Madama Butterfly, Teatro alla Scala, December 2016

 

"Maria José Siri as Butterfly unfolds so many different expressions and colours of her powerful, warmly gleaming soprano voice that in the end she is rightly celebrated as the diva."
Eleonore Büning, Frankfurter Allgemeine

“Gifted with a silver and gold timbre and a well projected voice, the soprano particularly aroused admiration in the suspensive and restrained passages...”
Marie-Aude Roux, Le Monde

“The Uruguayan soprano Maria Jose Siri was the great winner of the night. Her portrayal of the Japanese protagonist reached the psychological intensity of an Isolde."
Pablo L. Rodrígues, El País

“Regarding the voices, let us begin with the exceptional and feted Maria José Siri, a flawless Cio-Cio-San”
Stefano Biolchini, Il Sole 24Ore

"It is a big role that Maria José Siri masters with bravura. The lower register of her voice has got a pleasant timbre, in the high notes she convinces with power and emotion. She is no stranger to the Italian opera public. In 2013 the Uruguayan soprano sang the aria of hope, "Un bel di vedremo" on Italian television."
Anja Wernicke, Aargauer Zeitung

“...la voce scura e screziata di Maria José Siri al suo debutto nel ruolo di Cio-Cio-San.”
Pierachille Dolfini, L'Avvenire

“Tonight applauses had already erupted during the performance, for the Uruguayan soprano Maria José Siri (a touching Cio-Cio-San) at the end of the most famous aria Un bel dì vedremo”...”
La gazzetta di Parma

“Maria José Siri interpreted the challenging role of Cio-Cio-San with stylistic competence...”
Mario Merigo, Il Gazzettino

“Maria José Siri comes out a winner: her Cio-Cio-San is intense, vocally rich, agile and appropriate.”
Stefano Valanzuolo, Il Mattino

“Maria José Siri was a touching Butterfly”.
Lorenzo Tozzi, Il Tempo

“With evident devotion Maria José Siri faithfully follows Chailly's indications, and offers us a conscious and dramatic Cio-Cio-San, not even remotely a porcelain doll or a fragile statuette victim of the events, doing herself great credit in the long and articulated finale that dramatically ends the opera and reveal her to be an excellent actress”
Giancarlo Arnaboldi, La Provincia

“Soprano Maria José Siri was astonishing for her voice and stage presence”
“Soprano Maria José Siri has the voice and stage presence to give a very believable portrait of Cio-Cio-San, without indulging into mawkishness, a serious risk for this character particularly in Act I. In Act II the singer, skillfully guided by the stage director, offered an interpretation of rare sensitivity, which moved the whole audience. At the end of the performance Siri had gotten inside her character to such a degree that she couldn't hold back her tears”
Gabriele Antonucci, Panorama

“Alongside the Madama Butterfly of Maria José Siri, at her role debut, perfect in her strong endurance and in the heart-wrenching and total adherence to her tragic heroine's destiny, which earn her a show stopping applause after “Un bel dì vedremo”...”
Paola Molfino, Amadeus

“Maria José Siri is not only a soprano of great value, but also an exceptionally sensitive interpreter, who fine-tuned her role with a perspicacity not inferior to Chailly's in highlighting the most recondite traits of her character.”
Luca Chierici, Il corriere musicale

“Butterfly's death was particularly powerful, an extended orchestral scene during which dancers, cheeks streaked with tears of blood, attend Butterfly's jigai – female suicide by slashing the jugular – thus extending the sense of ritual.”
Mark Pullinger, Bachtrack.com

“In the title role Maria José Siri has a secure vocal delivery and that little bit of psychological estrangement that does not hurt...”
Stefano Jacini, Il giornale della musica

"In the cast, Maria José Siri's musical and interpretative calibration hits the mark. The protagonist dominates the stage with such a variety of interpretative intents that demonstrate true acting skills. She was an adequate interpreter either in the moments of solitary passion and in those when she confronts the other character. Her vocality, suitable for the role, proves to be well-founded... . Particularly successful was the final scene, where the soprano moves according to the Japanese rite of the Harakiri with engrossing formality and expressive lucidity.”
Pietro Gandetto, L'Ape Musicale

“...The South-American soprano has a beautiful voice, her delivery is homogeneous and her singing expressive...”
Susanna Toffaloni, Operaclick