Paul Plishka: Reviews
Paul Plishka's Dulcamara is one of the Met's comic
staples, and Plishka played it to the hilt.
-- review of
Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore, New York Post
As Zaccaria, high priest of Israel, Paul Plishka sang one of the
great bass performances in the listening experience of this longtime opera-goer.
It was a privilege to hear this Zaccaria.
-- review of Verdi's Nabucco,
Michael
Redmond, The Star-Ledger
... Paul Plishka, whose robust and forceful Doctor Dulcamara
simply filled the stage and galvanized all around him ...
-- review of Donizetti's
L'Elisir d'Amore, Shirley Fleming, New York Post
The best of the soloists, not unexpectedly, was Plishka, who wielded a
robust, darkly characterful bass in the roles of the playboy, Prince Galitsky
and the compassionate enemy chief, Konchak.
-- review of 56th Grant Park Concerts,
Borodin's Prince Igor, by John von Rhein
Bass Paul Plishka, in superb voice, was ideal as the fanatical Sicilian
patriot Procida and he rightfully stopped the show with his big Act II aria
"O tu Palermo."
-- Extra Entertainment
... Paul Plishka played more the city slicker than canny quack as Doctor
Dulcamara, but does anyone sing the role more grandly?
-- review of Donizetti's
L'Elisir d'Amore, Daily News
Paul Plishka returned as Falstaff and gave a thoroughly competent,
intelligently conceived representation. He is the Falstaff we have seen before
or imagined from the past.
-- The New York Times
Paul Plishka, as the Count, was the most sonorous as well as the most
expressively satisfying of the performance's three deep-voiced singers.
-- review
of Luisa Miller, Donal Henahan, The New York Times
Plishka brings deep background to BSO's operatic endeavor. Among the most
indispensable (basses) is Ukrainian-American Paul Plishka. For nearly 30 years,
he has been a workhorse at the Metropolitan Opera.
-- Ellen Pfeifer, Classical
Music
The cast, led by Paul Plishka in the title role ... could hardly have been
better. Plishka's Don Pasquale was convincing as the septuagenarian who saw a
handsome young buck every time he looked in a mirror. His agile bass turning
nicely raspy when he was angry, this Don Pasquale was neither pathetic nor
grandiose. We could only smile ruefully at the old man who erupted when Norina
called him a peasant, and was firmly convinced that all he needed was a new
plaid frock coat and curly dark wig to become irresistible.
-- Wynne Delacoma, Opera Review
The Met's bass-of-all work, Paul Plishka, has found his most congenial role
in years as Kecal, the radically self-important marriage broker.
-- review of
Smetana's The Bartered Bride, New York
One of the great comic basses to visit Lyric Opera's stage, American Paul
Plishka, portrays the potion-peddling Dr. Dulcamara with a robust sense of humor
reminiscent of his portrayal of the title role in "Don Pasquale" here
four seasons ago. Dulcamara's "elixir," of course, is nothing but a
bottle of wine, but it still manages to work its intended magic by the opera's
conclusion.
-- review of Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore,
Bill Gowen, Chicago Daily Herald
The admirable Metropolitan Opera basso Paul Plishka making his first
appearance with L.A. Opera, sang and acted Leporello with vivid, detailed nuance.
Less an alter ego for the Don than a kinsman to Papageno, this Leporello seemed
thoroughly human and injected lively credibility into everything he did. He did
much to introduce buffo elements without resorting to any caricature.
-- review of
Don Giovanni, Chris Pasles, Los Angeles Times
Paul Plishka, as her father, sounded the very model of a Russian bass.
-- review of The Tsar's Bride, The
New York Times
