acclaim
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Editor's Pick, Vocal Arts Chicago:
Annie Rosen Will Crush Your Soul

"Annie Rosen is already more than an artist. Annie Rosen is a brand. Whenever I see her name in a cast list or as a soloist, I immediately pull out my calendar and check to see if I am available to attend...

...I am ready to hear Annie Rosen’s lyric mezzo — with its secure upper register, mahogany timbre, even vibrato, and generous access to well-blended chest tones — as Nicklausse, because she has got that man-child, gender-bending thing down pat; as Bellini’s Romeo, because hers is a real bel canto technique, even though she has the brains to give us all the new music (singers will understand that these are sometimes mutually exclusive skills); and as Mozart’s Sesto, because this is simply the best music ever written for that voice-type, and Rosen is technically and dramatically ready for it NOW." 

Cantata Profana, Lucretia
"This was a great evening of music theatre. Annie Rosen gave a marvelous performance, particularly in the Handel, one I shall long remember and cherish. I was impressed with her dramatic range as a singer. While most notable in the classical repertoire, she also gave a very convincing homage to the singing style of Joan Baez in “The Silver Dagger.” -Opera News

Utah Opera, Norma
"As Adalgisa, Rosen joins [soprano Marjorie] Owens in several duets that are comprised of perfectly-timed and -harmonized runs and trills that leave the audience with chills as they blaze across the stage, taking control of their destinies. The absolute perfection of their two voices is a spiritual experience. Rosen plays the sweet, innocent Adalgisa with a devoted friendship and heart-breaking kindness." -Front Row Reviewers Utah

"Also making her Utah Opera debut is mezzo-soprano Annie Rosen as Adalgisa. She captured the conflicted nature of her character perfectly. She brought depth to her portrayal as she sways between her love for Pollione and her vows as a young priestess. Rosen blended well with Burton and Owens in the duets and trio, and she is a vocally assured singer, holding her own in ensembles with the two." -Utah Arts Review

Wolf Trap Opera, The Seven Deadly Sins
"As the opera went on, I grew increasingly impressed with Rosen's vocal abilities and artistic strength...she absolutely commanded the stage and belted out her emotions...Rosen roared to life in a manner that truly grabbed me." -criticaldance.org

Opera Omaha ONE Festival, The Wreck
"Even more ingenious was The Wreck...the astonishing live performers are the alter-ego singers - soprano Mary Feminear...and mezzo-soprano Annie Rosen, in gilded mermaid makeup. Nothing is predictable...yet the narrative fits together. ...The Wreck is a persuasive expression of complex female feeling." -The Wall Street Journal

Lyric Opera of Chicago, Rising Stars in Concert 2017
"Rosen's charismatic way with Charlotte's letter scene, from Massenet's 'Werther,' made it the evening's tour de force." -Chicago Tribune

Wolf Trap Opera, The Juniper Tree
"Mezzo-soprano Annie Rosen had bone-chilling vocal power as the Stepmother." -Washington Classical Review

Lyric Opera of Chicago, Les Troyens
"Adding to the beauty here is...a most winning portrayal of Aeneas' son, Ascanius (mezzo soprano Annie Rosen, ideal in a "pants" role)." -Chicago Sun-Times

"Mezzo-soprano Annie Rosen was charmingly believable in the trouser role of Ascanius, Aeneas's son, and sang beautifully." -St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Heartbeat Opera, Kafka Fragments

"Extraordinary...a flat-out triumph for its two fearless performers. For her part, Rosen deployed her rich, vibrant tone to fill even the most jagged vocal lines with shape and allure." -OperaNews

"Rosen...resisted the urge to scream or bellow so alluring to singers of this sort of music: Her phrasing was mellow, her belief in the fragmentary and symbolic phrases assured. She can fade in and out of character at will, impassioned or spiritually crushed by quick turns. She and the various violins played by Ashworth had an intense and even physical, relationship. Both performers acted to the hilt...Rosen was never less than intensely present, and her voice is very attractive. I can see why she enjoyed this chance to demonstrate what she can do." -parterre box

"The athletic music [of Kafka Fragments] ranges from the fiercest dissonances to bits of lyric nostalgia, and the totally committed performers made it savage, moving, and - when appropriate - funny." -The Wall Street Journal

"Mezzo-soprano Annie Rosen and violinist Jacob Ashworth commanded the stage in a gripping and imaginative new production by co-artistic director Ethan Heard...Rosen and Ashworth showed uncommon stage chemistry, maintaining a musical and dramatic authority adequate to the demands of a fiendishly difficult score. ...They fully inhabited their musical parts: hers, a frenetic monodrama of enormous range...and fearlessly put across every musical gesture, never interrupting the flow of an utterly convincing stage performance that ranged in emotional state from playful to histrionic." -Musical America

Opera Company of Middlebury, The Maid of Orleans
"The catalyst for the performance’s success was mezzo-soprano Annie Rosen’s powerful performance as Joan. Not only did she deliver both strength and vulnerability through her warm mezzo voice, she created a sympathetic and irresistible Joan. It was a brilliant performance." -Rutland Herald

"Mezzo Annie Rosen inhabited the role of Joan, with a creamy voice able to command an army or to express tenderness or doubt. She had so many of Tchaikovsky’s big tunes, as well as moments of doubt and despair, and expressed nuances of her character, especially evident in the love duet with the knight Lionel, played by baritone Paul La Rosa. It was a joy in that theatre to experience the glorious sweep of the story." -Addison Independent

Chicago Opera Theater, Taking Up Serpents
"Annie Rosen’s singular gift for character portraiture turned the bit part of Kayla’s co-worker Reba into a major assignment." -Opera News

Central City Opera, Madama Butterfly
"Mezzo-soprano Annie Rosen is an absolute revelation as Suzuki... Rosen exudes pathos throughout, desperately wanting to give hope to Butterfly, showing obvious and deep devotion to her. When, at the end of the opera, Suzuki is the first to find out that all is lost, that Pinkerton will not and cannot return, Rosen virtually weeps through her singing and it is an extremely effective moment." -Weekly Register-Call

"Suzuki is an absolutely vital role that is too easy to take for granted. Annie Rosen was exemplary as Butterfly’s servant, her warm sound as comforting and reliable as Suzuki’s love and support for her mistress." -Sharps and Flatirons

Chicago Opera Theater, The Scarlet Ibis
"Mezzo-soprano Annie Rosen gave an extraordinary performance as Brother. Rosen’s voice was responsive and round; she illuminated the text with unusual intelligence and created a boyish persona that was entirely convincing." -Opera News

​"Annie Rosen has been superb in virtually every local appearance she has made on the opera stage or in concert since her time as a Ryan Opera Center young artist. It was high time this greatly gifted mezzo-soprano was given a leading part, and Rosen is absolutely sensational in the challenging trousers role of Brother.

With short hair and clad in bulky overalls, Rosen was aptly androgynous and remarkably convincing as a rambunctious young boy. Onstage for virtually the entire 95-minute opera, she wholly embodied the complex persona of this conflicted older sibling: loving and supportive to Doodle as she teaches him to walk, yet at other times harsh and cruel in her sibling jealousy—calling him a “crippled runt”—and even sadistic and dangerous. Watching Rosen staring unsmiling at Doodle, one felt Brother was capable of anything in moments of anger.
 
Vocally, Rosen was just as outstanding, wielding her flexible voice with great skill, with powerful top notes at dramatic climaxes and singing with tender sensitivity in her final duet with Doodle." -Chicago Classical Review

"Memorable and remarkable is Annie Rosen as big Brother, challenging and subversive in a role that incarnates an athletic boy’s shallow concept of masculinity. Everything that Brother couldn’t know at the time the audience feels in his place." -Stage and Cinema

"Mezzo-soprano Annie Rosen was thrilling in the “overalls” role of Brother, playing a boy who ages from about six to thirteen throughout the opera, with a total commitment to her character. She has a gorgeous, clear voice with an extraordinary color palette. She sang with talent, intelligence, and sensitivity, going from boyishly silly or mocking tones to a full, rich sound in moments of deep expressivity. Ms. Rosen is not a large woman, yet she exhibited an impressive physicality and strength as she lifted and carried the adult male actor playing Doodle around in the kind of stage action not usually expected from a female singer. Her future in opera should be brilliant. Both Ms. Rosen and Mr. [Jordan] Rutter made us completely forget that they are adults playing the roles of very young boys." -buzznews.net
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​Wolf Trap Opera, Roméo et Juliette
"Special mention should be given to mezzo-soprano Annie Rosen in a pants role as Stephano, Romeo’s page.  She shows feisty theatrical flair as well as accomplished singing in delivering Stephano’s aria; I can see Carmen in her future."  -operagene.com

"As Stéphano, Annie Rosen revealed a bright mezzo and sang her aria with flair." -Opera News

​"The young cast delivers a powerfully affecting and emotionally riveting performance...beautifully realized performances (like Annie Rosen's Stephano, the page)." -The Washington Post

Lyric Opera of Chicago, Faust
"Annie Rosen was a worthy Siébel, well earning her usually cut second aria." -Chicago Classical Review

"Annie Rosen brought a sweet, agile mezzo-soprano to the role of Siébel." -Musical America

"As the lovesick adolescent Siébel, who moons over Marguerite but also falls victim to Mephisto’s machinations, mezzo-soprano Annie Rosen sang with equal parts of technical finesse and emotional vulnerability." -Classical Voice America

"Annie Rosen was a pert Siébel who soared above the staff with ease." -OperaNews

"Mezzo-soprano Annie Rosen was a sprightly Siébel, who not only showed poise and bright sound in the flower song...but who also sympathetically sang Siebel's second aria...she is another artist in the cast who has an important operatic career ahead of her." -operawarhorses.com

Lyric Opera of Chicago, Das Rheingold
"Woglinde (Diana Newman), Wellgunde (Annie Rosen) and Flosshilde (Lindsay Ammann) arrive perched on steely cranes from which they not only sing with great beauty, but move seductively like veteran aerial dancers as they teasingly flirt with the Nibelung dwarf Alberich...(Take that, Cirque du Soleil!)" -Chicago Sun-Times

Lyric Opera of Chicago, Rising Stars in Concert 2016
"The show stealing scene, my opinion and based on the audience response, was the powerful act two scene from Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites with Annie Rosen delivering the night's most soul-crushingly vulnerable performance as Blanche." -Vocal Arts Chicago

"The Ryan Opera Center program this year has a really amazing roster of singers - in particular, a mezzo named Annie Rosen...[Her scene] was one of the best things I've seen on the Lyric stage...she broke my heart and the audience went wild." -OperaNow! Podcast

Lyric Opera of Chicago, La Cenerentola
"As Cinderella’s nasty stepsisters, soprano Diana Newman (Clorinda) and mezzo Annie Rosen (Tisbe) knocked the ball out of the park in their Lyric Opera debuts. The Ryan Opera Center first-year artists were wonderfully detestable and showed the theatrical ease and seasoned maturity of veteran performers. Both women sang superbly in their duos and ensembles and brought consistent vitality to the evil siblings’ comic shenanigans, not least the interplay with their Kardashian-esque bustles." -Chicago Classical Review

"Soprano Diana Newman and mezzo Annie Rosen, first-year Ryan Opera Center members of bright promise, had a ball with the comic shtick the director gave the silly stepsisters." -Chicago Tribune

Cantata Profana, Root Music
"As mezzo-soprano Annie Rosen launched fearlessly into “Malorous qu’o uno fenno”...a grin that fell just short of laughter spread from her face to her bare feet, rooted firmly in the floor...
[E]ach performer was carried by Rosen’s voice, which switches from honeylike to powerful and even frightening in seconds. If she is a diva, she hides it well. Part of the group members’ appeal is their utter lack of pretension. As a highlight of their 2013-14 season, she meshed with them beautifully." -New Haven Independent

Teatro Regio di Torino, L'elisir d'amore
"Giannetta è stata una precisa e intonatissima Annie Rosen, bravissima anche nell’interpretazione."
"Giannetta was a precise and perfectly tuned Annie Rosen - bravissima as well for her interpretation." -MTG Lirica