Reviews

Arizona Opera

  • “Matthew Anchel, possessing a rich and robust voice, merits a special shoutout for his role as Friar Laurent.”

    -Herbert Paine, Broadway World

Tucson Desert Song Festival

  • “Anchel, who has known Blue for a decade but had never sang with her, showed off his powerfully deep, dark voice and wonderful sense of humor when he sang an aria from "Magic Flute." Then he and Blue sang "Happy Days are Here Again" as a duet.”

    -Cathalena E. Burch, Arizona Daily Star

Le Nozze di Figaro, Opera San Jose

  • “…and bass Matthew Anchel sang with welcome power and precision as the irascible Dr. Bartolo.”

    -Joshua Kosman, The San Francisco Chronicle

  • “With his booming voice, Matthew Anchel definitely made his presence felt as Doctor Bartolo. It was rare to see and hear the low notes of “La vendetta” executed perfectly and audibly on stage, so it was refreshing when it happened! Anchel also had strong comic timing…”

    -Michael Anthonio, parterre box

Die Schweigsame Frau, Bard Summerscape

  • As the opera troupe’s dextrous impresario and star, Vanuzzi, Matthew Anchel unleashed a very impressively textured low bass and comic chops.”

    -David Shengold, Opera News

  • “Matthew Anchel, a riot as the impresario Vanuzzi, shows an appealingly compact bass with depth of tone.”

    -Oussama Zahr, The New York Times

  • “Matthew Anchel’s pitch-dark bass was a standout as Vanuzzi…”

    -Robert Levine, BachTrack

  • “Among the components of the opera company, the bass Matthew Anchel undoubtedly stood out, who offered some of the best moments (both vocal and theatrical) of the performance.”

    -Patrick Dillon, Scherzo

Cinderella, The Metropolitan Opera

  • “The evening saw some solid Met debuts in smaller roles, beginning with Matthew Anchel as the Master of Ceremonies…” -David Wright, New York Classical Review

Macbeth, Stadttheater Gießen

  • ”…the young bass player Matthew Anchel as Banco was very well cast with a warm, full timbre.” -Karsten Mackensen, Gießenner Anzeiger

  • “Bass Matthew Anchel is a proud Banco with a deep, dark voice in his Gießen debut…” -Manfred Merz, Der Gießenner Allgemeine

The Love of Three Oranges, Oper Stuttgart

  • "An impeccable Farfarello was Matthew Anchel. He was also a delicious male cook.” - Ludwig Steinbach, Der Opern Freund

  • "Matthew Anchel is a tenderly-priced Prackl with warm bass…"  - Klaus Kalchschmid, Die Deutsche Buehne

  • "Whether Matthew Anchel as a wonderfully eccentric cook and devil Farfarello or Johannes Kammler as Höfling Pantalone: ​​Stuttgart presents great real singer-actors.”- Marco Frei, Neue Zürcher Zeitung

  • ​"The New York Bass Matthew Anchel in the dual role of Farfarello and Köchin is very funny and exhilarating.” - Gianguido Mussomeli, GBOPERA.IT

  • "The pugnacious grace with which bass Matthew Anchel sings and turns as the cook, and then surprisingly appears as the father of Serjoscha, suggests with the nicest casualness that Serjoscha grows up with two fathers.” - Jan Brachmann, Frankfurter Allgemeine

The Magic Flute, St. Petersburg Opera

  • "As its leader Sarastro, bass Matthew Anchel undergirds the spirit of this benevolent cult in O Isis und Osiris, his aria to the gods they worship. His is a rich, mellifluous sound that also combines exquisitely in a trio with Wilander and McGill." - Andrew Meachum, Tampa Bay Times

Merola Grand Finale, Merola Opera

  • "Anchel was a solid Zaccaria in “Tu sul labbro de’ veggenti” from Verdi’s Nabucco...On the comic side, soprano Jana McIntyre’s Blonde and bass Matthew Anchel’s Osmin, singing “Ich gehe doch rate ich dir” from “The Abduction from the Seraglio,” made one wish someone would mount a full production of Mozart’s opera just for them.” - Georgia Rowe, The San Jose Mercury New”

  • "From NY, NY, rich-toned bass Matthew Anchel, an alumnus of Transformations, brought the first Verdi of the night to glowing life with his aria from Nabucco.” - Philip Campbell, The Bay Area Reporter

Transformations, Merola Opera

  • "Matthew Anchel’s hefty bass and the elegant low register of soprano Chelsey Geeting made a persuasive pair..." - Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle

  • "Matthew Anchel was a sonorous king and hare." - Steven Winn, San Francisco Classical Voice

  • "A good portion of the opera’s singing is done a cappella ... daringly negotiated by tenors Boris Van Druff and Brian Michael Moore, lone baritone Andrew Manea and monster big-voiced bass Matthew Anchel." - Jaime Robles, Bachtrack

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Lucrezia Borgia, LOFT Opera

  • "The bass Matthew Anchel gave a standout performance as Lucrezia’s fourth husband, the Duke of Ferrara, singing with a magnetic, deep voice that projected power and authority." - Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, New York Times

  • "Matthew Anchel stood out as the Duke, his bass strong, crisp and dulcet."
    - Henry Stewart, Opera New”

  • "Even better was Matthew Anchel, a granite-voiced basso cantante within the role of the mobbed-up Duke of Ferrara.” - James Jorden, New York Observer

  • "Lucrezia has four big roles, and LoftOpera, incredibly, has four excellent leads to sing them ... Laine Rettmer’s staging transfers the story from Renaissance Ferrara to contemporary Mafia-land. Don Alfonso is turned into, well, Don Alfonso—Matthew Anchel, a Gandolfini-esque figure with a suave, room-filling bass ..." - John Yohalem, parterre.com

St. Matthew Passion, Annapolis Chorale

  • "An equally compelling bass performance was offered by Matthew Anchel as Pilate, nuanced dramatically and vocally to add dimension to Bach's musical drama." - Mary Johnson, Baltimore Sun

 Salome, Opera San Antonio

  • "Also among the consistently excellent cast were ... bass Matthew Anchel as the First Soldier." - Diane Windeler, Classical Voice America

 The Magic Flute, Opera Theatre of St. Louis

  • "As Sarastro, Matthew Anchel has impressive weighty, dark-hued low notes that impress ..." - James Sohre, Opera Today

  • "Former Gerdine Young Artist Matthew Anchel's resonant bass strikes the proper serious chords as the sagacious Sarastro." - Mark Bretz, Ladue News

  • "Matthew Anchel is a very strong Sarastro ..." - Steve Callahan, Broadway World

  • "Bass Matthew Anchel possesses a fine voice ...” - Sarah Bryan Miller, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Mozart Requiem, Allentown Symphony

  • "Joining the ASO and chorus were four vocal soloists, all uniformly excellent -- soprano Maeve Höglund, mezzo Krysty Swann, tenor Charles Reid, and bass-baritone Matthew Anchel. - Steve Siegel The Morning Call

 Madame Butterfly, Opera San Jose

  • "Others in the cast who added distinctiveness (sic) were Robert Norman (Goro), Silash Elash (Commissioner), Torlef Borsting (Prince Yamadori), and Matthew Anchel (Bonze). - Mort Levine, San Jose Mercury News

 The Magic Flute, Music Academy of the West

  • "Supplying a sturdy anchor to the music, and narrative, the singing was especially strong in the case of Andrew Haji and Julie Adams as the fated lovers Tamino and Pamina, respectively, and Claire de Sévigné and Matthew Anchel as the Queen of the Night and as Sarastro, respectively." - Josef Woodard, Santa Barbara News-Press

 La Cenerentola, Knoxville Opera

  • "We’ll probably be hearing a lot in the future from bass Matthew Anchel, who sang a wonderfully poignant Alidoro, Rossini’s wise and beneficent version of the tale’s fairy godmother character."  - Alan Sherrod, Metro Pulse

Il Trovatore, Opera San Jose

  • "Anchel’s bass voice sounded strong in his OSJ debut." - Beeri Moalem, Examiner.com

The Importance of Being Ernest,  Los Angeles Philharmonic

  • "Matthew Anchel ... was engagingly funny and mind-bogglingly virtuosic." - Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times

Rigoletto, Los Angeles Opera

  • "The strong cast also includes...Matthew Anchel as the cuckolded Count Ceprano" - Jim Farber, Daily News Los Angeles

Maria di Rohan, Caramoor Festival

  • "Adam Walton, Jorell Williams, Neil Darling and Matthew Anchel sang well in smaller roles." - Vivien Schweitzer, New York Times

Salome, Opera Theatre of St. Louis

  • "Particularly noteworthy were bass Matthew Anchel's big-voiced First Soldier" - Sarah Bryan Miller, St. Louis Post-Dispatch 

  • "Gerdine Young Artists Lindsay Ammann (as Herodias's Page), Matthew Anchel (First Soldier) and Joshua Kohl (First Jew) were standouts." - Opera News

  • "Matthew Anchel displayed a voice to watch as the First Soldier." - Heidi Waleson, Wall Street Journal

​2010 Palm Beach Opera Competition

  • Matthew Anchel, a firm bass with solid low tones and stylish Baroque coloratura in an aria from Handel’s Orlando, took the $4,500 third prize." - Lawrence Budmen, South Florida Classical Review

  • "Other notable moments: Bass Matthew Anchel’s forceful rendition of Sorge Infausta una procella from Handel’s Orlando." - Greg Stepanich, Palm Beach Arts Paper

  • "Matthew Anchel, 22, a bass from New York City sang "Sorge infausta una Procella" from Handel’s opera Orlando. His spirited rendition showed some particularly well-articulated passage work. He received the third prize, the Maestro Anton Guadagno Award of $4,500." - R. Spencer Butler, Palm Beach Daily News

​Griffelkin, Manhattan School of Music

  • ​"The Lions (Zachary Altman, Matthew Anchel) stole the show..." - John W. Freeman, Opera News