"There are five performances remaining of Washington National Opera’s season-closing production of Carmen. Only one, however, is worth your time: Rehanna Thelwell will sing the title role once more, on May 27, and she is, in her role debut, a stupendous Carmen. WNO’s Cafritz Young Artist Program, which frequently offers some of its singers a chance to perform leading roles in a performance or two of each of their productions, as was the case on Sunday, is not known for minting stars. Yet Thelwell is one of the singular talents to emerge from it in the past six years. Her top-flight voice is distinctive and rangy, the center lithe, silky, and clear, and her chest voice voluptuous and authoritative. She’s a gutsy, energetic actress and her take on Carmen favors high-spirited immediacy rather than aloof fatedness. With a bit more time. . . she has the makings of a superior Carmen." – Parterre Box
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