Michael Mofidian

"For this autumn season revival the casting of the young Scottish bass Michael Mofidian, a former Jette Parker Artist at Covent Garden, as the titular Turk piqued my curiosity to see if I had misjudged the staging last time round. Having recently made his Pesaro debut as both Fenicio in Ermione and, in concert, Lord Sidney in Il viaggio a Reims, his Rossini credentials are well established. His dark lyric bass voice has a saturnine timbre with a vocal twinkle-in-the-eye that suggests a born comedian […] his instrument has all the requisite agility for a coloratura bass, and as far as stage charisma is concerned, well, he has nearly everything. His body language was a sly mixture of toxic ‘Turkish’ masculinity with a wry self-deprecating charm; in the somewhat tired dance routines his alert, athletic movements made him stand out, along with the braggadocio and panache with which he wore his costume." Hugh Canning, Opera

"The cast is extraordinarily fine, matching virtuoso vocal technique with clever characterisation and flawless comic timing […] Mofidian sums up the macho manners of Selim both in vocal terms and in his physicality." George Hall, The Stage

"It’s not just the farce that keeps this operatic pot boiling, as there’s some terrific chemistry with barely a weak link. The developing passion between Selim (Michael Mofidian) and Fiorilla (Inna Demenkova) is wholly convincing – both singers at ease with Rossini’s vocal demands […] a charismatic, sonorous Selim." David Truslove, Opera Today

"It helps that there’s some sensational chemistry on stage. Inna Demenkova’s Fiorilla and Michael Mofidian’s Selim exchange lustful glances and lingering looks with enough heat to roast a chicken; the audience is left in no doubt that these are figures of flesh, blood and sweat. […] Mofidian deployed a bass that rippled with salted caramel notes; resonant and firm at the bottom and a glint to the top. Swaggering across the stage, he was unable to restrain a smile from twitching across his face at the sheer absurdity of much of the action; a compelling presence." Dominic Lowe, Bachtrack

"Welcome Michael Mofidian’s brilliant, uninhibited Figaro. His execration of women in his finale aria, da Ponte’s equivalent of Beaumarchais’s diatribe against the whole race of aristocrats, is delivered with such superb bravura that he may expect a visit from the non-crime hate police." Arts Desk

"Michael Mofidian’s handsome-voiced Figaro... this production’s beating heart." The Times

"Michael Mofidian’s Figaro {and Christina Gansch’s Susanna} sparked off each other well enough; Mofidian’s recitatives had punch and he came into his own in Figaro’s act four tirade against women” The Guardian

"The idyll is broken with the arrival of the Mephistophelian Nick Shadow, in the person of Michael Mofidian, dressed and bewigged in black, who sports a voice with a timbre of diamantine jet. Indeed I can’t remember a Nick Shadow - not Terfel, nor Gerald Finley - so ideally suited vocally to this devilish role. Initially, at least, he’s quite a charmer, an actor in conspiratorial rapport with his audience, who seduces us as well as Tom with his sardonic laid-back manner and elegant, athletic figure. 
If Mofidian’s Shadow - terrifying in the card scene, set in what looks like an early railway tunnel (or is it a sewer?) - is this production’s primus inter pares, he is the star of a cast without a weak link." 
Hugh Canning, Operalogue

"Michael Mofidian is a wonderfully devilish presence."
Rebecca Franks, The Times

"As ultra-baddie Nick Shadow, Michael Mofidian was persuasive, his bass-baritone immense and sumptuous."
Flora Willson, The Guardian

"From the moment Michael Mofidian came on stage as Nick, there was only going to be one winner. Mofidian has a huge voice, a combination of youthfulness and steel rare in a bass-baritone. To that voice, he added a stage swagger that was supremely confident whether faux-ingratiating or just plain malevolent."
David Karlin, Bachtrack

"The third member of the central trio is bass-baritone Michael Mofidian as Nick Shadow, who never overplays the devilish nature of the sinister tempter, his charm and humour registering as well as his menace."
George Hall, The Stage

"Best of all was Michael Mofidian as Nick Shadow. The power and seductive beauty of his voice were remarkable: in short, he inhabited the role completely, a Don Giovanni de luxe in the making."
Roger Parker, Opera Magazine

"Michael Mofidian was a noble-voiced Créon."
Victoria Stapells, Opera Magazine

"In a cast whose youth makes sense of the sex-driven fable, these eye-catching rising artists are joined by other fresh faces, including the very impressive Royal Opera-trained bass Michael Mofidian as bridegroom Masetto..."
Claudia Pritchard, Culture Whisper

“The mahogany darkness of Michael Mofidian’s bass ensured that this Christ had an implacable presence, his words imbued with conviction and truth.”
Claire Seymore, Opera Today

"Bass-baritone Michael Mofidian’s splendidly muscular deep voice brought character, truly “shaking the nations” with a darkness as black as ink. A powerfully lyrical “The trumpet shall sound” was a highlight, Paul Sharp’s note-perfect trumpet blending impeccably."
David Smythe, Bachtrack

"Promising bass Michael Mofidian sings Colline’s short aria bidding farewell to his winter coat with a simple dignity."
Richard Fairman, The Financial Times

"Michael Mofidian's grandly sung Colline [...] completed a coherent quartet"
George Hall, Opera Magazine

"Michael Mofidian (Idas / Phobétor) gives a special charm to Atys' sleep scene with its deep, black timbre, legato and breath length, bringing nobility to his few sentences."
CJM, Olyrix

"Among the other roles, we cannot ignore the bass-baritone Michael Mofidian (Idas/Phobétor/Un songe fatale) whose deep voice charged with harmonics, stamped at will, perfectly conducted, the impeccable diction recalls, in a completely different register, the admirable Samuel Ramey whose walls of the Geneva opera still vibrate with a vivid memory."
Jacques Schmitt, Res Musica

"For his part, Michael Mofidian is the most interesting of the characters, although the least exposed of the cast. His Nourabad radiates naturally, with solidity, on a remarkable dark voice. Like his male set colleagues, the Briton offers a clear articulation and diction, which makes the text intelligible without having to consult the surtitles, which is not nothing."
Sylvie Bonier, Le Temp

"…the impeccable Michael Mofidian with bronze bass in "Dark Deities."
Charles Sigel, Forum Opera

"We will also mention the beautiful performance of Michael Mofidian in Nourabad with striking bass."
Claudio Poloni, Concerto Net

"At his side, the British bass Michael Mofidian (Nourabad) also shows a beautiful vocal hold as well as an impeccable pronunciation of the French language."
Jacques Schmitt, Res Musica

"Charming, spry Michael Mofidian sounded fantastic as Nourabad, and brought lightness and good humour to every scene he was in."
Elodie Olson-Coons, Bachtrack

"Michael Mofidian's Nourabad possesses the authority and peremptory declamation of the high priest."
Paul-André Demierre, Crescendo Magazine