"Seraphic."
The New York Times

"Azéma is, in her genre, as great as Callas or Fischer Dieskau."
De Volkskrant (Amsterdam)

"Soaring Beauty."
The Australian (Sydney)

Interview with Anne Azéma and Shira Kammen, 2001, University of Oregon (click to view)

• "The heavenly sound of  soprano [Anne Azéma] pierces like a sun beam"  Theatre Review (New Zealand)
• Azema sings: [her] splendidly pure voice […] floats out as if descending directly from Heaven. You could weep at the beauty of it.   The Village Voice
• Anne Azéma is an early music soprano who can move from angelic purity to down and durty. The Boston Globe
• Wonderful interpretation of the soprano Anne Azéma. Pure, authoritative soprano.
  Helsingin Sanomat, 2005
• The limpid soprano Anne Azéma rings out as though in a church.
  Satakunnan Kansa, 2005
• Soprano Anne Azema […] an angel of purity floating just out of reach.
  The Boston Phoenix, 2006
• Anna Azema canta d'una forçà extraordinària [...] en femna saberuda e sensibla, completamenta a son aise dins lo lengatge occitan de l'epòca, coma dins la pensada qu'aquel temps inquiet [...] Lo rendut es tot de clartat, d'umilitat auturosa, de riquesa musicala [...] La votz d'Anna Azema, nauta, clarisenta, carnala, d'una remirabla soplesa, tota de fòrça suauda e de color, m'encanta: demonicament angelica e cellestialament terradorenca. Trobadors, 3ème trim 2003
• Magique! Une musicienne d'exception. Le Devoir, Montréal
• Anne Azema melted every heart in the house, when she sang in a voice powerful and gentle all at once. Grand Rapids Presse
• French soprano Anne Azéma displayed an exquisite, organic, simplicity in tone that blended perfectly with the instruments. Kalamazoo Gazette
• Very few early musicians can play as palatably and still remain true to
  their traditional method of performance. Ms Azéma is the cream of the crop.
  - The New York Sun

• Much admired... an elegant voice - The Seattle Times
• Une femme blonde...avec sa voix astrale
  Le Monde (Paris)
• Anne Azéma understands perfectly how to bring her audience under the spell of Medieval love poetry.
  Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
• Azéma proved herself a femme fatale, the possessor of a vocal dynamism almost so passionate as to make one blush when that was the effect she sought.
  Spokane Chronicle
• Azéma has claimed her French birthright with singing that uniquely mixes text- oriented delivery with vocal techniques that draw their inspirations from instrumental colours. Her approach combines high musical sophistication with an earthy directness of delivery. As singer and actress she gives free rein to unhibited imagination. In Saturday night's concert she delivered the most individual and compelling singing of the official Festival.
  The Boston Globe
• La chanteuse aux mille vocalises.
  7 ŕ Paris
• A most accomplished singer, Anne Azéma, is a riveting narrator. She manages to express, both in song and in words, intense passion, delight and longing in delicate detail. A breath of fresh air.
  Gramophone, London
• Talented and scholarly Azéma surpasses herself [in The Unicorn].
  Stereophile
• Anne Azéma, a personality, a communicator, a singer who expresses herself through the words.
  Early Music Review, London
• The singer Anne Azéma is the right person to clarify and actualize the hazy contours of the music of the Middle Ages, by the penetrating way in which she manages to link word and music.
  Listening to this fascinating and beautifully composed program of early French lyrics, one realizes that the music functions as an intensifier of the declamation. By constant interchange between recitation and singing, her strinkingly natural use of the voice, her relaxed, quasi improvisational style of singing and her suggestive diction, she brought the distant world of the French Trouvčres close to the listener.
  De Volkskrant, Amsterdam
• Ms Azéma [has been] long admired for her vocally lustrous and expressive
  performances of medieval and early Baroque music." -- The New York Times
• "A spiritual reflection... The clear and expressive voice of Anne Azéma
  finds the right tone each time: by turns mystical, playful, lively and even
  violent, when reprobation overwhelms the poet. Rigor and vigor appear equally
  in the inspired vielle accompaniments of Shira Kammen, collaborator on each
  of Anne Azéma's recordings, and an indispensable factor in their success."
  -- Répertoire, Paris
• "Anne Azéma has a radiant voice... great dramatic presence.. a climate of
  joy", -- Le Monde de la Musique
• "A most beautiful voice; great musicological and philological rigor " --
  CD Classica, Italy
• "Anne Azéma is magnetic. A clear, confident voice that stands above the
  rest" --- The Vancouver Sun
• "Period instruments [played] with pertinent grace and dancing, rhythmic
  point." -- The Los Angeles Times.
• "Beautiful and generous, with just the right touch of sensuality and
  warmth that has for too long been absent in this kind of singing; the
  instrumentation is ingenious." -- Télérama, Paris
• "Azéma is an exceptionally appealing and charismatic performer. Her
  soprano can both penetrate like a saber and float like a seraph. Her diction,
  too, is exemplary in its clarity." -- The Boston Globe
• "What a voice! A devotee of early styles, she sings full-throated and
  open, with a warm, rich welcoming tone..." -- The Boston Herald
• "An extremely well conceived program. With the marvelous colors of her
  voice, Azéma is our guide: imagination, fervor, suavity and rigor are the
  essential virtues of her interpretation" --- The Montpellier (France) Gazette
• "The instrumental contributions where intelligently designed by Shira
  Kammen" -- Music in Concert, USA
• "Anne Azéma sang celestially" -- The Boston Globe
• "The performances were riveting. Azéma is a marvelous communicative
  artist. Spoken and sung excerpts feature wonderful poetic texts (which Azéma
  recited with as much vividness as she brings to her singing)"-- The Boston
  Globe
• "This French soprano is a fine artist…purely tuned, steady, vivid
  singing" -- The New Yorker
• "A clear, fresh voice and compelling narrative power"-The Los Angeles Times
• "The program was sacred music of a very interesting sort. These were pieces
  that questioned faith, rejoiced in it and feared it. Delicate love songs,
  angry tirades and ballads telling religious legends were part of this
  collection of sacred music of the troubadours of the Middle Ages.
  Most of the program featured Azéma, whose voice is a remarkable instrument.
  She fades to a fragile, vulnerable whisper in any register and then throws
  back her head to fill the hall with cries of heartache. Her straight tones
  and fluid ornaments underscore a musical sensitivity that is simply
  captivating. Hearing her perform this repertoire, one can't help but think
  that this is what an illuminated text would sound like if it could be heard
  instead of seen. The texts in he performance are shaded and highlighted, and
  phrases are perfectly sculpted, and the diction is impeccable. Beyond these
  technical details, Azema creates a connection with her audience. She tells
  tales as she sings with the ease of a folk singer, transcending the language
  of the texts with the sheer passion of her delivery"-- The Milwaukee Sentinel
• "Azéma conveys both freshness and sophistication"- The Washington Post
• "Style volontairement hiératique, d'une clarté pénétrante" Les dernières nouvelles d'Alsace
• "Une voix constellée d' étoiles" Hebdoscope, Strasbourg
  

Anne Azéma, soprano
in the Boston Camerata's "Tristan and Iseult"

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