted: March 13, 2008 "Top-notch playing and singing brought out the best in these obscure works, starting with soprano Tanya Kruse Ruck in Shostakovich's "Seven Songs on Poems by Alexander Blok," from 1967. With two exceptions, Blok's poems express disillusion and depression, and Shostakovich matched them with lots of heavy, low grumbling in piano (Jeffry Peterson) and cello (Stefan Kartman). Kruse's vocal heft, dark luster and bold phrasing of the many declarative lines suited both the poetic sentiments and the musical impulses. Two lyrical, leavening songs, "We Were Together" and "Music," throw needed light upon this grim cycle. In the former, violinist Bernard Zinck twined his lines sensitively around the singer's chant." (for full article click here) Soprano Kruse bends, stretches rhythms in arts series Tom Strini, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Posted: May 5, 2005 “Milwaukee knows soprano Tanya Kruse for her searing Cio-Cio San in the Skylight Opera Theatre's groundbreaking chamber treatment of "Madame Butterfly" in March of 2003. That "Butterfly" was no fluke. The passion, imagination and skill that Kruse brought to Cio-Cio San charged nearly every bar of her Vocal Arts Series recital Wednesday evening at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Recital Hall. Kruse sounded out of her element in a Baroque opener, Purcell's "If Music Be the Food of Love," with harpsichordist Martha Stiehl and cellist Rebecca Shaw. Kruse seemed to be feeling for the aching dissonance in the cadences but never quite found it. No matter; the late Romantic work that filled the rest of the program was down the middle of her strike zone. Three of Berg's "Seven Early Songs" lean toward Debussy and four stand rooted in Richard Strauss. Kruse got the dreamy sensuality in the former and the long, striving phrases in the latter. She owns a big voice, and its reserves of power drove the soaring climaxes of Erich Korngold's "Three Songs." The last of them, "The world has silently gone to sleep," is nearly Wagnerian in its proportions, at least with Kruse singing it and the excellent Jeffry Peterson ramping up the substantial piano part. The vocal part is nearly as big in the other two Korngold songs, but the casual keyboard part is tantamount to cocktail piano. This curious contrast allows both singer and pianist a lot of freedom to bend and stretch rhythms and to move in and out of measure. Peterson and Kruse took such liberties, to great dramatic effect. Kruse understands how phrases work and how striking reversals to their general flow can be. A favorite trick is to build to a climax but go suddenly soft on the crowning note. She did that with devastating results on several occasions, most notably in Korngold's "To be silent with you." She colors her baseline warm, sweet sound vividly and intelligently. Kruse put her varied vibrato to work all evening, but nowhere more effectively than in a set of three songs by Rachmaninoff, where it ranged from bare quiver to passionate throb. Her sense of vocal theater made virtual operas of three songs from Charles Griffes' "Fiona MacLeod." Her reading of an epitaph line - "She will return no more" - was not merely quiet, but ghostly. And note that she kept all the acting in her voice; her recital presence was calm, dignified and free of all shtick. Kruse wrapped up with a trio of folksongs (she knows that simple music should be performed simply) and a bit of Strauss for an encore.” |
NATS Journal, March/April 2015, “The Listener’s Gallery” by Gregory Berg
Over the Fence: Songs of Elsa Respighi, Lori Laitman, and Modesta Bor. Tanya Kruse Ruck, soprano; Elena Abend, piano. “Rounding out this disk is music from two other female composers who seem to have relatively little in common with Elsa Respighi aside from gender, except perhaps for a certain emotional generosity and openheartedness, qualities that suit soprano Tanya Kruse Ruck very well indeed.” “the saucy fun of “Over the Fence,” “They Might Not Need Me,” and “Wild Nights” is also vintage Laitman, thanks especially to her trademark mastery of playful rhythmic interplay and her fearless flair for flamboyant melodic gestures and climaxes. Fortunately, the formidable challenges of all of these songs are entrusted to as amply gifted and skilled a singer as soprano Tanya Kruse Ruck. Her instrument is sizable enough for her to have triumphed in operatic roles like Cio-Cio San and Suor Angelica, but her singing consists of far more than streams of gleaming, glorious tone. She also has the kind of formidable technique that affords her exceptional dynamic range and vocal flexibility for even the most delicate and playful songs in this collection.” “This is stupendous singing.” “Certainly, the superlative performances on this recording are an important first step in bringing her (Elsa Respighi) legacy into the spotlight where it belongs.” Awards
Bel Canto Chorus Regional Artist Competition First Place Winner, 2008 Nomination for The Shepherd Express’ , “Milwaukee Singer of the Year”, 2008 MONC Audition, Upper Midwest Region, Encouragement Award Winner, 2003 MONC Audition, Wisconsin District Winner, 2002 |
