W.A.MOZART "LA CLEMENZA DI TITO" [SESTO]
"..The greatest responsibility, of course, had Margarita Gritskova, who played the role of Sesto, as her predecessors in this part were Garanča and Kožená. Now it is obvious that Gritskova has something to oppose to these stars, to whom she is equal. Her voice sounds confidently in all registers, without losing neither her coloratura nor her perfect legato. On the stage, she convincingly performed a young man from a good family, who nearly became a murderer of his friend while defending his honor."Wolfgang Haberman, Online Merker
"During her masterful debut Margarita Gritskova introduced as well to the audience magnificently performed Sesto, the traitor."
Wiener Zeitung, Daniel Wagner
"Sesto had a lot of excitement, performed by Margarita Gritskova, whose acting and musical performance left the greatest impression. In the middle register her voice gained even greater fullness, and a beautiful dark deep note was added to its sound."
Dominik Troger, Online Merker.
"..One of the strongest parts of Mozart’s is the attention paid to psychological details. It appears in those moments when, during the charmingly diverse terzetto, a tension is growing between the performers, or when the same performers are alone on the stage, lost in their truly mixed feelings. In such moments, the soloists reach amazing heights, and above all, expressive Margarita Gritskova who in the final scene of the first act succeeded to movingly convey a spiritual conflict of Sesto, who became a traitor against his will, and, like Vitellia, confidently performed by Caroline Wenborne, from whom Margarita Gritskova could borrow her rhythmic preciseness, was not afraid of high requirements to the tessitura. The singer treats exaggeratedly freely the size of the line, but as to her vocal expression, there hardly could be any competitors."
Wilhelm Sinkovicz, Die Presse
"..Pay your attention to this name: Margarita Gritskova. She is a mezzo-soprano from St. Petersburg, who gained a great experience performing, among other theaters, in Weimar and in the company of the Vienna State Opera. Her performance of the part of Sesto from the opera "La Clemenza di Tito" had a superb style, expressiveness and grace, which is very characteristic to the works of Mozart’s. For this reason alone it was worth to spend your evening, in spite of the meager and unimpressive staging under the direction of Jürgen Flimm, characterized by a lack of clear ideas and disorderly action on the stage. "
Jaume Radigales, 04.10.2016, NUVOL el digital de cultura
"..The only one who came out unscathed, opposing to the intransigence of the head, is Margarita Gritskova (Sesto) - more restrained than usually, she managed to adapt to the difficulties of performance of this role. When she appeared on the stage, the tempo seemed to open miraculously and lyricism again came into its own rights."
Dimitri Finker, Concerto.net.com, The Classical Music Network
"For the most part, the singers were undistinguished with the exception of young Russian mezzo Margarita Gritskova as Sesto who displayed not only admirable dramatic insight into this most complex of characters but was vocally mellifluous and even-toned in all registers. Whilst “Parto parto” was the usual showstopper, the octave-plus leaps in “Deh, per questo istante solo” were steely accurate and there was really beautiful word colouring on “questo cor”. A rock-solid top G natural and excellent chest notes all made for an exemplary performance of this important aria."
bachtrack.com, Sutherland, 31 marzo 2016
"Margarita Gritskova was a livewire and highly intense Sesto. She used the ornamentation to really showcase her impressive instrument from the full bottom to the plum-toned middle to the bright and penetrating top. She is still in her twenties and I have a feeling that this is a voice that is going to continue growing. Hers was a highly schooled and musical account of the role, the interplay with the almost improvisatory basset horn in ‘parto, parto’ was absolutely magical and the triplets absolutely spot on. I might have preferred a little more introspection in ‘deh per questo istante solo’ but she really did deploy a notable range of tone colours during the course of the aria."
2016/03/30 Operatraveller