Jacques Imbrailo

"Jacques Imbrailo's Onegin rivals in impact and accuracy, with a fine ability to restore the coldness and psychological distance that the character establishes with those around him. The very generous vocal surface gives the reunion scene a remarkable tension and energy." Wanderersite.com

“The two men who love each other and who face each other this evening are Jacques Imbraïlo and Robert Lewis, for two roles. The incredible Billy Budd who has conquered so many international stages transforms this evening without difficulty into an unappealing Onegin, self-contained and casual. The voice, incredibly even, supple, melting, shimmering, with a disconcertingly easy high pitch (what a final G!) follows this line in a feline way. No doubt the performer will find, as he plays the role, new colors to adorn his first appearances and make this character even more complex, at first glance unsympathetic but ultimately as lost in his inner torments as the other two protagonists, notably in his response aria to the letter. But Act III shows him at full throttle, intense, steeped in passion, with a complete color chart, and as much vocal beauty as ever. In another production, another costume, a different approach, there is no doubt that Jacques Imbraïlo will soon be able to deploy in this role the spells that made his Billy so popular. A role assumption that opens up radiant perspectives.” Resonances-Lyriques

"In this theater of life, Jacques Imbrailo's Eugene Onegin is just astounding. With his sumptuous tone, with brilliance and power, he invests all the facets of it from the arrogance and the boredom of the beginning to the desperate passion of the end.” Resmusica

"Excellent work by the South African baritone Jacques Imbrailo, perhaps in my opinion the best singer of the night. He joined his beautiful timbre to a velvety song. Possessing great vocal resources, he knew how to dose them to create a highly attractive character. His speech at the gala dinner in the third scene of the first act (Ladies and gentlemen…) was extraordinary and left an extraordinary taste in the mouth." – Platea Magazine

"Jacques Imbrailo, as Chou en-Lai, is unrecognisable; from that Pelléas and his recent Billy Budd - Imbrailo manages to grow old, stoop, and still sing with the calm line that contrasts with the exaltation of the others." – Scherzo

"Jacques Imbrailo played Mao's prime minister, Zhou Enlai, who transforms himself into the human and rational part of the Chinese sovereign with an expressive song of psychological depth." – La VanGuardia

"Jacques Imbrailo’s velvet baritone was the most appealing, exceptional in the opera’s closing number as the urbane Chou En-Lai, wondering “how much of what we did was good." – Bachtrack

"Jacques Imbrailo made a superb D.C. debut with Washington Concert Opera in the title role. The South African-born baritone mined his mellifluous voice for a broad range of colours and dynamic shadings in a performance that was alternately forceful and subtle." – Washington Classical Review

"South Africa’s Jacques Imbrailo, in his D.C. debut, rose to the challenge of the lengthy title role with a penetrating, limber baritone and brooding, immediate singing that showed him particularly adept at handling the musical and dramatic demands of the role of the Danish prince bent on revenge." – Washington Post

"Great servant of Britten, Jacques Imbrailo embodies here a mischievous Ned Keene with a clear and luminous baritone voice with very controlled highs, offering a perfect vocal contrast with the Captain Balstrode.” – Olyrix

"All supporting roles also take on an uncommon thickness, each with a hardened steel personality. Like Ned Keene by Jacques Imbrailo, breathtaking in bodily liveliness – but also vocal, with a sharp verb, carried by the spells of a sumptuous baritone." – Diapason

"Jacques Imbrailo sang Vincenzo Gellner, whom Wally disdained, so perfectly that one could not help but wonder what, from Wally's point of view, would actually be against to marry him.” – Bachtrack

"African baritone Jacques Imbrailo has become the Billy Budd of choice, and he is in fine form, singing with a warmth and fullness of voice that embodies all this divine character’s strength and goodness!” – Financial Times

"... we have the definitive Billy – he’s sung this part so often he virtually owns it!!!!!” – The Independent

"As Prince Yeletsky, Jacques Imbrailo appears, he brings a beautiful nobility to it and serves us magnificently with its aria, an aria that is warmly applauded.” – Toute la Culture

"Jacques Imbrailo imposes his scenic and vocal elegance (regardless of the surrounding decor) as Prince Yeletski, by the holding of his port and his phrasing, an impeccable and light breath supporting all the ornaments of the melody but also the depths of tragedy.” – Olyrix

"...he gives every inch of himself, conveying all the boy’s fatal unawareness of his own charm and his misplaced trust in his commander’s virtue. His desperate cry of ‘Captain Vere, save me’ at his drumhead trial and his final gesture of forgiving benediction are almost unbearably moving.” – The Daily Telegraph

"That Billy of Jacques Imbrailo is superbly assured; every nuance is carefully considered, lived in and lived with, and the cumulative effect is remarkable. I enjoyed Imbrailo’s Zurga (Pêcheurs de Perles, ENO, 2016) but this performance took him into a different league. Billy’s emotional journey is huge in this performance, from his press ganging through to his tragic end with myriad stages in between. Imbrailo’s ‘Billy in the Darbies’ was heart-stoppingly beautiful…” – Seen and Heard International

"Jacques Imbrailo's Pelléas is a brilliant discovery... with an almost childish purity in the first, second and third acts, he becomes almost heroic in the fourth.” – Classique News

"Billy Budd was sung by South African baritone Jacques Imrailo in a very physical performance. There were spine tingling moments like when he heaved himself up on a downstage rope to sing his farewell to his former ship the Rights o’Man, like the viper- strike punch that felled Claggart, and like the confident, frightening ascent to his death. It was a beautifully sung, total performance that alone was the soul of this evening.” – Opera Today

"Imbrailo aced it {as Don Giovanni}. With consummate stage awareness, musicianship and skill, he turned every singer's worst nightmare into the stuff of dreams. To witness it was a privilege!” – Whatsonstage

"Charm is essential to The Pearl Fishers and Imbrailo is the only performer with the smarts, style, candour and sweetness of tone to invest every note with it.” – The Times

"He was at his best in seductive mode; his pursuit of Zerlina in “Là ci darem la mano” had a lingering, almost dangerous quality that brought the character to life. Imbrailo... really shone in the damnation scene, projecting well and bringing a frantic quality appropriate to the scene. His portrayal of the Don suggested a bored, but bold pleasure-seeker, dodging and ducking from encounter to encounter, where Imbrailo regularly deployed a wonderfully enigmatic smirk that was both enticing and repelling.” – Bachtrack

"The very sensitive and vibrant Jacques Imbrailo takes the character of Pelléas to the height of its power.” – ResMusica

"The South African baritone Jacques Imbrailo is vocally an ideal Pelléas... He intimately links each word to musical note, and every syllable coincides with the crystalline sounds of the orchestra, creating a refined, poetic soundscape. His warm timbre and luminously clear diction were used to excellent effect, creating an atmosphere that was symbolic, scary and mysterious." – La Petit Journal

"Baritone Jacques Imbrailo’s Pelléas is a virile, romantic heartthrob, with fine voice to match." – BBC Music Magazine

"...Jacques Imbrailo's energetic and expansive performance, whose extremely beautiful and warm baritone almost stole the show ... He was brilliant in his final intervention when he acted, subtle but dramatic, the final encounter of the two soldiers.” – Bachtrack

"Jacques Imbrailo’s Papageno lightened the earnestness ... his light baritone, beautiful phrasing and seductive warmth proved winning: this Papageno truly had a ‘noble heart’ ... his misery at a lack of a nest-partner was so touching that I half- expected someone in the audience to respond to his pitiable plea for a Papagena!” – Opera Today

"As Valentin, Jacques Imbrailo exhibits impressive breath control and a legato of fine quality, demonstrating superb craftsmanship in ‘Avant de quitter ces lieux.” – ResMusica