Reviews

CLASSICAL REVIEWS

"Paul Austin Kelly made a handsome and mellifluous Elvino…"
Elvino: La sonnambula / Opera Holland Park / Daily Telegraph*

"…deals expertly with an extremely high tenor role. Opera Holland Park is lucky to have him.;"
Elvino: La sonnambula / Opera Holland Park / Financial Times*

"Paul Austin Kelly's bel canto experience shows in an incisively sung account of Amina's lover Elvino…"
Elvino: La sonnambula / Opera Holland Park / The Guardian*

"Tenor Paul Austin Kelly uses his meltingly sweet voice to portray her heartbroken lover…"
Elvino: La sonnambula / Opera Holland Park / Metro*

"As Elvino, Paul Austin Kelly negotiated those perilous high–lying passages without disaster, and was sensitive and supportive in the Act 1 duets: indeed 'Son geloso del zefiro' was the vocal high–point of the evening."
Elvino: La sonnambula / Opera Holland Park / Metro*

"He brings handsome presence to the mopey hero Elvino, singing with style and honeyed tone."
Elvino: La sonnambula / Opera Holland Park / The Times*

"Paul Austin Kelly, was a spectacular soloist in Britten's 'Les Illuminations' where his operatic pedigree was perfect for the often flamboyant French text."
Britten: Les Illuminations / Ten Tors Orchestra / Plymouth Evening Herald*

"…there was some superb singing from Paul Austin Kelly, as Orlando, and Lisa Saffer — ENO's unforgettable Lulu — as the reluctant object of his affections."
Orlando: Orlando Paladino / Glimmerglass Opera / The Sunday Times*

"…Paul Austin Kelly displays a clear tone that easily negotiates his allegro passage…"
Alanar: L'esule di Granata / Opera Rara CD / International Record Review*

"The entire cast is good, with special kudos going to Paul Austin Kelly, who sings tenor music that is difficult enough and chock full of coloratura to match the Queen of the Night's acrobatics."
Nadir: Der Stein der Weisen / Telarc CDs / amazon.com*

"Kelly's Almaviva shifted crisply between the count and the student and music teacher aliases not just in manner, but in vocal quality. His "goat" rendition of the teacher Don Alonso was a splendid and appropriate exaggeration of the part that had the audience in stitches."
Almaviva: Il barbiere di Siviglia / Pittsburgh Opera*

"Paul Austin Kelly was an artfully reticent Prince Ramiro, coping successfully with his part's high tessitura…"
Don Ramiro: La cenerentola / Kentucky Opera / Louisville Courier*

"Kelly had a princely generosity of manner, easy high notes, and a never failing musicality which made his presence a pleasure from beginning to end. It's been a long time since Opera Ireland fielded a tenor of such style and class."
Don Ramiro: La cenerentola / Opera Ireland / Irish Times*

"The American tenor Paul Austin Kelly displayed a most beautiful voice…"
Don Ramiro: La cenerentola / Théåtre des Champs–Elysées / Il giornale della musica*

"Paul Austin Kelly sings the role of Harmony with exemplary taste and technique."
Il pianto d'Armonia sulla morte di Orfeo / Decca CD / Gramophone*

"Tenor Paul Austin Kelly's program of rarely recorded material by Britten and Quilter demonstrates his sensitivity to word and music."
Twentieth Century Songs / GM CD / nowtoronto.com*

"I am always interested in duets written for the same voice–type. Here are two for the tenors, by which one can differentiate between the respective vocal organs of Bruce Ford and Paul Austin Kelly. Both numbers are frisky and quick moving. Kelly, with the lighter voice, takes the upper line, but both toss off the notes with carefree effervescence."
Notturno / Opera Rara CD / International Record Review*

"Kelly is a bel canto specialist, heard in Dublin last year in Opera Ireland's La Cenerentola. He brought the same unmannered clarity and subtle, intelligent expressiveness to Schumann as he did then to Rossini's prince. There is an appealing tenderness in his voice, from the firm, baritone-like richness of his lower register to his easy, unfussy quality at the top. How well this served Heine's emotional range from quiet reflection to spiteful outburst. For contrast - and then some - the pair closed with showtunes from Richard Rodgers and Meredith Willson. Although these presented a lighter view of love than Schumann's, Kelly's performances were characterised by a winsome zeal."
- Michael Dungan / © 2007 The Irish Times / Schumann - Dichterliebe & songs by Rodgers, Willson. / Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin*

"Paul Austin Kelly matches her in a comic performance in the role of Tonio, nicely treading the line between the heroic and the absurd. He brilliantly masters the notorious eight high Cs of his cavatina, 'Ah, mes amis'."
DVD / Donizetti - La Fille du Regiment / Devia, Kelly, Pratico, Renzetti, La Scala (1996) / Reviewed by Ian Lace for Musicweb*

"Tenors Florez as Peleus and Kelly as Harmony are outstanding!"
CD / ROSSINI: Cantatas--Cecilia Bartoli, mezzo / Juan Diego Flórez, ten / Paul Austin Kelly, ten / Riccardo Chailly, cond / La Scala Philharmonic Chorus & Orchestra / Amazon.com Editorial Reviews*

"Kelly--among the best of our Rossini tenors--sings its two arias sweetly and expressively."
CD / ROSSINI: Cantatas--/--Alex Morin / Audiophile / June 2001*

WALKING OLIVER REVIEWS

"This brand of "rap 'n' roll" isn't going to knock 50 Cent off the charts anytime soon, but its blend of colorful sounds and silly delivery will undoubtedly make kids happy. The "rapping" elements of the album are the interpretations of classic children's stories but the real genius is the exceeding strangeness of a cut like "Opera Rap," which veers into Zappa territory."
Rap 'N Roll / Paul Austin Kelly / CD Review- Jon Pruett (Rhapsody staff writer)*

"Paul Austin Kelly sings with a colorful sincerity on this album of much-loved, well-known children's songs. Using a mixture of live instruments and studio tricks, he creates an inviting, friendly world that children are likely to enjoy singing along with. His phrasing tends to stay on the traditional side, ensuring instant sing-a-long success."
The Walking Oliver Sing-Along / Paul Austin Kelly / CD Review / Jon Pruett (Rhapsody staff writer)*

"Don't Want No Bones for Christmas, a perfect choice for kids and families who want to sing along, from opera singer Paul Austin Kelly on Walking Oliver Records."
Don't Want No Bones for Christmas / Paul Austin Kelly / Show Business Weekly, Holiday CD Preview 2003*

"Paul Austin Kelly, "Don't Want No Bones for Christmas" (Walking Oliver): Opera singer Paul Austin Kelly continues his collection of songs for children with this funny Christmas album. From goofy renditions of classics such as "I'm Getting Nuttin' for Christmas" and "The Twelve Days of Christmas" to a few originals such as "Don't Want No Bones for Christmas (I Want an Electric Guitar)," Kelly sings engaging renditions of carols. With guitar, and synthesizer and drums, these aren't traditional performances, but that's the point. Kelly wants to appeal to kids who are bored with all that. The CD is illustrated by the renowned Korky Paul. "
Don't Want No Bones for Christmas / Paul Austin Kelly / Druckenbrod /Pittsburgh-Post Gazette, Dec 5, 2003*

"Add to it Through Tenderwood (Walking Oliver, pounds 7.99), a CD plus booklet of nursery rhymes engagingly sung by Paul Kelly and Richard Durrant, for anyone who needs to be reminded of the tunes."
Through Tenderwood / Paul Austin Kelly & Richard Durrant / The Independent (London) Dec 3, 2004*

Hello, Michael Rosen! / Paul Austin Kelly
"I loved it! I laughed, danced along and drove my family mad joining in with it. Excellent! They've taken some great liberties with it and created something new."
~Michael Rosen*

"He [Kelly] is a talented musician who does some excellent arrangements of children's songs. Each song is entirely different, providing the listener with a wonderful variety of musical styles, and the total adds up to a great listening experience…"
Hello, Michael Rosen! / Paul Austin Kelly / The Audio Bookseller*

"Sweet Dreams" are made of these
By Gerald Haigh TES Teacher Oct 8 2004

"Something remarkable has happened here. Paul Austin Kelly and Richard Durrant of Walking Oliver––producers of classy and beautifully recorded performances of songs for children–– have applied their considerable talents to 15 wonderful poems by children. The poems were entered for the Walking Oliver Poetry in Song Competition 2004, supported by the TES, and the result is always excellent, and often truly beautiful.

For Paul and Richard, composers and performers, it's been a challenging task. Children's poems come in widely differing styles and those chosen, thought they show genuine understanding of rhythm, are mostly too subtle to just go tum-ti-tum.

Paul and Richard, though, are well up to the task. Using a combination of live playing and singing with a lot of clever studio work on a synthesizer, they pay respect to every poem.

As a singer, Paul Austin Kelly seems able to switch on anything from grand opera to country and western, with engaging warmth and clarity.

So, "Flying in My Head", by seven-year-old Lucy Humphries, a jolly number about mentally escaping from maths, gets a bouncy tune and rhythm that eventually soars freely on a big ensemble sound:

" Chase the wind and dancing, All across the ground, Always in my head it seems, Such joy is to be found."

The really hard ones to set, however, were surely those in which children poured out inner feelings that sometimes seem almost too private and too painful to touch. How, for example, to set about writing a tune to 10-year-old Lucie Shaw's "Split (You've Fractured My Heart)", about dad leaving the family home.

When everything is over
You'll be on your own.
Dad is like the gardener
Now the seeds are sown.

Paul Austin Kelly's response is to make the poem become, effectively, the lyric of a major number in an unwritten modern musical––shades of Sondheim, perhaps––and he sings it with the passion it deserves.

There are so many delights––"Maya and I", 11-year-old Katie Ebner Landy's crazy dream about a bamboo airport, turns Paul and Richard into Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, while "The Bus that has No Sheep In", by Laura Hoath, aged 10––a dream in more poignant mood––gets the jazz-funk treatment.

This isn't a singalong product (although experience tells me that when children really like a song they'll always give it a go) but it is a delight to listen to, especially with the texts to hand."

Times Educational Supplement
Teacher Magazine
March 26, 2004
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Full Barks
Gerald Haigh listens to old favourites with canine accompaniment

The Walking Oliver Sing-A-Long / Hello, Michael Rosen! / Paul Austin Kelly

"Forget the Today programme and give Terry Wogan a break and play these in your car on the way to school. I promise you that you'll arrive with a smile big enough to survive the news that you have to cover 9W for RE in the hut at the other end of the playground.

Walking Oliver started in 2002 as a company devoted to what it calls "quality music for kids." These two CDs-—there are others on their list, all aimed at children—bear that claim out triumphantly. Sing-A-Long has 25 favourites, from "This Old Man," through "Hush Little Baby" to "Polly Wolly Doodle." All those songs, in fact, that you vaguely know and wish you could find. Look no further, for here they are, beautifully sung by Paul Austin Kelly (with a little help from his friends and Oliver the dog) and immaculately recorded.

Hello, Michael Rosen! is a collection of setting of a dozen Michael Rosen poems. You wonder how some of them will work, for although Rosen's poems have powerful internal rhythms, they don't all go "tum-ti-tum" by any means. Kelly brings the trick off, though, and the result is, for example, a song like "Shmutter" ("OK, so laugh" OK, so I thought it was an English word. How should I know it isn't English?") which he renders in a wonderfully mock-apocalyptic style slightly, and appropriately, reminiscent of the synagogue. My favourite here, though, is "Mike's Wedding" –"My brother got married in an old Wimpy bar" that's performed as a joyful country-style romp.

The huge strength of these productions lies in the sheer musicianship that's on display. Kelly is a trained singer, but he has the facility, which many professionals do not, to use his voice in a range of styles from operatic to several versions of Country and Western. His "blue grass" sound, for example, is a delight—you can practically see the hand behind his ear. Accompaniments are a combination of instruments and clever studio work, and every song is treated with originality and sheer good taste.

You can use these songs in all sorts of ways—put the words up on the whiteboard or projector for example, and use them as motivators for reading. And if you already use Mike Rosen poems, then here's a completely new and fresh dimension to add to them.

Most of all, though, just enjoy the recordings. Keep playing them to the children, because there's enough inventiveness here to bear any amount of repetition."

 

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