PressQuotes

Lyric Opera of Kansas City

• Fall 2008 Giulio Cesare / Handel

"If a production of Julius Caesar can be adequately described as edgy, then Mark Streshinsky and Ward Holmquist's partnership achieved that and more via striking dramatic moments and strategic artistic choices... The genre Handel inherited and perfected was one that typically boasted many subplots, and Streshinsky celebrated to an appropriate extent each one... Baroque opera is admittedly plagued by problems of dramatic sequence, and one major complaint is that the bulk of action typically takes place off stage, only to be recounted in lengthy, speech like recitative. The aria that follows conveniently leaves a star singer alone on stage to muse (with vocal acrobats abounding) about what transpired in the preceding dialogue; to be sure, characters do not so much act as react. This formulaic cycle poses for modern audiences a predicament; we crave the visual and dramatic effect of action and cannot help but feel a little left out when a story does not deliver. Streshinsky's alternatives eased this for Saturday evening's audience: the "exit aria" convention was avoided, and there was a substantial fight scene in Act III, cleverly choreographed in slow motion and definitely worth the wait... The collaboration between musical and stage direction brought to this production an impressive range of ideas and called for more animation from (and more interaction among) peripheral characters; this option was crucial to dramatic depth and narrative continuity." KC Metropolis

Florida Grand Opera 

• Spring 2007 Anna Karenina (world premiere) / David Carlson and Colin Graham

"The production, skillfully executed by Mark Streshinsky, powerfully moves and heightens the drama taking place... The confusion and bustle of the railway station as seen through Anna's eyes, is a striking coup de theater." Miami Sun-Sentinel

 Opera Theatre of St. Louis

• Spring/Summer 2007 Anna Karenina

"Director Mark Streshinsky, who worked with Graham on the production, finds ways to bring movement and connection to the opera. The show is beautiful, with a double turntable assisting the action." St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"As staged by Mark Streshinsky, the results are certainly dramatically arresting." Dallas Morning News

Cincinnati Opera

• Summer 2006 The Tales of Hoffmann / Offenbach

Hoffmann was a visual and vocal delight from beginning to end. In an opera that is lengthy and difficult to stage, this performance had one tour de force after another... The production succeeded in capturing the supernatural mystery, magic and humor of Hoffmann's adventures in love through the seamless and imaginative staging ...by Mark Streshinsky." The Cincinnati Enquirer

• Summer 2008 Lucie de Lammermoor / Donizetti

"The bleak, dark set design by John Conklin echoed the desolation of the Scottish Highlands, and of Lucie's predicament. Mark Streshinsky's effective staging emphasized her isolation." Cincinnati Enquirer

• Summer 2009 Carmen / Bizet

"Mark Streshinsky's painstaking direction was unfailingly lively and detailed, keeping the audience continually informed and engrossed in the action." music in cincinnati.com 

Michigan Opera Theater (Detroit)

• Spring 2006  La Cenerentola / Rossini

"So entertaining is the MOT production... that you simply never think about the virtuosity required of every singer on that stage. It's a terrific show -- vivacious, colorful, infectiously tuneful and very funny... The show benefits in a thousand ways from director Mark Streshinsky's free wheeling comic style." The Detroit News

"This is comic genius on the part of the very gifted stage director, Mark Streshinsky, who did a superb job of staging the opera with extrordinarily amusing antics from beginning to end." Grosse Pointe News

Sacramento Opera

• Spring 2008 Tosca / Puccini      

"...Mark Streshinsky's straightforward production...hits the mark by letting the passions and sexual coercion bloom on its own terms." Sacramento Bee         

Berkeley Opera:

• Spring 2006 Chrysalis/ Suprynowicz (world premier)    

"Mark Streshinsky’s skeletal set, as well as his direction of Ellen’s decline and transformation, perfectly suited this opera, which deserves more productions." Opera News Online

"Stage Director Mark Streshinsky brought Ellen's plight to vivid theatrical life, Chrysalis unfolds in a series of neatly contained vignettes that shuttle Ellen between bedrooms, boardroom, barroom and shrink's office. The pacing and action is fluent and assured..." San Francisco Chronicle

"Mark Streshinsky's Stage design and direction shows the deft, light touch that characterizes Chrysalis throughout. His use of mobile screen flexability defines space, from bedroom to psychiatrist office to corporate headquarters to the bar where chorus and principals meet and gossip, silently gliding in and out and across the stage, clapping shut only once when the screen seems to swallow the figures it framed...perfect timing throughout." The Berkeley Daily Planet                       

• Winter 2004 Legend of the Ring (3 hour Ring cycle) / Wagner

The Oakland Tribune Top Ten Best Classical Music Events of 2004: #8 "Legend of the Ring, they said it couldn't be done, but somehow the ever-enterprising Berkeley Opera condensed Wagner's massive Ring cycle into a single night in March. ...directed by Mark Streshinsky and conducted by Jonathan Khuner, was fast, clever, well sung and surprisingly cogent. -Oakland Tribune

"Staged by the brilliant young stage director, Mark Streshinsky, with stunning projections by both Streshinsky and Jeremy Knight... The challenges of presenting scenes from the Rhine to Valhalla from forests to dragon's lairs to the circle of fire to the final apocalypse and rebirth of the world were masterful visual components that could stand on their own as artistic achievements. They served to powerfully propel the drama forward. It is testimony to Khuner's and Streshinsky's art that four evenings of such a work could be produced on less money than a major company might spend to build ten costumes." Berkeley Daily Planet

"...It's also wonderfully entertaining, with Streshinsky's staging lending clarity, humor and imagination to every scene. Using nothing more than three large video screens, two chairs and a large plexiglass cube, the director creates the opera's myriad settings, with palaces, caves, mountain summits, fire and water suggested in photo montage and film." Contra Costa Times

"Presented in a stunningly effective production by Berkeley Opera, this three and a half hour "potted" Ring managed to produce more goosebumps and emotion than many of the 17 cycles of Wagner's masterwork I've attended in 55 years of international opera-going... Mark Streshinsky, whose clever staging got over most of Wagner's awkward moments... produced smiles thrills and tears. Can't ask for better than that for any amount of money on any international operatic stage." Stephanie von Buchau, Bay Area Reporter

Sarasota Opera:

• Winter 1998 Faust / Gounod

"Stage Director Mark Streshinsky moved his singers with purpose and precision... his stage pictures were like old master paintings." Venice Gondolier

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