Siegfried, BBC Proms, July 2006

...it was a pleasure to hear so supple a performance as Jon Fredric West gave us in the proms. Few tenors make it through almost the entire six hours on stage without flagging, but West made it to the finishing line with vocal reserves to spare. He had the ideal ringing tone for the Forging songs and he put huge energy into the ardently-sung final duet with his beloved Brunnhilde.   ~MusicOMH.com, July 2006

Siegfried, BBC Proms, July 2006

But this Siegfried could at least boast of a hero actually up to the job. Muscular tone, powerful highnotes, heroic stamina: Jon Fredric West provided all three, as well as the tender innocence so necessary to give Wagner’s superman some humanity. ...it was West who kept a grip on his performance, and he thoroughlydeserved the Prommers’ adulation.   ~Timesonline.com.UK, July 2006

Tristan und Isolde, Opera de Bordeaux, June 2005

Magnificent Tristan which does away with boats, kisses and tombs, but brings to life the essential, the rustling of the wind, the music of desire and song of death. The staged concert version of Hans Graf avoids the pitfalls of singers successively getting up from their arm-chairs, and the amazing and committed engagement of the singers does the rest: Jon Fredric West, who has sung significant interpretations of Tristan all his life, sings with vigor as if it were the first time, stirring up high emotions in the 3rd act, his vocalism in full prime, supreme phrasing and with a voice without a trace of fault... At the end, Isolde was in tears. So were we. (referring to Jon West’s portrayal of Tristan’s death.)   ~Review Translation - Point de vue, June 05

Tristan und Isolde, Stuttgart Oper, Nov 2004

Glowing Lava from Larynx: A phenomenal Jon West in Stuttgart’s Tristan

Tristan is a murderous part for every tenor. But the American tenor Jon Fredric West lays claim to the role that he has sung in Munich, London, Chicago and at the Salzburg Festival, and in Stuttgart he overcomes all. He’s simply phenomenal... The original pair of last season that appeared in a mid-life crisis has been exchanged for another that has fire and flame. West with his inexhaustible full high notes that pour forth with volcano-like lava... West with his beautiful timbre reminds us of the legendary Jon Vickers and is again our Siegfried on November 14.   ~Review Translation - Kultur/Almut Kipp, Nov 04

Siegfried; Metropolitan Opera, New York; April/May 2004

“Most performances of Wagner’s “Siegfried” have a void at the center: the tenor singing the title role. Wagner made unprecedented demands on singers regarding power, range and stamina. But he abandoned all sense of the doable when he conceived the role of the brash nature boy, Siegfried...
Including two intermissions, the opera lasts five and a half hours, and Siegfried sings during most of it. Jon Vickers, renowned Tristan, another daunting tenor heldentenor role, would not even look at Siegfried... Wagner buffs have been grateful for tenors who can at least get through the role with enough voice left to sing the demanding final scene...
So great credit goes to the feisty American tenor Jon Fredric West, who made his first Metropolitan Opera appearance in the role of Siegfried on Saturday afternoon, a performance broadcast live on the radio...
Mr. West did not just get through the role, he really sang it: with husky sound, pinging top notes, plenty of power and seemingly illimitable energy...
Still, Siegfried is not a subtle guy, and the role ideally suits Mr. West’s athletic voice...
he gave full attention to the meaning of his words and made the thickheaded hero-in-training, a likeable character.
...he bounded up and down the rocks of Otto Schenk’s 1998 production like a well conditioned fullback and projected a hardy houthfullness. when he awoke the sleepiong Brunnhilde for the final 30-minute scene, he had voice to spare.”   ~New York Times, April 19, 2004; A. Tommasini

Gotterdammerung: Metropolitan Opera, New York, April/May 2004

“Mr. West sang with abundant energy... And finally, in the last act, Mr. West... sang with a clarion tone that make his performance in “Siegfried” so formidable.”   ~New York Times, April 26, 2004; A. Tommasini.

Siegfried; Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich; March 2004

“Siegfried was perfectly cast, and American tenor Jon Fredric West is the most vocally convincing Siegfried I have ever heard in an opera house. He lived up to each of Wagner’s impossible demands with a performance that was brilliant. His physical energy and vocal stamina were amazing to behold.”  ~North American Daily, March 12, 2004

“Mit Jon Fredric West stand ihr ein Siegfried genenuber, der - Hut ab - auch nach den morderischen Stimm-Anstrengungen der beiden ersten Akte noch uber ausreichend heldische Tenorkraft gebot.” ~merkuronline, March 18, 2004

Winterreise; International Keyboard Festival, New York, July 2004

“If there was a single highlight to the festival, it was most certainly a stunning reading, by Mr. Rose and dramatic tenor Jon Fredric West, of Schubert’s haunting song cycle, Winterreise. To this august but dark work -- which concerns itself with presentiment and death - Mr. West and Mr. Rose brought no end of ambrosial refinements, not only in their perfectly matched ensemble, but also through the abundance of details in which they took the trouble to invest. Neither is a slouch where articulation and the intelligible conveyance of compositional trajectory is concerned. In every song, no matter how brief or how extended, they consistently allowed the music to disclose its own inner logic and direction. In their interpretation, which favored the substantive over the florid, Mr. Rose’s deft nuance of every affective slur and dynamic paralleled Mr. West’s concern with the expressive power of plosive consonants and rounded vowels. Beyond that, theirs was a reading that invested itself in internecine musical meaning and the utter despair of the composer who gave voice to it, Judging by the voluminous reaction of a humbled audience, that message was lost on no one in attendance. To be sure, their performance has only one real rival: Hans Hotter’s gripping account recorded in the 1940s.” ~www.mvdaily.com, July 2004

Tristan und Isolde DVD-Release

It is surprisingly difficult to cast - and is becoming more so nowadays with a lack of Heldentenors available to sing the taxing role of Tristan. It is a joy, therefore, to find the Tristan of the American tenor, Jon Fredric West, so convincing. He reminds me in many ways of the great Jon Vickers - both physically, but more importantly in his ability to thrill with a voice that is all-consuming. His presence dominates this production the voice is fully capable of sustaining the long scene with Kurwenal prior to his death with an ease that is impressive. This is a voice, which rings with clarity - and to hear him in the love duet is just bewilderingly beautiful. ~Inkvault, Marc Bridle

I Pagliacci; San Francisco Opera, Oct 2003

“Best of the entire evening was the Canio of Jon Fredric West. I have heard him sing many times in a variety of roles, including his Canio at the NY City Opera years ago. This performance had all the hallmarks of his NYCO Canio - a huge, effortless top, excellent Italian diction one could almost say it was overdone in the Richard Tucker manner), a judicious use of voix mixte to soften when possible the character’s lopsided, insistent anger, and a Vickers-like sense of stage presence. West started a bit dryly in “Un tal gioco” I was later informed that West had almost cancelled the performance due to an ear infection but was convinced to go on by the house management) but the voice warmed almost immediately thereafter. The “Vesti la giubba” was electrifying - a force of nature with huge, open top notes in the “non-vibrating wall-of-sound” tradition I well remember from James King, Birgit Nilsson and the afore-mentioned Vickers in my standee days at the Met. The long legato of the aria’s phrasing was dramatically punctuated with a few forceful swells that added considerably to its overall effect. The audience went wild with sustained applause and a smattering of “Bravo”s. His Canio grew in stature in the Commedia with the “non, Pagiliaccio non so” a crowning achievement. The violence of the onstage murders was quite realistic - surely what the composer intended (aided in large part by Nagelstad’s visible terror at the ‘coup de grace’). West’s “La commedia..e finita” was spoken softly, without energy..as if in a trance. Stunning. The audience - made up primarily of people of the over-50 persuasion and with its long-time exposure to big voices) gave West the loudest and most prolonged applause at final curtain, with some extremely boisterous cheering from the cheap seats and the standee stalls as we exited our seats, the white-maned felllow next to me commented that “well, at least the clown was great’). ~Mark Stenroos October 2003

“This was my first time hearing West live. I have watched his Tristan DVD numerous times and I have some pirated material too. I was not prepared for what I heard. I figured that if 2 percent of the comments about West were true, well, then I was in trougle. I must preface what follows by saying that in the role of Canio I have seen - live - Vickers, Tucker, Atlantov, King, Domingo, Pav, McCracken, Corelli, Bergonzi, Giacomini, Malamood to name some. I have heard all the great tenors and the not so great since after the war. Vinay was a favorite, Melchior too.
Jon Fredric West sent me back on a time trip to the “good old days”. The days when a singer showed up ready to die onstage, for the art, for the fans. His voice is immense, as big as any that I have ever heard. Any. His top notes almost made my last remaining hair fall out, so potent, so in-your face. The dictation was superb O am fluent in Italian), the portrayal heart breaking. My heart was broken by him after only about five minutes of singing. I last felt this way watching Vickers in the role, and unlike Vickers, West didn’t croon and he didn’t crack. The aria was broad, painful and heart rending. The final scene was at a fever pitch, I feared for the health of the Nededa and Silvio, the way one used to fear for those singing with Vickers. ~Sam Prillisch, October 2003

“Jon Fredric West was an energetic actor and sang a commanding Canio whose nuance in expressing his tragedy was compelling. The aria “Vesti la giubba” showed West in complete vocal control: word for word and note for note, he was right on the mark i an interpretation that rang with truth. Bravo!” ~North American Daily, Dec 3, 2003

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