20 December 2007
Beeld Plus 

Thys Odendaal

Bravura! – adventurous coloratura arias

… The soprano from Pretoria, Michelle Veenemans, has obviously developed her vocal flair at her mother’s knee, with mother Barbara still involved in her coloratura daughter’s career. Earlier this year, Michelle, recorded Bravura! with mother as musical director. Veenemans is again singing rather adventurous coloratura arias, mostly known and associated with this swift and strong voice; but also thankfully included two Mozart concert arias as well as Ach, ich liebte from Die Entführung. Later, from the same opera, the “impossible” Martern aller Arten sung with less panache. Her accompanist, Paul Ferreira, seems to be as fearless as Veenemans and these two are most of the time exceptionally exiting. It is such a pity that our singers rarely have the chance to sing with a full opera orchestra …

(Newspaper review: Translation from Afrikaans to English)