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MAX JACOB ZANDER, TENOR

What the critics have said...

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Fima Votov - Arkhipov (World Premiere)

Jacaranda Music 2022
 

Opera orchestrates human emotions into a musical language and the cast of Arkhipov succeeds in fully capturing the rage, terror, madness and hope of the event itself.[...]Michael Dunlap is memorable as Danil the cook, as is Max Zander as Fima the young sailor who cannot swim.

 

– ERNEST KEARNEY, TVolution

October 26, 2022

Pong – Turandot,

Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre 2018

 

Kudos also go to baritone Andrew McLaughlin, tenor Nicholas Nestorak and tenor Max Zander as Imperial Ministers Ping, Pang and Pong. With their vibrant, lively costumes and matching puppets, they prance through their scenes, offering welcomed moments of comic relief.

– DIANA NOLLEN, The Gazette
January 20, 2018

Andrew McLaughlin, Nicholas Nestorak and Max Zander as Ping, Pang and Pong were a tight trio, providing comic relief while impressively maneuvering through the pathos of the story.

– ZACHARY JAMES, Broadway World
January 25, 2018

Bardolfo - Falstaff

Berkshire Opera Festival 2021

Pistola and Bardolfo, henchmen to Falstaff, are great roles in the hands of comic actors/singers, and the purposely-awkward, resonant Jeremy Harr and athletic, laser-voiced Max Jacob Zander, respectively, were a delight.

– ROBERT LEVINE, Bachtrack

August 22, 2021

Other standouts in the cast include... Max Jacob Zander as Bardolfo is not only a singer but an acrobat, excelling in pratfalls and comic business with his counterpart, Jeremy Harr as Pistola. 

– BARBARA WALDINGER, Berkshire On Stage

August 23, 2021

Tenor Max Jacob Zander’s Bardolfo and bass Jeremy Harr’s Pistola, Falstaff’s robbing henchmen, and tenor Lucas Levy’s Dr. Caius, their aggrieved victim, are laugh riots all.  

– MICHAEL J. MORAN, In the Spotlight

August 23, 2021

[Falstaff (Sebastian Catana)] argues with his boon companions, Pistol and Bardolph (Jeremy Harr and Max Jacob Zander), who not only carry their vocal parts well, but get involved in pratfalls and horseplay with Falstaff.

– STEVEN LEDBETTER, The Boston Musical Intelligencer

August 23, 2021
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Berkshires Bardolfo portrait backstage.heic

And here’s the rather wonderful thing…Catana’s Falstaff was matched with a cast that shined brilliantly as well. The wacky team of Pistola (Jeremy Harr) and Bardolfo (Max Jacob Zander) were perfect Shakespearean fools. Their shifting loyalties were as much fun to observe as their physical antics.

– MATT COSTELLO, Operawire

August 28, 2021

I have rarely if ever heard such an aptly balanced Falstaff cast, with no weaknesses... Max Jacob Zander's sparkplug of a Bardolfo and Jeremy Harr's lowering Pistola completed the cast.

– DAVID SHENGOLD, Opera News

August 21, 2021

The secondary male roles – tenor Lucas Levy as Dr Caius, tenor Max Jacob Zander as Bardolfo and bass Jeremy Harr as Pistola – provided much of the lighthearted frolicking that rippled through the performance.

– RICK PERDIAN, Seen and Heard International

August 25, 2021

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Bardolfo – Falstaff,

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra 2017

 

I did though relish the physical energy of Max Zander and Lancelot Nomura, pushed and shoved all over the place as scallywags Bardolfo and Pistola.

 

– GEOFF BROWN, The Times
November 27, 2017

[Rebecca] Evans, soaring gloriously in the first-act ensembles, and [Mark] Stone, building his jealous rage in the second to a scary climax, were the other experienced reference points. There was a splendidly taciturn Pistol from Lancelot Nomura and a suitably irritating Bardolph from Max Zander, while Anna Dowsley made the most of what little chances she got as Meg.


– ANDREW CLEMENTS, The Guardian
November 27, 2017

..tenor William Morgan worked alongside Max Zander's Bardolph and Lancelot Nomura's Pistol to serve up the righ comic side dishes.

 

– DAVID NICE, The Arts Desk

November 27, 2017

Le Remendado – Carmen,

Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra 2016

 

...tenor Max Zander as Remendado, one of Carmen's gypsy companions -- showed highly competant singing.

 

– TOM ALDRIDGE, NUVO
June 13, 2016

Dr. Blind – Die Fledermaus,

IU Opera Theater 2015

 

Tenors Max Zander and Tislam Swift did their own showing off as the inept Einsenstein lawyer Blind

 

– PETER JACOBI, The Herald Times
November 16, 2015


 

Anselmo – Man of La Mancha,

Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre 2015

 

The ensemble, dominated by a strong cadre of Muleteers, is perfect throughout, highlighted by a strong-voiced Max Zander as Anselmo.

 

– JAY WAMSLEY, The Deseret News
July 13, 2015


 

Basilio – Le Nozze di Figaro,

IU Opera Theater 2013

 

Plenty of humor and voice came from [Max Zander as the music master Basilio].

 

– PETER JACOBI, The Herald Times
September 23, 2013


 

Bardolfo – Falstaff,

IU Opera Theater 2013

 

The athletically comic Max Zander and the bluff Jeremy Gussin were his minions Bardolf and Pistol.

 

– GEORGE WALKER, Indiana Public Media
April 11, 2013

 

Max Zander (Bardolf) and Jeremy Gussin (Pistola)…collectively and individually, they scored.

 

– PETER JACOBI, The Herald Times
April 8, 2013

Njegus – The Merry Widow,

IU Opera Theater 2012


Turning out strong comic performances were baritone Brayton Arvin as Baron Zeta, the pompous Ambassador and cuckold of a husband who is clueless to the infidelities of his flirtatious wife, Valencienne, splendidly played by Hanna Brammer; and Max Zander as impish Njegus, the Embassy secretary.


– TOM ALVAREZ, Examiner.com
October 22, 2012

 

As Baron Zeta’s secretary Njegus, [Max Zander] just about stole the show in the last act with a snazzy, top hat and cane song-and-dance routine.


– PETER JACOBI, The Herald Times
October 22, 2012

The ambassador is assisted by his assistant, the comical Max Zander.​

 

– GEORGE WALKER, Indiana Public Media

October 19, 2012

Flute – A Midsummer Night’s Dream,

Halifax Summer Opera Workshop 2012

 

During the performance, Flute (Max Zander) as Thisbe, who collapsed in stage fright during rehearsals, suddenly took fire in performance before the Duke of Theseus. He buzzed dangerously around the set in a long white gown with funnels for voluptuous breasts.

 

– STEPHEN PEDERSEN, The Chronicle Herald August 7, 2012

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