The cast is an exemplary one, too. Mark Stone makes for a suitably worn, confused Gallimard, and he sings his thorny vocal lines with impressive shape. (New York Times)

 

The cast and the physical production were first-rate. As Song Liling, Kangmin Justin Kim was exceptional, singing with fervor and appealing tone throughout his wide-ranging role and providing compelling acting in his Chinese Opera excerpts, as well as his private scenes with the diplomat. Kim was effectively partnered with baritone Mark Stone as Gallimard, who undergoes a dizzying trajectory from diplomatic underling to vice consul to being shipped back to France as a failure, while his dream world of loving and being loved by “the perfect woman” comes crashing down during the espionage trial. The confrontation scene between Kim and Stone after the trial, in which the former’s anatomical truth is revealed, was masterfully shaped, as was Stone’s haunting physical transition to Butterfly, complete with kimono, wig and white makeup, leading into the suicide. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

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As Gallimard, baritone Mark Stone fully embodied the striving and ultimately humiliated diplomat. Stone’s final aria, when he faces himself and transforms into M.Butterfly himself, was an incredibly moving performance on opening night. (Santa Fe Reporter)

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The two principals are compelling in their rendition of the above complexities. Mark Stone is a touching, nuanced Gallimard with a well‑projected baritone. (ConcertoNet)

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Both leads performed admirably ... Baritone Mark Stone as Gallimard snarled when confronting Song, but also offered tender reflections, his voice blooming up high. (The Dallas Morning News)

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Baritone Mark Stone crooned and howled with startling power as Gallimard, a punishing role featured in almost every scene in the opera … the level of sympathy he created by his sincere stage presence (The Classical Review)

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London-based Baritone Mark Stone (who sang Sharpless in Welsh Opera’s Madama Butterfly in 2021), was indefatigable as Gallimard, singing in almost every scene through the three-hour opera. In the final scene, he reenacts Butterfly’s ritual suicide with aplomb and grace, the character finally acknowledging that in the relationship he was Butterfly not Pinkerton. (Seen and Heard International)

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After an absence of 15 years, British baritone Mark Stone returns to the Santa Fe Opera to create the role of René Gallimard. Stone’s performance as Gallimard, among the longest operatic baritone roles ever performed, proved to be a tour de force. From Gallimard’s first soliloquy in which he describes his lover as “the perfect woman”, Stone displays a firm grasp of his character’s demons, including a long-standing self-deception. Much of Stone’s performance is centered in two time periods – his active pursuit of Song Liling in the 1960s and the judicial proceedings and his jailing after his arrest for espionage in the early 1980s. Whereas Song Liling, the character portrayed by Stone’s co-star Kangmin Kim, has many facets for an operatic actor to explore, Stone’s character Gallimard remain single-mindedly in pursuit of Liling as his “perfect woman”. Stone, however, effectively retains audience empathy for his character over virtually the entire opera, heightening the emotion of the denouement of the Gallimard-Song Liling relationship near the opera’s end. (Opera Warhorses)

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Credit is especially due to baritone Mark Stone in the huge role as the French diplomat … Stone has by far the largest part. This is a major role for any baritone, not to be undertaken lightly. Singing with a resonant sound and conviction he made Gallimard a sympathetic character (Sharps and Flatirons)

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Mark Stone sang with imposing distinction. This is a very long role with several soliloquies, during which Gallimard narrates flashbacks from his prison cell as he wrestles with his demons. He smugly relays that the seemingly pliable Liling is “the perfect woman” and mellifluously revels in his belief that the East is similarly “submissive” to the West. By opera’s end that has been turned on its ear, as the “virile” Gallimard becomes the sacrificial Butterfly (West), while the duplicitous Liling represents the now dominating East. Mr. Stone’s resounding, demonstrative delivery aptly conveys his “upper hand” moments as he tries to “command” his Butterfly and assert Western superiority. But he is also able to beautifully tint and modify his appealing robust sound to convey disillusioned defeat in his final, empathetic moments. His was a generously full-throated, masterful achievement. (Opera Today)

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Baritone Mark Stone portrayed Gallimard, a role created on Broadway by John Lithgow. Vocally strong and dramatically persuasive, he was ultimately sympathetic in a complicated and ambiguous role. (Musical America)

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There was a standing ovation at the conclusion; however we believe the thunderous applause was meant for the performances. Baritone Mark Stone sang the role of the duped accountant/diplomat René Gallimard with fine rich tone whilst creating a sympathetic and believable portrayal. (Voce di Meche)

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Stunning performances by Mark Stone as Rene Gallimard and Kangmin Justin Kim as Song Liling (as the Peking opera performer and the spy) capture the moral ambiguity and emotional complexity of two otherwise unappealing protagonists. (Nikkei Asia)