Rossini: Le Comte Ory
 Juan Diego Florez (Comte Ory), Diana Damrau (Comtesse Adele), Joyce DiDonato (Isolier), Susanne Resmark (Ragonde), Michele Pertusi (Tutor), Stephane Degout (Raimbaud)
 Orchestra and Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera, Maurizio Benini

BBC Music Magazine June 2012
“Sher's production is wise, witty and completely faithful to the spirit of the piece...Damrau is peerless, giving a bravura comic performance made from winks and nudges, heavy theatrical sighing and a heaving bosom. Rossini's music might have been written for her diamond-bright coloratura and gravity-defying top notes. Joyce DiDonato is equally fine...And who could ask for a more winning Ory than Juan Diego Florez?...Delicious.”

Gramophone Magazine July 2012
“Not since Juan Oncina at Glyndebourne in the 1950s has there been a singer better able to cope with the phallocentric Count's stratospheric billings and cooings than Juan Diego Florez. Diana Damrau, a coloratura possessed of breeding as well as presence, makes a superb Countess Adele, and the irrepressible Joyce DiDonato gives a properly testosterone-fuelled performance...Benini directs the Met's Rolls Royce pit band with brisk efficiency.”

International Record Review June 2012
“What a cast the Met has put together!...[Florez is] handsome, sly and tonally easy...[Damrau] acts with just the right oxymoronic ladylike lust...there seems to be nothing [DiDonato's] voice cannot do and she moves as if she owns the stage...Benini managed to keep the many disparate parts together and leads with great consideration for the singers.”

Presto Classical 9th April 2012
“the Met have assembled a real dream-team here. Diana Damrau’s fulsome Countess exudes an almost Carry-On-style naughtiness under her regal veneer, Joyce DiDonato is swashbucklingly ebullient as the Count’s page and Juan Diego Florez...is all rakish insouciance...Shades of Blackadder and Monty Python? Undoubtedly. Scintillating singing and knockabout good fun? See my previous answer.”