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| Concert and Symphony |
| "A combination of talent, imagination and expertise made the second NY concert by the L.I. Chamber Ensemble as enjoyable as its debut last year. All showed extreme sensitivity and a performance give and take ideally suited to the occasion. Their program scrupulously avoided the ordinary, each work had its own rewards, but this listener was especially taken with a Spohr lullaby, most tenderly sung by Miss Hurney". |
Spohr, Vaughn Williams, Hovhaness chamber concert New York Times
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| "The last disc features soprano Kate Hurney is what must be classed as a major work, ‘Saturn'. Miss Hurney sings with sure musicality and beauty of tone. This piece is a genuine original performed exquisitely" |
Hovhaness: New Records
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| "Soprano Kate Hurney provided some extraordinarily beautiful musical renditions of The ‘Crazy Jane' poems, with original music by George Quincy. |
Yeats Celebration, Miller Theater, NYC
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| "Miss Hurney kept to the warm and friendly approach set by the orchestra in her light and airy textures and choices. The singer's voice is clear, pliant, pure and beautifully handled. A lyric coloratura is an unusual voice and she sings an unusual repertoire, with emphasis on climbing, true highs, no forcing and exquisite tastefulness in managing the music. Miss Hurney is a master in her category." |
Viennese Night: Mozart, Korngold, Strauss -- Miami Herald
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"Kate Hurney, a titian-haired beauty attired in an emerald green gown…her delivery was appealing and Mozartean in style. She is to be commended for programming the latter rarely heard work in which there is an alpine leap of over two octaves—a hurdle attempted by only the bravest sopranos. To Korngold's ‘ Marietta 's Lied' Miss Hurney devoted special love and insight with phrasing tonal quality to express its poignancy. But it was ‘Adele's Laughing Song' from ‘Die Fledermaus' which showed off her lyric coloratura voice at its best. With delightful gaiety and carefree ease, she soared through the technical acrobatics—and in perfect pitch"
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Miami, Sun Reporter
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| "The soprano Kate Hurney was in good form, a perfect complement to the massed voices. I found her sound pure and her voice expressive and dramatic. Miss Hurney again distinguished herself in the Agnus Dei solo" |
Mozart: Coronation Mass -- East Hampton Star
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| "Particular credit should go to the soprano Kate Hurney for her musicianly and communicative singing of Claerchen's two songs" |
Beethoven: Egmont -- Steinberg, Boston Globe
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| "The public was overwhelmed by Kate Hurney's soprano which is as clear as a bell." |
Die Anzeige
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| "So the piece ( Magnificat , C.P.E.Bach) was an unmistakable treat. It had as soloists four certifiable stylists, who got directly to the meat of the music and texts. Kate Hurney's soprano had a fine, heady warmth. She and her colleagues were paying exceptional service to the firm of Bach and Sons." |
The Providence Journal
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| Recital |
| "Hurney is indeed a soprano who would fit into the Marchesi tradition: a vocal instrument that should produce notes freely from the lowest to the highest in the register without a break and with as little vibrato as possible. What's more, Hurney can add a beautiful touch of coloratura to her silvery voice as she did in her rendition of the lovely Canzonetta by Pauline Viardot/ Haydn." |
National Academy of Design, NYC Janis, Newhouse Papers
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| "In this era of ED-tech fixes, it is a great joy to hear unmiked singing. Singers trained to project sound must breathe as if the whole world depends upon it. An audience privileged to witness the notes riding forth on each released breath is able to comprehend fully the human body as instrument. These thoughts are prompted by ‘Songs my Grandmother Taught Me' a fetching fin de siècle homage. In Miss Hurney's E. Nevin she somehow managed to convey simultaneously the pathos of a child's loss and the droll reminiscence of an adult" |
Music Festival of the Hamptons
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| "Speaking of ideal, Kate Hurney has been an ideal singer of a wide range of vocal material for some time now and she continues to amaze with a steadiness of production and freshness of tone that some current competition winners might well envy. A consummate communicator of text and music is exactly what she proved to be. She had to make an immediate impression with every piece over and over again. It was a lovely afternoon; Miss Hurney and Ms. Addleman made a small area of the first decade of the last century live for us again and we thank them most heartily." |
"Music for T.R.," Roosevelt Birthplace, NYC
J. Pearce, Vocal Record Collectors
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| Society"A listener would have been forgiven for thinking time had slipped and this was a fin de siècle salon in the home of a well-to-do Southamptonite...the genteel feel of the event. Miss Hurney has a rich, golden voice and a remarkable musicality. She sings with a lightness which can be alternately playful and poignant; her impressive control was especially evident during high pianissimi. With her delightfully expressive and nuanced performance Miss Hurney proved to be the chief sensation of a most enjoyable concert." |
Southampton Press
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"Hurney, Hahn, Hurrah!
A packed house at Manhattan 's Mercantile Library had come to see how the songs Reynaldo Hahn loved to sing to friends in their drawing rooms would marry with a soprano used to reaching the back rows of opera houses. The marriage, as Kate Hurney presented a recital devoted almost entirely to Hahn's songs, proved to be a match made in belle epoque heaven. Miss Hurney negotiated every twist and nuance with brilliant intelligence and understanding and an outstanding dynamic range that translated into emotional range. Velvet but strong in the lower register, she thrilled when she ascended. All this was tied to the songs by a precise and easy French that captured every delicate blossom of the songs' intensely Gallic charms. She interrupted this full program of Hahn with a sparkling Tu n'est pas Beau from Offenbach 's La Perichole.A life-size cut-out of Marcel Proust was seen to be smiling throughout, obviously elated that his temps , thanks to Kate Hurney, is not entirely perdu." |
S. Barnett, The Proust society, NYC
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| Opera |
| "Another lovely example of singing was contributed by Kate Hurney as Astaroth. She sang the second-act aria with utmost sweetness, nicely on pitch, threw in a well-managed trill and floated her tones beautifully." |
Königin von Saba, Goldmark
Harold Schonberg, The New York Times
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| "La Hurney was really magnificent in the final aria of the first act. Her crystalline voice soared without losing its consummate sweetness and the ‘staccati' were insuperable. At its conclusion, the first bravos of the evening rang out. Kate Hurney with her smile and gestures that immediately won the sympathy of the entire audience. The great North American soprano capped the act with a high E flat the likes of which has rarely been heard here. As the last note sounded the audience sprang to its feet as a single man and gave one of the greatest ovations that has been heard in the history ofthe Palacio des Bellas Artes." |
Verdi: Rigoletto Listin Diario, Santo Domingo , D.R. |
| "Kate Hurney as Liu surprised and fascinated through the intensity of her portrayal as well as through her untiringly pure, dynamically nuanced vocal performance. Every tone of this part was unfailingly surely met. In her presence, as well as in her heartfelt, involved acting, she proved herself to be a Puccini interpreter of the highest rank." |
Badische Zeitung , Germany |
| "Kate Hurney scored her most recent success, looking gorgeous as charming Constance Fletcher and singing like a dream." |
Mother of us All: V. Thomson B. Belt
Newhouse Papers
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| "An aria from Lurline not only exemplified the decorously lyrical contours of the prevalent style, but showed the warm-toned, accomplished voice of American soprano Kate Hurney. A sustained high A flat taken softly, was impressive." |
Balfe, Wallace concert
Arthur Jacobs, The Musical Times, London
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| "Kate Hurney was perfection as the war-horse prima donna Madame Goldentrill, from the pseudo-Viennese accent and vintage splendor of her dress, to the ramrod posture and mannerisms. Like Aloysia, Mozart's beloved sister-in-law, Miss Hurney had a full voice high F, which she exhibited with assurance time and again." |
The Impressario: Mozart Music and Arts
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| "In the Hortense Schneider role he had a star, Kate Hurney. He could have relied on her twinkling eyes, her witty timing and her beguiling way with the music to carry the day. It says much for Miss Hurney..and for Offenbach 's genius..that one couldn't help enjoying Ba-ta-clan." |
Porter, The New Yorker
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| "Kate Hurney was an enchanting Beauty." |
Beauty and the Beast P.Davis New York Times
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| Kate Hurney as Eurydice proving a real dazzler." |
Orpheus in the Underworld: Offenbach
Back Stage
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| "Miss Hurney's voice soared and floated." |
Martha: V. Flotow Christian Science Monitor |
| "And Kate Hurney, for whom one needs to wish nothing as she'll go far without our help, was a fabulous Super Coloratura." |
Ba-ta-clan: Offenbach K. Oppens, Opern Welt |
