Best Opera Performance (Offies 2022)

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Wotan's farewell duly stopped the heart. Mark Stone, Alberich in Longborough's 2019 Rheingold, was here singing the king of the gods for the first time, having suffered a cancelled debut in Trondheim [due to the Covid lockdown]. Vocally high-voltage, this pugnacious Wotan was clearly quite the operator, observing the Volsung twins' initial encounter from his eyrie and very much dominating proceedings before melting in the final scene. (Opera)

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The cast is a strong one. Particularly outstanding is Mark Stone’s Wotan, who brings maximum tonal variety and animated articulation to his delivery: in his long narration he vibrantly relives the prior events of the theft of the gold and the forging of the ring. Laure Meloy’s Brünnhilde is impressively secure and the final scene for her and Wotan is deeply moving. (Evening Standard)

Wotan’s closing farewell to his favourite daughter duly stops the heart. Mark Stone, elsewhere a pugnacious, live-wire king of the gods, melts here while ringing the rafters at the climaxes. (The Stage)

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Wotan is at the centre of Burbach’s vision. From a high platform, the god observes the events of what is traditionally Act 1 (the evening is split into two acts, the interval coming before Act 2 scene 3), almost willing Siegmund to draw Nothung (the sword here a metal bar) from the rigging. Mark Stone's baritone demonstrated plenty of heft, projecting Wotan’s rage viscerally. Up against Harriet Williams’ vitriolic Fricka, Stone’s Wotan seemed easily brow-beaten, utterly defeated from the off. Burbach really dug into the god’s relationship with his favourite valkyrie daughter, Brünnhilde, and his long narration detailing the backstory of Alberich’s ring – a snorefest in some productions – was magnetically delivered, the orchestra providing all the motifs to illustrate his narrative thread. Stone had plenty in reserve to deliver Wotan’s long farewell to his daughter powerfully. Laure Meloy’s feisty Brünnhilde was just as superb, her “hojotohos” ringing out rebelliously. But it was that relationship with Stone’s Wotan which was at the heart of this staging, questioning his decision-making, daring to challenge him. (Bachtrack)

Mark Stone as Wotan who gives an absorbing performance of a disintegrating King. (The Reviews Hub)

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It's still a privilege to hear singing of this quality outside the big houses with their big prices - Mark Stone expressive as Wotan (Broadway World)

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Mark Stone (Wotan) and Laura Meloy (Brunnhilde) balanced the frailty of emotions with the majesty of immortality. (Queer Guru)

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Above all this is Wotan’s opera – a production stands or falls on the power and stamina of this performer. Here Mark Stone is outstanding. In a twenty-minute monologue that is the most remarkable piece of composition in the opera, he describes an arc between boastful swagger and complete despair and collapses into self-loathing that is completely compelling. He also has enough left in the tank at the end to pour out fatherly love to his daughter and reassert his authority in summoning the magic fire. It is rare to find such a complete account of the role from a singer fresh to the role. (Plays to See)

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Mark Stone was a commanding presence even before he sang, and came to dominate the production (as his character does the plot) by the end of the evening. (Sardines)

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Mark Stone made a very sympathetic Wotan, lyric in impulse but wonderfully firm of voice. Deluded and self-absorbed rather than trenchant and objectionable, there was a melancholy warmth to his performance and his account of his two great monologues was masterly. Wagner's habit of having characters recap what has already happened can have an intriguing element of Rashomon to it, but can also serve to hold up the drama. Here, Stone's retelling of what had already happened was the drama - flexible, word-based and gripping. Having a lyric voice singing the role with a smaller orchestra meant that in moments like Wotan's Farewell we got the sort of beauty of tone that is not always feasible in larger scale productions. (Planet Hugill)

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There was no doubting Mark Stone’s overwhelming presence as Wotan. His singing had the requisite volume, and his acting caught the miseries of this completely compromised god. (Classical Source)

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Towering over the show is Mark Stone's meltingly heartfelt Wotan, imperious, glorious in tone and yet finally a broken man. (Living London Large)