“...gifted and always persuasive Rowan Pierce”
Opera Magazine
“…a totally lovely performance from Rowan Pierce.”
David Nice, The Arts Desk, October 2024
“Dede is a pivotal role in this piece … (&) was sung with great sympathy by Rowan Pierce, her clean bright soprano like a burst of sunshine…”
★★★★ Stephen Pritchard, Bachtrack, October 2024
“…Rowan Pierce plays the younger sibling, Dede. Her voice has a bright-toned sparkle & with plenty left in reserve if she needs to move into a higher gear. Pierce gives a strong dramatic reading of her character’s emotional rollercoaster, moving from grief to childish high-jinks, flirting with her father, to finding love in the arms of her brother’s lover… The singers were all very fine & are the stars of the future. This double bill is a must see.”
Dr Adrian York, London Unattached, October 2024
“…Pierce, a wonderful soprano, catches the understandable desire of Dede to be uncomplicatedly loved…”
Gary Naylor, Broadway World, October 2024
“Her singing technique is flawless, demonstrated by her glittering coloratura in an aria by Thomas Arne, but she brought out the folksiness of Haydn and Beethoven’s simpler songs…Sincerity showed through too.”
Simon Thompson, The Times, July 2023
“Pierce in particular finding pain & anxious laughter in that lovely lucid voice.”
Richard Bratby, The Spectator, October 2024
“No less believable is Pierce, whose beautifully sung Dede brings essential healing to old wounds.”
David Truslove, Opera Today, October 2024
“Rowan Pierce’s Dede (is) sweetly compelling.”
Flora Willson, The Guardian, October 2024
“…The adroit and touching Rowan Pierce.”
★★★★ Fiona Maddocks, The Guardian, October 2024
“…Rowan Pierce was all prickly attitude & underlying need in another astonishing performance.”
Robert Hugill, October 2024
“Rowan Pierce not only incarnated a teenage boy incredibly and sang his arias with style, accuracy and engagement, but she made you care about his fate.”
Robert Hugill, July 2022
“As Oberto, Rowan Pierce’s bright tone complemented her gamine persuasiveness.”
Claire Seymour, Opera Today, July 2022
“A more natural approach is taken by Rowan Pierce as the Cherubino-like boy Oberto, a really eloquent voice.”
Nicholas Kenyon, The Telegraph, July 2022
“Rowan Pierce is delightful as the boy Oberto.”
Richard Fairman, Financial Times, July 2022
“Soprano Rowan Pierce’s vocally shining Oberto stirs the emotions.”
Michael Church, inews, July 2022
“… silver-clad Rowan Pierce (was) commanding throughout with an open-hearted full range sound that never seemed anything but young and glorious. The manner in which she decorated the da capo section with principal trumpet David Blackadder felt improvised and thrillingly so; it was the evening's most brilliant fun especially when they nailed their brief cadenza, Pierce shone the whole evening. Her sprightly ‘Rejoice greatly’ had been one of the highlights of the first half, her fast passagework immaculate and matched seamlessly by the six violins as if they were one. She held back decoration until it could make maximum impact, not as a contest but a legitimate dramatic device, and quite overwhelmed the audience which responded with their biggest applause of the night. She and Blackadder would close the concert with a knockout performance of Bach's Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen! cantata and then did her best work of the night in her encore, Handel’s ‘Eternal Source of Light Divine’.”
Laurence Vittes, Bachtrack, December 2019
“Rowan Pierce was a luxuriously vibrant Cupid.”
Claire Seymour, Opera Today November 2019
“Walking onto the platform to sing ‘Rejoice greatly O daughter of Zion’ from Messiah came rising star and multi-prize-winning soprano Rowan Pierce, whose astonishing voice instantly produced, with its sonority and texture, one of those overwhelming effects for which Handel is so famous.
The first half of the concert concluded with Gloria in Excelsis Deo… It’s an ecstatic, joyful piece in which Rowan Pierce was able to demonstrate the sheer range of her technique, coping effortlessly with the soaring opening as well as the earthy tread of the following passage, ‘Et in terra pax’.
Handel’s Gloria and Amen, Bach’s Alleluja require from a performer extreme levels of virtuosity. And of course we are lucky to have as their interpreters singers of the calibre of Rowan Pierce... Rowan’s journey through the programme provided us with moments, each more exquisite than another – a highlight was surely her emotive Aria, ‘Höchster, mache deine Güte’, the second from the Bach cantata.
Such music, such performances, made this truly an evening to cherish.”
John Gilroy, Cambridge Independent, October 2019
“Pierce’s voice is delicious: clear, strong, supple, with sparkling top notes and a warm, textured middle and low register. She’s mistress of her words, bending vowels and clipping consonants to maximise rhetoric, whether desperate urgings or whispered promises…Pierce is a poised and charming artist… “
BBC Music Magazine, May 2019
“Pierce uses a highly effective range of vocal colours, ranging from a deliberately blanched tone to a much fuller and richer sound and she successfully walks the thin line between sounding either too sophisticated or too guileless. Her diction is outstanding.“
Opera Now, April 2019
“…its orchestration as icy and eerie as its subject matter: multiple tuned percussion, gusts of wind machine and the vocalising of solo soprano - here the exquisite Rowan Pierce - and women of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic choir.”
Fiona Maddox, The Observer, June 2019
“Rowan Pierce, currently a Rising Star at OAE and an ENO Harewood Artist, has never once disappointed, and this is no exception. The combination of freshness of voice and freshness of looks makes her perfect for the role, which she inhabits like a second skin. Pierce may well be associated in many people’s mind with early music, but this Bunyan proves she is no one-trick pony.”
Seen & Heard International, Colin Clarke, May 2019
“Pierce, already an established favourite in Scotland… was on exquisite narrative form…”
Keith Bruce, The Herald, April 2019
“Thomas Oliemans, in guano-covered overalls, is a touching, foolish Papageno who finds an equally touching, awkward Papagena in Rowan Pierce.”
Amanda Holloway, The Stage, March 2019
“A wonderfully theatrical performance by Dutch baritone Thomas Oliemans as the bird-catcher Papageno, with ENO Harewood artist Rowan Pierce a delight as his little Papagena.”
Mark Ronan, Theatre Reviews, March 2019
“She may be petite, but soprano Rowan Pierce is evidently more robust than many sopranos.”
Keith Bruce, The Herald January 2019
“Pierce’s rich, lovely soprano made a gorgeous foil to the fizzing orchestral accompaniment.”
Simon Thompson, Seen & Heard International, February 2019
“Rowan Pierce, sounding crystalline as Belinda”
Erica Jeal, The Guardian, October 2018
“Rowan Pierce’s pure, fabulous voice illuminated ‘So when the glitt’ring Queen of Night’ like a shaft of silvery moonlight.”
“It was wonderful to see Rowan Pierce as Belinda, her ‘Shake the cloud from off your brow’…fresh of rhythm and entirely within the part right from the start. Again, that purity of voice was married with an accuracy that is a constant source of delight.”
Colin Clarke, Seen & Heard International, October 2018
“Rowan Pierce was superb as Belinda, conveying the lady-in-waiting’s vivacity, directness and integrity both through her dramatically sensitive phrasing and the way in which she bestowed her puppet-mask with a freedom of movement.”
Claire Seymour, Opera Today, October 2018
“…the stunningly radiant voice of soprano Rowan Pierce in four Strauss songs.”
Ken Walton, The Scotsman, September 2018
“Rowan Pierce’s Tiny shine(s) particularly brightly.”
George Hall, The Stage, September 2018
“…particularly lovely singing from Rowan Pierce.”
Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph, September 2018
“Rowan Pierce is also a ENO Harewood Artist and looks and sounds the perfect Tiny, daughter of Paul Bunyan. …You feel she was born into the role. “
Seen and Heard International, September 2018
“…Rowan Pierce as Tiny, Bunyan’s daughter—her aria was put over with glowing tone and an impeccable line…”
Brian David, Opera Canada, September 2018
“…the adorable Rowan Pierce, a deluxe Barbarina.”
Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times, June 2018
“Rowan Pierce’s brightly eloquent soprano helped to make her shepherdess Dorinda …the character I felt most sorry for.”
Geoff Brown, The Times, February 2018
“Rowan Pierce stood out in the role of Iris.”
Hannah Nepil, Financial Times, October 2017
“Rowan Pierce gave a heart-piercing account of ‘O let me weep’.”
The Independent, October 2016
“The quality of voices on display is consistently remarkable, though Rowan Pierce especially dazzles as a deft coloratura Princess.”
Alfred Hickling, The Guardian, October 2015