press
about: Hohe Messe with Bachvereniging
Solo highlights included Zomer's joyful and agile presentation
of "Laudamus te".
[....] Soprano Johannette Zomer especially
distinguished herself with compelling stage presence.
Early Music Review, April 2007
about: Cd Buxtehude Membra Jesu Nostri
Even better than Invernizzi is Johannette Zomer, soprano soloist with
the Netherlands Bach Society blessed with audiophile Channel
Classics SACD sound.
Zomer’s singing is supple, feminine,
emotive, has crystal
clear high notes and possesses great intelligence with words.
BBC Radio 3 Review, march 2007
about: Pelléas et Mélisande with Nationale Reisopera:
Johannette Zomer, a specialist in medieval and baroque music,
fits well into this production with her frank, almost
'chanson
gotique' reciting style. She forms a striking
young couple
with Nathaniel Webster as Pelléas.
NRC Handelsblad, May 2005
Johannette Zomer can regard her progression from Baroque to the 20th Century as succesful.
She succeeds very well in transforming the mysterious Mélisande into a real human being.
Trouw, May 2005
Soprano Johannette Zomer and bariton Nathaniel Webster shine in the title rolls (both debuts).
Parool, May 2005
Johannette Zomer demonstrates her continuous development with a solid and shining interpretation of the female lead.
Tubantia, May 2005
About the ‘Death & Devotion’ recording with the Dutch Bach Society (CCS 20804):
‘Johannette
Zomer sings with such range of inflection and commitment that one almost feels that the works were
in her blood by right’
Gramaphone, May 2004;
Editor’s Choice
About the Schubert-recording ‘Kennst du das Land’ (Alpha 044) with Arthur Schoonderwoerd, piano forte:
‘Johannette Zomer
is an appealing soprano, pure and bright in tone, graceful in phrasing.
These qualities, allied to the gift of simplicity, serve her well in Schubert…’
BBC Music Magazine, March 2004
About the ‘Christmas Oratorio’-recording with The Netherlands Bach Society (CCS 20103):
‘High praise for Johannette Zomer, a soprano with purity of tone but plenty of tonal warmth and impressive expressive sources.
She has re-thought ‘Nur ein Wink’ from scratch and discovers something more declamatory
and highly charged than we are used to.’
International Record Review, December 2003
‘’Zomer’s natural and unforced soprano rings out true and clear, with vibrato just one of many devices in her expressive quiver.’’
International Record Review, October 2003
About a “Le Grand Macabre”-concert at the Barbican Hall in London:
‘I’ve rarely heard two female voices better suited to the ecstatic plateaus and breathless gasps of stile moderna’s sweet suspensions than those of Johannette Zomer (Amanda) and Hanne Fischer (Amando)’
The Independant on Sunday, October 2003
About the ‘Splendore di Roma’-recording with Fred Jacobs, theorbo (CCS 19903):
‘Zomer knows in each song how to evoke the suitable colour and mood,
thanks to her accurate attention to the text’
Volkskrant, July 2003
about the ‘Love and Lament’-recording with Cappella Figuralis (CCS 17098):
‘a new
voice to watch’
Gramaphone, April 2002
about her Dalinda in Handel’s Ariodante performed at the Reisopera:
‘With this singer it is always high-summer: a warm weather-front in which every lover of
singing can quench his musical thirst’
Trouw, April 2002
about a Fauré Requiem concert at the Barbican Hall in London with the Orchestre des Champs Elysees and Collegium Vocale Gent, conducted by Philippe Herreweghe:
‘Johannette Zomer was a suave, very adult high soprano who still made the Pie Jesu fresh and touching’
Independent, November 2001
about her Aminta in the recording of ‘Il Rè Pastore’ (Brilliant Classics 99717), performed by Musica ad Rhenum, conducted by Jed Wentz:
‘Zomer moulds the Aminta castrato-arias with an exemplary Mozart-instinct, well fitted for both the innocence of a love-sick shepherd and the turbulence of the schizoid soul of a monarch’
de Volkskrant, November 2001
about the ‘La Villanella’-recording with the ensemble L’Arpeggiata (Alpha 012):
‘le soprano délicat et joliment épanoui de Johannette Zomer bouleversante
dans la berceuse finale ‘Figlio dormi’
Le choix des médiathécaires, Cote Médiateque 2001
about her Handel’s 'Theodora' recording (MDG 332 1019-2) with the Collegium Cartusianum under Peter Neumann:
'Dans le rôle-titre, Johannette Zomer réussit une composition tout à fait remarquable, surpassant même Dawn Upshaw à Glyndebourne, par la beauté du timbre et le legato vocal'
Opera International, March 2001
about a Bach Cantata concert at the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig
with the Amsterdam Baroque Choir & Orchestra, conducted by Ton Koopman:
'Johannette Zomer singt einen glockenreinen Sopran mit wohldosiertem.
geschmacksicheren Vibrato und wunderbarer Artikulationsschärfe'
Leipziger Volkszeitung, July 2000
about a Bach Cantata concert at the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig
with the Amsterdam Baroque Choir & Orchestra, conducted by Ton Koopman:
'Johannette Zomer singt einen glockenreinen Sopran mit wohldosiertem.
geschmacksicheren Vibrato und wunderbarer Artikulationsschärfe'
Leipziger Volkszeitung, July 2000
about her rôle as Pamina in 'Die Zauberflöte', performed at the ‘Nationale Reisopera’:
‘she has a flawless, dulcet soprano; she splendidly catches the wonderful melancholy with which Mozart so inimitably leavens the music for this character’
de Telegraaf, August '99
about the Hohe Messe recording (HMC 901614.15) with the Collegium Vocale conducted by Phillipe Herreweghe:
'The soloists are a fine team, with Johannette Zomer blending exquisiteley with Véronique Gens in the Christe eleison and with Andreas Scholl in the Et in unum Dominum"
Sunday Times, March '98
about J.S.Bach’s Matthew Passion recording (CCS 11397)
by the Dutch Bach Society, conducted by Jos van Veldhoven:
'Johannette Zomer’s honest voice goes wonderfully well with the moving aria
'Aus Liebe', endowing it with a kind of unassailable purity, quite in keeping with the content of the text'
Luister, July/August '97
about her opera début as Tebaldo in ‘Don Carlos’,
performed by the ‘Nationale Reisopera’ (the Dutch Touring Opera Company) :
'Unexpected little gems were embedded in the crystal-clear sung role of Tebaldo’
Tubantia, September '96
