“Elizabeth Llewellyn’s peachy soprano is the perfect sound for the Countess…she moved and acted with dignity, dominating the moral and emotional high ground.”

— Opera Magazine

“Indeed, the vocal expressivity of Elizabeth Llewellyn, as the disillusioned, disheartened Countess, was one of the highlights of the evening. Both ‘Porgi amor’ and ‘Dove sono’ powerfully conveyed her distress and established her aristocratic dignity.”

— Opera Today

“Elizabeth Llewellyn’s glorious vocal sound… This was a beautiful performance from a soprano with a very special voice (described by Edward Seckerson as ‘ripening nicely.’). Both ‘Porgi, amor’ and ‘Dove sono’ were effectively showstoppers, delivered with dignity and poise.”

— Opera Britannia

“One standout vocal performance made the evening worthwhile. The Countess’s inner despair was laced through Elizabeth Llewellyn’s every note, peaking in a profoundly affecting Dove sono. It was all the remarkable for the aristocratic poise of her delivery, the raw feelings behind the Countess’s unslippable social mask.”

— Intermezzo

“Two performances stand out from start to finish. The first comes from Elizabeth Llewellyn as the Countess whose performance of ‘Porgi, amor’ is an undoubted highlight of the evening. There is a wonderful sense of style in her delivery, which sees her stand as a goddess, eternally elegant of bearing. At the same time, she conveys immense human emotion, her fragility being so obvious that one senses she could physically disintegrate at any moment.”

— MusicOMH

“There are ravishing accounts of … Dove Sono by Elizabeth Llewellyn”

— The Stage

October 2011: Jump-in on opening night at English National Opera, London:

“Elizabeth Llewellyn, standing in at very short notice for a sick Kate Valentine, is a finely poised Countess, singing both arias with remarkable beauty and poise. I was reminded of a night in 1973 when I first heard an unknown young soprano called Kiri Te Kanawa sing this role and a star was born.”

— Rupert Christansen, Daily Telegraph

“Best of all was the Countess, Elizabeth Llewellyn, whose rich-toned, agile soprano offered a level of vocal quality too often missing elsewhere; her performance was the more remarkable given that she was a late replacement, announced only on the day of performance. Following her strongly sung Mimì at the same address last season, Llewellyn here confirmed her potential as a rising star of the U.K. soprano firmament.”

— George Hall, Opera News

“Elizabeth Llewellyn, gave a superb account of the role. ‘Porgi amor’ was especially poignant.”

— Opera magazine

“But the vocal honours were stolen by Elizabeth Llewellyn. A late substitute for Kate Valentine as a word-perfect and superbly poised Countess, she fitted into the production as if she had been rehearsing for weeks. This is a golden talent.”

— Hugh Canning, Sunday Times

“The star of the first night, though, was the velvety toned soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn, stepping in movingly as the Countess”

— John Allison, Daily Telegraph

“Fortunately, Elizabeth Llewellyn was able to step in with a bravura performance. Indeed, her commanding vocal and dramatic presence in both the big arias provided blissful relief from the manic hyperactivity on stage that irritated more than it illuminated.”

— Evening Standard

“She was replaced by Elizabeth Llewellyn, her understudy, who had only sung the part once before. Happily, she did it with panache and wowed the critics, who called her performance “show- stealing”. Shaw was visibly delighted, bobbing in her seat with glee. This may be the beginning of a bright new future for Ms Llewellyn. “Expect to see a lot more of her in future,” gushes my man in the wings.”

— Matthew Bell, Independent, October 2011

“…the most polished vocal contributions come from the last-minute stand-in: Elizabeth Llewellyn, who sang the Countess with gorgeous timbre and looked poised on what must have been a nerve- racking evening.”

— Richard Morrison, The Times

“On the morning Elizabeth Llewellyn gamely stepped in and caused something of a sensation with her warm yet plaintive tone, beautiful embellishments of line and a searing depiction of this unhappy character’s emotional plight. There was wit, too. Her two arias were both high-points.”

— Classical Source

“Elizabeth Llewellyn’s smoky-toned Countess sings with a touch of class”

— Andrew Clark, Financial Times

“… leaving Elizabeth Llewellyn bravely to assimilate herself into an extraordinarily complex evening. That she did so with poise and composure and affecting vocal bloom was a quite remarkable achievement. At the close of Shaw’s staging she is every thoroughly modern woman packed and ready to walk away from betrayal but ultimately big enough to stay.”

— Edward Seckerson, Independent

“Astonishingly, the best vocal performance came from a singer who had only stepped into her role earlier the same day. Elizabeth Llewellyn has a beautiful, tender soprano voice and true stage presence… Remarkably, she played the part in a production that had never been seen before, singing words that had changed from any other time she had sung the role, as though she had been rehearsing it for months. At the end, she received the biggest ovation from the audience of all the performers and thoroughly deserved it.”

— Daily Express

“Yet stepping into this challenging assignment, Elizabeth Llewellyn undoubtedly took the evening’s vocal laurels – her rich, creamy soprano was superbly managed and deserves to take her far.”

— The Stage

“She was outstanding. Her physical and vocal poise elevated the Countess’s predicament to genuine tragedy. Rarely are the tears behind the stiff upper lip so beautifully and poignantly evoked.”

— Intermezzo, Bach Track