VERA SAVAGE

As New Ofglen in The Handmaid's Tale with Boston Lyric Opera

 

"Vera Savage was cold and gleaming as New Ofglen."

~ Angelo Mao, Opera News May 2019

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Amid the BLO’s large cast, smaller parts that shine include (…) Vera Savage as the New Ofglen.

~ Katrina Holden-Buckley, Artsfuse.org

 

Bernstein, Jeremiah Symphony No. 1: 

 

"Not until the mezzo began to intone the Lamentations movement did Bernstein’s work seem to transcend period-specific underpinnings. Permit a mix of metaphors. Vera Savage sent shafts of gleaming vocal gold over the rising orchestral wave with a dramatic commitment that left the first two movements feeling like musical potluck." 

~ Lee Eiseman, Boston Music Intelligencer

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As Bice in Pia de Tolomei at the 2018 Spoleto Festival:

 

"Vera Savage as Bice (…) makes her mark singing with commitment and a thrilling power."

~ Clive Paget, Limelight Magazine

 

"Vera Savage dominated the stage, more an Executive Director than a serving woman. In one scene she steers other hatted women in a coffee klatch as if using the gathering to launch a political campaign.  Later, she stands up to male power run rampant and courageously prevents the mayor from running through his wife with a knife."

~ Susan Galbraith, DC Theatre Scene

"Vera Savage as Pia’s lady-in-waiting gives us a performance as statuesque as her voice is strong and rich. She moved back and forth between leading the Women’s Chorus and stepping forward as a featured soloist with equal aplomb."

~ Susan Galbraith, DC Theatre Scene

"In a machismo world with a warped sense of what constitutes “honor”, one would expect a 21st century audience to sympathize with the forces of resistance to that world. Those forces (…) are Pia’s companion Bice (ably sung by Vera Savage) and Lamberto (performed with passion by Matthew Anchel)."

~ William, operawarhorses

"Vera Savage, Pia’s maid, has a rich, mellifluous mezzo voice, facile and colorful." 

~ David Friddle, Charleston Post and Courier

As pants role Chad Helson in the pastiche opera “Diary of a Madman” with Grand Harmonie Orchestra:

 

"As the Aide, Vera Savage contributed a resonant mezzo that has mastered the entire range; she facilitated the coloratura in Mozart’s challenging “Parto Parto” beautifully."

~ Katrina Holden, artsfuse.org

 

"The only heart-stoppingly gorgeous musical moments came from mezzo-soprano Vera Savage in the trouser role of the Aide to the Strategist." 

~ Lee Eiseman, Boston Music Intelligencer

 

As Meg Page in Falstaff with Opera Saratoga:

 

"For Falstaff is–to a certain degree–an actor’s opera. And we did have great acting here. The wives, a buxom Caroline Worra and a broom-slender Vera Savage, did cackle merrily, and did emphasize the buffa-operatic glory of the opera."

~ Harry Rolnick, Concertonet.com

 

"Sopranos Caroline Worra as Alice and mezzo Vera Savage as Meg were a lively pair."

~ Joseph Dalton, Albany Times Union

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"With her tangy, impactful mezzo, Vera Savage sang and performed Meg at a high level."

~ David Shengold, OperaNews

 

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As the Alto soloist in Amy Beach’s Grand Mass in Boston MA

 

"Mezzo-soprano Vera Savage shaped her lines with a spinning vibrato, which gave a touch of intensity to the “Gratias agimus tibi.”

~ Aaron Keebaugh, Boston Classical Review

 

"The Laudamus and Qui tollis sections were both on the slow side, and featured the soloists, with the former sporting a delicious colloquy between soloists and harp (Maria Rindenello-Parker) and a lovely alto solo in which Savage displayed a creamy sound."

~ Vance R Koven, Boston Music Intelligencer

 

In Der Zwerg with Odyssey Opera

 

"Erica Petrocelli, Dana Varga, and Vera Savage – all stalwarts of the Boston operaverse  – were the Infanta’s lively posse of enablers, often spurred on by the deft and spirited chorus of women. Like everyone else, the three maidens not only sang from memory but acted their parts." 

~ Bachtrack, Kevin Wells

 

As Tisbe in Opera Saratoga’s production of La Cenerentola

 

"The stepsisters were wonderfully characterized and sung by Ashly Neumann and Vera Savage."

~ Robert Levine, Bachtrack.com

 

As Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito with Opera in the Heights

 

"... this was Savage's show.  What a subtle powerhouse she is. As misguided Sesto... she's tall and blond and makes a very handsome man in a black suit and tie... And her singing is a dream: supple and powerful, with a deep velvet shimmer. Whatever she sings, we believe."

~ blogs.houstonpress.com

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"In the trouser role of Sesto, mezzo-soprano Vera Savage sings and acts brilliantly.  Savage paints a convincing portrait of a man torn between loyalty to Emperor Tito and his misplaced infatuation with the vengeful Vitellia.  She has a handsomely glowing voice that soars on her arias and also embodies the great emotion of Sesto's torment with moving restraint."

~ www.broadwayworld.com

 

"Vera Savage left an impression, vocally and otherwise.  Sure, we've seen trouser roles before, but have we seen a woman in a trouser role slowly strip off her suit and tie in an act of frustrated passion to stand confidently in only underwear? Savage pulled it off with panache."

~ www.girlattheopera.blogs.rice.edu