CENDRILLON

ROYAL CONSERVATOIRE OF SCOTLAND

  • "The title role of Lucette, nicknamed Cendrillon, is huge, with a host of demanding arias and also duets with her father, the Prince and the Fairy Godmother.  Soprano Nikki Martin, whose enchanting portrayal of the fey gentle Monica in Menotti’s ‘The Medium’, I praised in November rose to the challenge."

  • "Nikki delivered a full and complex characterisation with moments of melancholy, self-doubt, longing, enchantment, determination, forgiveness, joy and elation, all with excellent French diction and unwavering fidelity to Massenet’s captivating but demanding score. Unforgettable."

  • "Nikki Martin made a lovely Cinderella.  Tall and elegant, she has a glowing, rounded soprano tone, perfectly suited to projecting those sections of her music that require a tinge of melancholy soulfulness, but still able to project the joy required as the clouds lift."

  • "The title character is also, naturally, a soprano, and Nikki Martin was perfectly cast in the role."

IDOMENEO

ROYAL CONSERVATOIRE OF SCOTLAND

  • "Soprano Nikki Martin, a delightful Cendrillon a few weeks ago and an enchanting Monica in Menotti’s ‘The Medium’ in November, was a stunning Ilia.  She opens the opera with her aria ‘Padre, germani, addio’ revealing much of the ‘story so far’, and we learn of her love for Idamante, despite her being her ‘enemy’, but believing that Idamante only has eyes for Elettra, the Princess of Argos."

  • "At the beginning of the second part and immediately prior to the love duet, she is tending the garden and in her beautiful aria ‘Zeffiretti lusinghieri’ asks the caressing breezes to carry her love to Idamante, who then arrives.  This aria stood out for me as pretty well perfect and confirmed for me that Nikki can surely have her pick of Mozart soprano roles."

  • "Her ‘Padre, germani, addio’ set the scene well for an evening of outstanding singing. The aria by the Ilia of Nikki Martin was beautiful in its tessitura and strong projection as she was forced to sit against the stairs."

  • "Nikki Martin, the Ilia, is the important sympathetic character, and she made an excellent impression in a number of important solos."

THE MEDIUM

ROYAL CONSERVATOIRE OF SCOTLAND

  • "Soprano Nikki Martin’s sweet-voiced Monica tried to calm things with her lullaby “the black swan” 

    Here emerging singers and players created a thrillingly taut evening, finely done."

  • "Nikki Martin made an excellent impression as Monica"

  • "A fine actress, blonde-haired soprano Nikki Martin as Monica was well suited to the role, employing a bright voice with clarity, Martin conveys an appealing girlishness matched by her light blue party dress. Standing out was her aria Monica’s Waltz where Monica responds to Toby’s indication of his love and her deeply felt reaction."

  • "Nikki’s portrayal of the incomprehensibly gentle Monica was a delight and her Act 1 lullaby to calm the volatile Baba was unforgettable."

CENDRILLON

BUXTON INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL

  • "Nikki Martin was a silver voiced Cinders… The best 75 minutes I’ve spent in ages"

  • "But everything else works admirably, from the fin-de-siècle designs to the individual performances, especially Nikki Martin’s winning account of the title role"

  • "...but this young Buxton International Festival is full of vocal promise, with it’s central pair – Nikki Martin as Marie and Camilla Seale as Prince Charming – making the romance ring true."

  • “…so winningly sung that it would be unfair to single out any of the seven--strong cast if Martin hadn’t soared above the crowd with such poignant, spun-sugar clarity and sweetness.”

  • "Nikki Martin brings an appealing, soft-grained soprano to the title role…"

  • "The performance overall is measured, not particularly playing up the comic aspects of the dialogue or plot, other than to let the quiet sincerity of Cinderella and the Prince come through – ably realised by the unaffected simplicity of Nikki Martin and Camilla Seale’s performances respectively – amidst the deliberate persiflage and bombast of the other characters."