Press
Sieglinde die Walküre, London Opera Company, November 2023
The rapport between the Sieglinde of Philippa Boyle and Ben Thapa's Siegmund was mesmerising, particularly so for a concert performance, and here we had Boyle's glowing silver to contrast with McHardy's burnished gold. I've grown accustomed to darker-hued, more tragically passive Sieglindes, but Boyle's more passionate interpretation almost instantly won me over - while the moment when she foreshadowed Götterdämmerung's Redemption Theme was so spine-tinglingly eloquent that I could not help imaging a Brünnhilde yet to come.
Alice McVeigh, The Wagner Journal
Philippa Boyle has a pleasing and nuanced soprano that just grew and grew over the evening, so that her ‘O hehrstes Wunder!’ in Act III felt quite outstanding.
Sam Smith, Music OMH
From the first moments of Act One, (Philippa Boyle as Sieglinde and Ben Thapa as Siegmund) brought a remarkable energy to the music.
The entire act was about the journey that this damaged young man and his sister, the equally damaged Sieglined (Boyle) took from subservience to radiance.
Boyle successfully incarnated, both musically and physically, the way Sieglinde was dominated by Simon Wilding's Hunding, yet came alive when talking to Thapa's Siegmund.
He and Boyle finished Act One on a high that set the bar for the rest of the performance.
Philippa Boyle had been touching in Act Two, but she had glorious final moments in Act Three as her Sieglinde grew in stature when she realised she carried Siegmund's baby.
Robert Hugill, Planet Hugill
Lady Macbeth, Paisley Opera/Scottish Opera Orchestra, October 2023
In a production not short of examples of artistic excellence, I would single out (the sleepwalking) scene as the ultimate. The playing of the orchestra, Philippa’s portrayal of the descent into madness of the once iron-willed wife who had goaded her husband to multiple murders, her voice unfailingly accurate yet fully suggestive of crumbling mental health, the combination echoed and visually enhanced by dance (Beth Gildea), and the horror and disbelief of the onlooking Doctor (Welsh bass Paul Anwyl) and Housekeeper (rather than Verdi’s ‘Lady-in-Waiting’; mezzo-soprano Catriona Clark) was pretty well perfect.
Donal Hurley, Edinburgh Music Review
Starlight (Senta), The Flying Dutchman OperaUpClose, June-July 2023
For me the great voice of the evening is Starlight (Philippa Boyle), Senta’s new name. Here is a voice that should be with the Royal Opera House or the ENO, but thankfully she’s in this exciting production, almost bringing her own lighting gantry with her cut-through soprano, soaring effortlessly and ringing through upper registers, a steely tessitura in the ballad, fined down to tenderness when (often) required with Putnins. Boyle alone is a great reason to see this production: a major singer whose future surely should make headlines, above-title….It’s absolutely worth seeing, and in Boyle’s Starlight, more a star watched as she rises out of the sea.
Simon Jenner, Plays International & Europe
“With her glinting soprano, Philippa Boyle is powerful and poignant as Starlight”
Rebecca Franks, The Times
However, it was the power and intensity of the acting, led by Pauls Putnins as the Mariner and Philippa Boyle as Starlight, that drew one in and propelled the evening above concert performance. Boyle’s Starlight was equally captivating, and her powerful soprano up close was something to behold.
Nick Boston, Bachtrack.com
“The musical performance is disciplined and dynamic…there are voices of Wagnerian calibre on the stage. In the linchpin role of Starlight, Philippa Boyle strikes a sympathetic figure and brings full-toned radiance to the high-lying climaxes”.
Yehuda Shapiro, The Stage
“Philippa Boyle as Starlight, the Senta in Wagner’s opera, brought enormous range of expression to a woman lost in a dream but visionary enough to see past the politics bearing down on her, her last notes almost lifting the roof”
Simon Bishop, Stage Talk Magazine
OperaUpClose’s strong quartet of singers, Pauls Putnins, Philippa Boyle, Carolyn Holt and Timothy Dawkins, were more than adequate to Wagner’s demands
Rian Evans, The Guardian
Respighi Deità Silvane, Sinfonietta Cracovia cond. Lee Reynolds, May 2023
The influence of tradition and nature was also present in the works of Ottorin Respighi, whose song cycle Deità silvane ( Forest Deities ) from 1925 was performed with the orchestra by Philippa Boyle, a British spinto soprano. Live miniatures allowed for the demonstration of the entire spectrum of her voice: from lyricism ( Egle ), through virtuosic exuberance ( Musica in horto and I Fauni ), to romance and even ecstasy ( Crepuscolo ).
Monika Partyk, Ruch Muzyczny
Ortlinde die Walküre, Regents Opera May 2023
(The orchestra) are tireless in their commitment, Nine proudly fortissimo Valkyries (Philippa Boyle’s Ortlinde heading the pack) outgunned the band.
Neil Fisher, The Times
The eight other valkyries are another highlight of the production, singing with ferocity and, being a band of battle-hardened sisters, falling only to Wotan’s wrath; the ensemble work here was spectacular.
Jacob Lewis, London Unattached
The Valkyries had clearly been well-coached and enthusiastically tackled all that Wagner demands of them, and they sounded one of the best octets I have ever heard.
Jim Pritchard, Seen and Heard International
Jonathan Finney A Kind Man, New Palace Opera, June 2022
That the run of four performances went ahead at all is a tribute to the determination of all involved. Covid had stormed through the cast, taking out the soprano, the bass and the understudies, and shortly before this, the final show, the replacement soprano had also succumbed. Fortunately, Finney was able to persuade the amazing Philippa Boyle to take over the role of Eve at less than thirty hours’ notice, an act of considerable courage on both their parts. Virtually sight-reading this long and difficult role from a stand at the side of the tiny stage, she sang gloriously while assistant director Keiko Sumida walked the role, giving a portrayal of marvellous sensitivity and subtlety which fairly broke the heart. Because she was careful to mouth the words, and because she was so close to Boyle, the two created a single performance between them.
Elisabeth Lutyens disc, Toccata Classics, Jun 2022
The programme opens boldly with Lutyens’ 1968 setting of Spenser’s Epithalamion, in its version for soprano and organ. This is like music etched on glass, crystalline and bold. It is devoid of romantic cliché yet has a thrilling directness. Philippa Boyle sings fearlessly, attacking the soaring vocal line like a modern day Sibyl. This opening announces that we are in for an hour of music with blood coursing through its veins for all its strangeness and originality.
Boyle makes a similarly bold contribution to the other vocal work included – a setting of Northern Irish poet W R Rodgers’ Nativity. This reflects the less austere face of Lutyens and her involvement in film and theatre music (the music from A Sleep of Prisoners is actual film music) and shows a lively and adroitly practical musical imagination that might surprise those who only know Lutyens’ art music. There is still that tangy, uncompromising quality that I think makes her music so exciting.
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2022/Jun/Lutyens-organ-TOCC0639.htm
Leonora di Vargas, La Forza del destino, Regents Opera, Mar 2022
Philippa Boyle's beauty of tone and effortless power were a revelation, and she brought a pathos-laden, childlike quality to the character.
Katie Barnes, Harmony Magazine
Philippa Boyle as Leonora sang effortlessly with her top B flat in ‘Pace, pace mio Dio’ reached with ease and grandeur. Her voice would not go amiss in a large house.
Helen Astrid, mark Aspen.com
https://markaspen.com/2022/02/21/forza-destino/
Ortlinde, die Walkure, London Opera Company, July 2021
A crack time of Valkyries, among whom Philippa Boyle’s gleaming, sword-bright Ortlinde was outstanding..
Eva Pogner, Wagner die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, Fulham Opera
Philippa Boyle's luminous soprano and shimmering, tight vibrato ensured a vividly sung Eva, and she movingly acted out her character's complex relationship with Sachs...this Eva related strongly to Sarah Denbee's engaging Magdalena
Peter Reed, Opera Magazine
Philippa Boyle, a hugely powerful voice from whom we definitely wanted to hear more...
Andrew Lawston, www.markaspen.com and Twickenham Tribune
All of the roles were well cast and superbly sung, but for me the outstanding voice was Philippa Boyle as Eva. Her glorious Italianate tone was so suited to Eva. Her scene with Keel Watson's beautifully warm and gloriously sung Hans Sachs was incredibly moving.
D.S.J, http://www.londonlivinglarge.com/2019/08/der-meistersinger-greenwood-theatre.html
I am routinely dazzled by the sheer quality of Fulham Opera's casting and on this occasion the company really did themselves proud. The gleaming-voiced Philippa Boyle remained childlike, confident of her ability to twist her men around her little finger, but deeply shaken on realising how much Sachs loved her....(she) made the most of the soaring lines of O Sachs and the Quintet.
Katie Barnes, Wagner News
Elizabeth 1st, Donizetti Maria Stuarda, OperaUpClose
Philippa Boyle steals the show with her perfect depiction of the haughty Elizabeth, her soaring unmiked soprano filling the space with such power.
Gabriel Wilding, Hackney Citizen
The singers...respond with singing of both subtlety and ferocity. Flora McIntosh (Mary) and Philippa Boyle (Elizabeth) are superb, on top of the music and in the drama.
Nick Kimberley, Evening Standard
The excellent Philippa Boyle as Elizabeth is unrestrained in her portrayal of willful jealousy, delivered with real power.
Howard Gray, phacemag.com
At time, especially during the flaming row between the queens, the feeling of intimacy and intensity calcifies into an onslaught on the senses, with Philippa Boyle maintaining a particularly spine-shuddering stream of decibels. The two women tackle Donizetti's coloratura challenges with admirable accuracy.
Richard Morrison, The Times
Sitting just feet away from voices trained to fill an opera house can be thrilling, especially with powerhouse voices such as Philippa Boyle. Boyle's impressive soprano, laser-like in focus and attack, matches the mezzo of McIntosh. Together they reign supreme.
Amanda Holloway, The Stage
Elizabeth's hard outer shell could not quite conceal the vulnerable woman beneath....Philippa Boyle's Elizabeth was a tough but lonely career woman. Her rich-toned, resplendent soprano was truly regal and filled with threat and pathos.
Katie Barnes, Harmony Magazine
Elisabetta di Valois, Verdi Don Carlo, Fulham Opera
As his love interest, Philippa Boyle was similarly impressive. She has a focused, jugend-dramatisch voice (she sings Eva in Fulham Opera's The Mastersingers next year) yet with plenty of straight tone....This Elisabeth was feisty, and her scenes with Don Carlo, with Philip and with Eboli all fairly crackled.....and Boyle kept the best till last, turning in a mesmerising performance of Elisabeth's huge aria in Act Five.
Robert Hugill, www.planethugill.com
Dignified yet passionate as Elisabetta, Philippa Boyle shaped "Tu che le vanità" with amplitude and artistry.
Yehuda Shapiro, Opera Magazine
Mum/Sphinx/Waitress, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Grimeborn Festival
An authentic physical experience built on aggressive muscularity and balletic precision, with the tropes of silent comedy never far from the surface....No one projects these skills better than Philippa Boyle, a soprano who can gurn on a sixpence and lurch from clown to victim"
Mark Valencia, Whatsonstage.com
"Philippa Boyle's Mum is a tour de force of versatile character acting, her soprano lyrically expressive...Boyle and Morrison in particular use a dazzlingly wide range of vocal styles"
Theatrecat
Philippa Boyle is also exceptional in her role as Mum...I loved the way she threw herself into the role, fearlessly biting into the uncomfortable material, all the while maintaining a confident soprano voice"
Frank McHugh, arthursseat.com
Philippa Boyle's hilarious waitress and powerful sphinx-like expressions deserve credit..Boyle's enthusiasm for performances is evident and her lyric soprano voice alone is outstanding".
TrendFem
Philippa Boyle's mum fizzes with vocal versatility
Broadway world
Tosca (Puccini Tosca), King's Head Theatre
The confrontation between Tosca and Scarpia was simply superb..Philippa Boyle's big aria "Love and Music" was stunning".
Owen Davies, Plays to see
Philippa Boyle takes the title role with enough power and passion to shake the most weary audience member wide awake. It is also rather wonderful that she cat act: her body language and facial expressions jump deftly between the suitably coquettish and the temptress consumed with jealousy. Her clear and sharp soprano demonstrates her classic Italian training, showing both colour and emotion, particularly in the adaptation of vissi d'arte. She is definitely a diva in the making"
Aliya al-Hassan, Broadway World
"A passionate, stand-out performance from Boyle, who not only has a big and beautiful voice, but also excellent comic timing"
Eva de Valk, Everything Theatre
Culture and the Third Reich, Mastersingers
"Boyle's wonderful voice showed to its best advantage in the stratospheric vocal line of Krenek's die Nachtigall, angular, modern, yet lyrical....Boyle clearly relished the Puccinian diva Anita's soaring soprano lines...Boyle took the stage by storm in the finale of Capriccio..Boyle was wonderful in Heliane's testing aria, and the sublime, unearthly final duet was a fitting climax to the occasion".
Katie Barnes, the Mastersingers
Verdi Requiem, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Leeds Town Hall
Philippa Boyle - a gleaming soprano with an unwavering higher register
Geoffrey Mogridge, Wharfedale Observer
Shahrazad (Danyal Dhony Shahrazad), Opera Vera and Cantata Dramatica
"Peter Brooke’s resonant Haroun and Philippa Boyle’s luscious Abbassa (Haroun’s sister) are ideally matched. Boyle also sings the role of Shahrazad, bringing a hypnotic quality to her exotic modal writing as well as cleanly chiselled consonants."
Edward Bhesania, The Stage
https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/2017/shahrazad-review-leighton-house-london/
"Philippa Boyle's agile soprano tickled the ear as Shahrazad, with clear even vocal lines"
Mark Pullinger, Bachtrack.com
https://bachtrack.com/review-dhondy-shahrazad-opera-vera-london-february-2017
Dvorak Te Deum, Albert Hall, Nottingham
"The final work was Dvorak's Te Deum, a piece which combines spiritual fervour with red-blooded passion, infectious rhythms and a profusion of good tunes. The intensely operatic soloists were Greg Skidmore and - gloriously, thrillingly - Philippa Boyle.
William Ruff, Nottingham Post
http://www.nottinghampost.com/nelson-may-have-survived-trafalgar-if-he-d-had-the-nottingham-festival-chorus-with-him-review/story-30112767-detail/story.html#D88evsf3T4xjPfS4.99
Cathleen (Vaughan Williams Riders to the sea) Wexford Festival Opera
"As the protective older daughter, Cathleen, Philippa Boyle sang with a gently glinting soprano"
John Allison, Opera Magazine
"Philippa Boyle’s Cathleen was silvery and piercing, but not strident, pressing home the intensity of fear and loss"
Claire Seymour, Opera Today
http://www.operatoday.com/content/2016/11/_felicien_david.php#sthash.bMEpaPly.dpuf
"Philippa Boyle überzeugt als Cathleen mit vollem Sopran und bewegendem Spiel." (Philippa Boyle convinces as Cathleen with her full soprano voice and moving performance).
Thomas Molke, Online Musik Magazine http://www.omm.de/veranstaltungen/festspiele2016/WEXFORD-2016-riders-to-the-sea.html
« Riders to the Sea » de Vaughan Williams faisait surtout entendre les belles voix de Philippa Boyle (Cathleen) et Katie Lowe (Nora). (Riders to the Sea allowed us to hear above all the beautiful voices of Philippa Boyle and Katie Lowe)
Erna Metdepenninghen, Crescendo Magazine, http://www.crescendo-magazine.be/2016/11/au-wexford-festival-opera-de-jeunes-talents-et-des-oeuvres-a-decouvrir/
"Nel cast vocale, accompagnato al pianoforte da Benjamin Laurent, spiccavano soprattutto Philippa Boyle e Katie Lowe (le due figlie Cathleen e Nora)" (In the vocal cast, accompanied at the piano by Benjamin Laurent, Philippa Boyle and Katie Lowe (the two daughters Cathleen and Nora) stood out above all)
Stefano Nardelli, Il Giornale della Musica http://www.giornaledellamusica.it/blog/?b=714
"Me produjo buena impresión Philippa Boyle en la parte de Cathleen." (Philippa Boyle made a good impression on me in the part of Cathleen)
José M. Irurzun, Beckmesser.com http://www.beckmesser.com/wexford-riders-to-the-sea-dramatismo-total/
Old Girls Assocation Recital with pianist Peter Foggitt, Notting Hill and Ealing High School
"Then came Philippa Boyle. With Italian and Russian arias she stirred the audience with a performance rich in tonal and emotional contrast. She enchanted as she sang about Italian lovers serenading girlfriends through Francesco Tosti’s Marechiare, canto Napoletano. Then entranced, evoking the wonderful tonal pictures of the poem by Fyodor Tytchev heralding the onset of spring in Rachmaninoff’s “Spring Waters”. Colourful piano passages were liquidly played by her accompanist, and a strong partnership was self evident through the complex musical interpretation they shared. Arias from Puccini’s Tosca and Verdi's I Vespri Siciliani further displayed her consummate vocal gifts, and the finale was a Cole Porter treat of “I hate men” from Kiss Me Kate; sang with brazen tone and flirtatious command.....Fundamentally “the old girls’ done good!”, and the audience clearly left thinking that too."
Simon King-Cline
"A Spring Awakening", recital for the Mastersingers
In Philippa Boyle, Aurore Lacabe and Mario Sofroniou, we experienced three artists who were powerfully and dramatically passionate in their interpretation and clearly destined for outstanding international careers".
Michael Bousfield, The Music Club of London
http://www.musicclublondon.com/Harmony249.pdf
Giorgetta (Puccini Il Tabarro) Opera Vera
"The leading lady, soprano Philippa Boyle, had true craftsmanship of each beautiful nuanced phrase, with instinctive and stunning attention to detail."
Isabel Mitchell, Fringe Opera
Giunone (La Calisto) Hampstead Garden Opera
“The cast is dominated by Philippa Boyle’s ferocious Juno. Here’s a woman you really wouldn’t want to wrong – all sequins and scheming vengeance, and in possession of some of the finest coloratura of the evening. Boyle took charge of Cavalli’s lines, playing with them texturally just as she toyed deliciously with Teresa Pells’ Calisto.”
Alexandra Coghlan, The Arts Desk
“The cast was studded with promising young talent. Juno (Philippa Boyle) was an extremely impressive dramatic soprano with an incredible stage presence.”
Marjorie Larkin, Everything Theatre
“But still, you couldn’t help but cheer for straight-from-the-playbook Juno (Philippa Boyle) as she came in in her glorious spangled black dress with a cape of iridescent feathers – what slip of a girl, no matter how dedicated to her path, could stand against her? I found it all very exciting.”
"Webcowgirl" <i> Life in The Cheap Seats
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“Made a formidable Juno”
Ham & High
“Contributed a raging portrayal of [Jove's] deceived wife Juno”
Opera Magazine
Recital with pianist Peter Foggitt, Farnham United Reformed Church
"Philippa Boyle and Peter Foggitt saved the day by agreeing to step in at very short notice indeed with a programme of piano solos and operatic arias for soprano. And what arias and piano solos! Straight in, without any introduction, Philippa electrified the audience with “Stridono lassù” from I Pagliacci : a startlingly dramatic opening... [The arias] were sung with great dramatic force and left the audience wanting more... the performance was breath-taking."
Farnham Gazette
Yukiko (Tonseisha: The Man Who Abandoned the World), Saltpeter Productions, Grimeborn Festival
"Brief dramatic scenes performed by the actors were interspersed with quirky, mainly chromatic musical episodes performed very ably by the soprano, Philippa Boyle and flautist, Ilze Ikse, conducted by the composer, who made his own contribution by playing an amplified manual typewriter."
Opera Britannia
Angelica (Handel Orlando) Associazione OperaInCanto, Umbria
"Gli interpreti dello spettacolo Umbro sono tutti da lodare...dall'Orlando appassionato di Gloria Petrini alla soave Angelica di Philippa Boyle. Il folto pubblico in teatro ha decretato per tutti un meritatissimo successo trionfale."
(The singers in this Umbrian production are all worthy of praise...from the passionate Orlando of Gloria Petrini to the sweet Angelica of Philippa Boyle...the packed audience in the theatre declared it for all involved a well-deserved triumphant success.)
Dino Villatico, Classic Voice
Angelica è stata ben interpretata da Philippa Boyle (Angelica was ably interpreted by Philippa Boyle)
Daniela Puggioni, gothicNetwork.org