Zauberflöte (Papageno), Royal Opera London, December 2022

“THERE ARE STRONG PERFORMANCES, PARTICULARLY FROM GYULA ORENDT’S PAPAGENO (headline) – Gyula Orendt’s Papageno is the heart of this production, turning his journey towards earthly fulfilment with Sarah Dufresne’s Papagena into the most convincing development of character and comedy in the show”

“As Papageno, Gyula Orendt was a complete delight. A highly musical artist, this performance sounded superb but was based around a highly physical approach to the character; Papageno’s physical hi-jinks in the production clearly phased Orendt not one wit. He also had a lovely way of including the audience in his asides, making the character into just the right sort of sad clown”

“the show currently boasts two astonishing performers  (…) and the Hungarian-Romanian baritone Gyula Orendt as Papageno (…) Orendt’s incarnation of the picaresque bird-catcher Papegeno offers fine singing, a feast of physical comedy, and an unusually dark characterisation (…) he’s both a master-farceur, and a tumbler whose lightning pratfalls come so thick and fast, we scarcely have time to register them”

“Orendt quite simply does everything, yes everything, very well. It looks as if Smimmo has enjoyed working on his gait and physical attitude as an actor. Orendt also has the right kind of strong baritone to excel musically. These are both performances of subtlety, panache amd depth that deserve and need to be seen more than once to appreciate their alchemy and their range”

“It’s Papageno, though, who is arguably the star here. His slapstick antics light up the stage and – whether he is running into walls, jumping onto a bed or exhorting the virtues of wine – Orent does a splendid job of keeping the tone upbeat amid a plot which diverts into the cul-de-sacs of mystic and masonic realms far too often”