Acclaim
| New York TimesGirls of the Golden West at the San Francisco Opera
“The opera opens with Clarence, a hearty miner (the exuberant bass-baritone Ryan McKinny), who sets up the story almost as if giving a lecture.
“It was a driving, vigorous, restless population,” Mr. McKinny sings lustily over skittish, pointillist music in the orchestra. “Not dainty, simpering kid-gloved weaklings, but muscular, stalwart, dauntless young braves.” (The words come from Mark Twain’s “Roughing It.”)”
“Ryan McKinny’s energetic Clarence, Paul Appleby’s volatile Joe, and Elliot Madore’s dignified Ramón made strong contributions…”
“Ryan McKinny, a fast-rising Wagnerian bass-baritone, created a dynamic portrait of Clarence, who begins with masculine swagger, becomes a monster by degrees, and ends up a guilt-ridden shell.”
“The whole cast — including the high soprano Hye Jung Lee (Ah Sing), bass-baritone Ryan McKinny (Clarence) and tenor Paul Appleby (Joe) — is simply the future of opera, on one stage.”