PRESS
The Armed Man - A Mass for Peace by Karl Jenkins, Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, 2023
"Mezzo-soprano Amanda Crider delivered a heart-rending “Now the Guns Have Stopped” full of the pain of loss — and the guilt of surviving."
Orlando Sentinel - Matthew J. Palm
Le Comte Ory, Opera Southwest, 2023
"Amanda Crider was also perfect in the comedy surrounding Isolier, with a funny mustache drawn on her lip. Isolier’s Act 1 aria, “Une dame de haut parage” is, however, no joke coloratura-wise, and Crider brought it off with great panache. I loved the way the production played with her petite frame, as the taller Adele picks her up and swinging her around in the finale. But Crider’s voice belied the diminutive size of her person; it is big and rich."
Donizetti Society - Charles Jernigan
Enlightenment Festival, Seraphic Fire, 2023
"In the aria, "Bereite dich Zion," Amanda Crider shaped the arching vocal lines in exquisite mezzo tones, her ornamentation accurate and polished.”
South Florida Classical Review - Lawrence Budmen
Handel's Messiah, Seraphic Fire, 2022
"Among the female voices, Amanda Crider stood out. Her rich timbre, agility and finely chiseled shaping of long phrases ennobled “O thou that tellest” and “Thou art gone up on high.”
South Florida Classical Review - Lawrence Budmen
A Survivor's Odyssey, White Snake Projects, 2021
"Amanda Crider created a Penelope of great complexity, capturing both the fragility of a woman who lives in constant fear of her life and the all-consuming love of a mother. As compelling a singer as she is actress, Crider sang with simplicity and style, her mezzo-soprano always pure."
Seen and Heard International - Rick Perdian
Allure: The Three Amandas, Apollo's Fire, 2020
"Sopranos Amanda Forsythe and Amanda Powell and mezzo-soprano Amanda Crider deliver the kind of jaw-dropping performances of virtuosic works that might well have landed them jobs at the 17th-century Ducal court."
Cleveland Classical - Daniel Hathaway
Mozart and Monteverdi, Seraphic Fire, 2021
"...the vital solo quartet’s role was ably traversed by some of the choir’s standout vocalists. Amanda Crider’s burnished mezzo beautifully complemented Richardson’s florid timbre."
South Florida Classical Review - Lawrence Budmen
Paul's Case Original Case Recording, 2019
“It begins with Paul’s awkward encounter with his English Teacher (mezzo Amanda Crider), whom he leads down the aisle. Once seated, Crider sings, with agility, an aria about the pleasures she has missed out on in her life…The three women do beautiful work in their multiple roles as Paul’s reproving teachers, the opera singers, and the maids.”
Opera News - Joshua Rosenblum
Bach b minor Mass, Apollo’s Fire, 2019
“The vocal soloists were splendid. Soprano Amanda Powell, mezzo-soprano Amanda Crider, tenor Jacob Perry, and baritone Jesse Blumberg each spent several radiant moments on a platform at the front of the stage rendering solos and duos with consummate beauty and real feeling.”
Zachary Lewis - The Plain Dealer
“The principal soloists — soprano Amanda Powell, mezzo-soprano Amanda Crider, tenor Jacob Perry, and baritone Jesse Blumberg, joined by a few others not acknowledged in the program — made ravishingly beautiful moments of their solos and duets.”
Cleveland Classical - Daniel Hathaway
Poppea, Florentine Opera, 2019
"There is star acting from mezzo Amanda Crider as Poppea. She is not just fetching in her seductive manner and sly power to corrupt, but potent in her crystalline voice while also melding so exactly with an elegant tenor, Karim Sulayman as Emperor Nerone. Their duets – yearning and playful – are a centerpiece."
Urban Milwaukee - Dominique Paul Noth
"With an amazing central cast and fine group of supporting actor-vocalists, this Florentine production pushes all our emotional buttons. First is the title character, the conniving-yet-quite-enamored Poppea, here superbly sung and acted by mezzo-soprano Amanda Crider."
Shepherd Express - John Jahn
"Amanda Crider’s ringing, colorful sound and constant, flawless musical direction, in the role of Poppea, were a beautiful match to Karim Sulayman’s warm, soft-edged sounds in moments of tenderness, and cold, driven sounds elsewhere, in the role of Emperor Nerone. They delivered an absolutely gorgeous wedding duet.”
Journal Sentinel - Elaine Schmidt
“Florentine Opera’s Poppea, mezzo-soprano Amanda Crider, wielded beauty and charisma with scheming acumen. In her opening scene with Nerone, the efficacy of every syllable of her ‘Signor, deh non partire’ was carefully considered. Her affection for the emperor may well have been unfeigned, but it was employed as a means to her end. Crider sang ‘Speranza, tu mi vai il genio lusingando’ bewitchingly, her daring increasing as Nerone’s infatuation with her grew more insurmountable. Repeating ‘No, non temo, no, di noia alcuna’ like a mantra, Crider’s Poppea blissfully defied Arnalta’s warnings about the changeability of the emperor’s heart. Crider tightened Poppea’s grip on Nerone with a tantalizing voicing of ‘Come dolci, signor, come soavi,’ her words targeting his ego as accurately as his libido. In her interview with Ottone, though, there was a glimmer of the woman Poppea was before obsession with winning the imperial crown honed her ruthlessness. The mezzo-soprano sang ‘Chi nasce sfortunato’ with annoyance, but there were passages in which pity for Ottone softened her demeanor. Rejoicing in accomplishing her goal to be empress, this Poppea’s elation shone as resplendently as the gold with which she was adorned. The pulchritude of Crider’s vocalism in the concluding duet with Nerone, ‘Pur ti miro, pur ti godo,’ was spellbinding. One of the production’s most effective contrivances was bringing all of the characters affected by Poppea’s intrigues back onto the stage to witness her coronation, and Poppea’s final encounter with Ottone as he gravitated to her but was supplanted by Nerone just before making contact was emotionally devastating. Crider’s Poppea was deceitful and unscrupulous, but this imaginative artist also disclosed the vulnerability and humanity that make Poppea one of opera’s most engrossing protagonists.”
Voix des arts - Joseph Newsmen
Orfeo, Apollo's Fire, 2018
"Amanda Crider’s burnished mezzo-soprano gave authority to Speranza — Orfeo’s supernatural guide."
David Kulma - Cleveland Classical
St. Matthew Passion, Seraphic Fire, 2018
A spectacular example of communal virtuosity was the exquisite duet, “So ist mein Jesu nun gefangen,” in which soprano Nola Richardson and alto Amanda Crider joined forces.
Greg Stepanich - Palm Beach Arts Paper
Persona, Los Angeles Opera, 2017
"This is not quite a one-woman opera, but everything does necessarily revolve around mezzo-soprano Amanda Crider’s complex Alma."
Mark Swed - Los Angeles Times
"Crider’s performance was a tour-de-force for its sustained vocal luster, dramatic variation, and sheer amount of singing."
Jim Farber - San Francisco Classical Voice
“But it's Alma, played by mezzo-soprano Crider who must carry the show on her musical shoulders and she delivers a stunning performance, both as singer and as actress. Crider doesn't miss a beat capturing the emotional complexity of Alma's character while traversing the complexity of Keeril Makan's score."
Loren Lester - Schmopera.com
Greek, Boston Lyric Opera, 2016
"Mezzo-soprano Crider is the true star here, making her BLO debut, particularly in a sex-charged fever dream by Eddy where she crawls around and on top of him in a violent lust, accenting her notes as if she were pinning Eddy down with them."
Landry Harlan - Boston University New Service
"Mezzo-soprano Amanda Crider, in her BLO debut, spiked her voice with a steely edge as the Waitress who becomes Eddy’s wife. However, the best moment for both women arrived when they oozed together in a grotesque burlesque, playing a kinky, two-headed Sphinx that Eddy vanquishes near the end."
Zoe Madonna - Boston Globe
Persona (Boston Premiere), Beth Morrison Projects, 2016
“And at the heart of this production was Amanda Crider’s nuanced performance as Alma. She conveyed with often-gleaming vocalism the slow unmasking of a self. Her role is a study in fantasies of escape through fissures of identity, and through manifold desires for otherness: other selves, other futures, other pasts.”
Jeremy Eichler - Boston Globe
Die Fledermaus, Florentine Opera, 2016
"Mezzo Amanda Crider was right up there too, with a skillful handling of those tricky vocal fillips in Orlofsky’s couplets"
Mark Thomas Ketterson - Opera News
Persona (World Premiere), Beth Morrison Projects, 2015
"The Mezzo-Soprano, Amanda Crider, made a winsome, vulnerable, and when the story turns dark, wildly volatile Alma, who for long stretches carries the entire opera, since Elisabet does not speak. Ms. Crider sang with deep expressivity and impressive stamina."
Anthony Tommasini - New York Times
"The eloquent Ms. Crider carried the evening in a monologue that started out plain and slowly gathered force and texture as Alma's identification with her patient grew increasingly complex and malevolent"
Heidi Waleson - Wall Street Journal
La Cenerentola, Opera Roanoke, 2015
“Amanda Crider earned warm applause for her depiction of Cenerentola, a role that grows more challenging throughout the opera, as Cenerentola transforms from a servant girl to a princess. Crider was equally moving in Cenerentola’s opening solo “Una volta c’era un re” and in her final, coloratura aria “Nacqui all’affanno.”
Matthew Franke - The Roanoke Times
“Mr. Blalock had in mezzo-soprano Amanda Crider an Angelina fully worthy of the Prince’s devotion. Starting with a lovingly-phrased voicing of the haunting 'Una volta c'era un re,’ Ms. Crider carved in the frothy context of Opera Roanoke’s production a deeply-felt, warmly feminine Cenerentola who was down but never out. The girl’s budding love for the disguised Prince resounded in Ms. Crider’s singing in the duet with Ramiro, 'Io vorrei saper perchè il mio cor mi palpitò,’ her coloratura in the lower octave expressive of her suspicion of new emotions, and she phrased 'Una grazia, un certo incanto par che brilli su quel viso' with fervor. The simplicity of her shaping of Angelina’s pleas to her stepfather in the Quintet, 'Signor, una parola,' was moving, and her cry of 'Ah! sempre fra la cenere, sempre dovrò restar?' was heartbreaking. The Act One Finale prompted Ms. Crider to grand singing in 'Sprezzo quei don che versa fortuna capricciosa,' and as the character’s future seemed to grow brighter so, too, did the singer’s vocal colorations. The reprise of the canzone 'Una volta c'era un re' in Act Two was even more beautiful than its first appearance. After enduring ridicule, abuse, and rejection by her adopted family, this Cenerentola dominated the opera’s final scene as Rossini intended. Ms. Crider’s delicate but strong voicing of 'Sposa...Signore, perdona la tenera incertezza che mi confonde ancor' was suggestive of a kind heart bolstered by an iron will. Her singing of the andante 'Nacqui all'affanno e al pianto’ was as affectionate as it was effective, her grace threatened by neither the coloratura nor the ascent to top B. Undaunted by the fiendish coloratura writing and top Bs, Ms. Crider exhilaratingly brought down the curtain on an extremely appealing Cenerentola.”
Joseph Newsome - Voix des Arts
El Amor Brujo, New World Symphony, 2014
"Amanda Crider’s smoky mezzo-soprano assayed the flamenco vocal solos with gutsy abandon. Her rhythmic acuity and incisive declamation mirrored the shifting emotions from love lost to the rebirth of life and happiness."
Lawrence Budmen - South Florida Classical Review
Don Giovanni, Castleton Festival, 2014
"Amanda Crider plays Zerlina. Traditionally seen as a down-home, often buxom country wench, Zerlina in this production is statuesque and curiously costumed in a floor length slinky red gown. Crider portrays a sparkling young woman who receives Giovanni’s seduction with more than a soupçon of worldliness. The singer possesses a liquid lyricism that she shows off especially in her delicious rendition of “Vedrai carino.”
Susan Galbraith - DC Theatre Scene
"But our surprise pick-hit of the evening was mezzo-soprano Amanda Crider and we think the opening night audience would concur with our opinion. Ms. Crider’s sprightly, strong, and at times totally clueless Zerlina was perhaps the most fully realized, and indeed lovable character on stage during Saturday’s performance. Ms. Crider possesses a strong, flexible, expressive instrument that she put to good use during the many twists and turns in her part. But she also proved to be a superb stage actress, getting into her part in the way others did not, embodying her character’s silliness and quirks but proving a formidable woman in her own right."
Terry Ponick - Communities Digital News, Washington D.C.
"Amanda Crider (Zerlina) wins the Oscar for best supporting actress...the portrayal of a peasant girl moving between naïve wedding happiness, confused carnal desire, guilty bluster and finally tender erotic ministration was the highlight of the show; none of the other principals combined acting and singing so effortlessly."
Robert Battey - Washington Post
Phaedra, New World Symphony, 2013
"From her first bold proclamation, Amanda Crider was a mesmerizing protagonist, her superbly clear diction and warmly burnished timbre riveting attention. Recently heard with Seraphic Fire and the Master Chorale of South Florida, the mezzo-soprano intensely conveyed the heroine’s madness and anguish. Crider’s shining upper register soared in Phaedra’s final confession to her husband and death. Her delivery of the line “chills already dart along my boiling veins and squeeze my heart” was infused with aching sadness."
Lawrence Budman - South Florida Classical Review
Music of Handel, Haydn, and Purcell, Master Chorale of South Florida, 2013
"Amanda Crider’s burnished mezzo and elegant phrasing blended with Diamond’s florid singing and John Buffett’s resonant baritone for an ethereal “Domine Deus.”
Lawrence Budman - South Florida Classical Review
Paul's Case, UrbanArias, 2013
"Amanda Crider, Erin Sanzero and Melissa Wimbish were splendid as the trio of women who haunt him"
Heidi Waleson - Wall Street Journal
"There’s a rich group of voices assembled for the intimate performance...Melissa Wimbish, Erin Sanzero and Amanda Crider are especially effective as disapproving teachers"
Roger Catlin - Washington Post
Dido and Aeneas, Seraphic Fire, 2013
"The role of the Sorceress, sung by mezzo-soprano Amanda Crider, was particularly well handled. In some productions the role is a vehicle for exaggeration and low comedy out of The Wizard of Oz, but in this one, Crider gave a finely wrought vocal and dramatic evocation of evil reveling in its own evil, elevating the level of seriousness of the performance and making the ending all the more tragic."
South Florida Classical Review - David Fleshler
Dallas Opera Family Concert, 2013
"Both Crider and Pershall are attractive young singers with a brilliant future in front of them. Crider made her noteworthy Dallas Opera debut last season as a Flora Bervoix, Violetta's best friend, in La traviata. Flora may be a small role, but she gets a lot of stage time. A successful performance has launched many a career and Crider made the most of it. In this concert, she showed some versatility as she easily switched gears between Carmen's seductive "Habanera," Cherubino's self-composed "Voi che sapete" and the highflying vocal gymnastics of the irrepressible Rosina's "Una voce poco fa."
Gregory Sullivan Isaacs - Theater Jones, Dallas
The Messiah, Apollo's Fire, 2012
“’He was despised and rejected,’ sang mezzo-soprano Amanda Crider. Her crisp diction made the torments of the crucifixion seem real, with unforgettable delivery of the “shame and spitting” that Jesus endured in the Passion. But, like the other soloists, she sang Handel’s lyrical melodies as though they were written to delight as well as instruct his theatrical audience—and, in her renditions, with melodic line and tasteful ornamentation, they did.”
Nicholas Jones - Cleveland Classical
"The female soloists also made luminous contributions...mezzo-soprano Amanda Crider sang her arias and duets with dignified beauty."
Donald Rosenberg - The Plain Dealer, Cleveland
The Messiah, Seraphic Fire, 2012
"Amanda Crider’s intense declamation and mellow timbre made He shall feed His flock one of the evening’s high points."
Lawrence Budmen - South Florida Classical Review
La Traviata, The Dallas Opera, 2012
"Amanda Crider as Flora Bervoix, Violetta's friend, brings a few moments of levity and she does it beautifully. Her mezzo-soprano voice begs for her to be in a larger role, it's that wonderful. What is most enjoyable is that she knew how far to go with the character whithout destroying the overall serious tone of the opera."
Mark-Brian Sonna - The Column, Dallas
"Mezzo-soprano Amanda Crider, who hails from Pennsylvania, performs a delightfully feisty Flora, Violetta's friend and quintessential Parisian party girl."
Dean Casella - DFW Renaissance
"American Mezzo-Soprano Amanda Crider makes her Dallas Opera Debut as Violetta's friend, Flora Bervoix. Crider stands out during Flora's exciting party scene that is rich in color, music, and dance."
Marilee Vergati - Examiner, Dallas
La Cambiale de Matrimonio, Opera Omaha, 2012
"Amanda Crider, a meticulous mezzo-soprano, was delightful as Clarina, her coquettish facial expressions on par with the best of comediennes."
Kim Carpenter - Omaha World-Herald, February 2012
Chansons Madécasses, New World Symphony, 2011
"The mezzo-soprano Amanda Crider...was the soloist in Ravel's Songs of Madagascar...Crider sings with a plush tone and dead-on intonation. In the erotic song Nahandove, she didn't push the sensuality too far, singing in an almost chaste manner that let the words, music and the tonal beauty of her own voice carry the work. The second song, a call for revolution at white colonial rule, opened with the cries, "Aoua! Aoua!" that came off with an almost brutal power, as she hit the words hard in a shocking and effective contract to the preceding eroticism."
David Flesher - South Florida Classical Review, December 2011
Carmina Burana, "In Trutina", Seraphic Fire, 2011
"Mezzo-Soprano Amanda Crider, brought a rich, deeply expressive voice to the celebrated solo In Trutina, endowing the words with great depth of feeling."
David Fleshler - Miami Herald, January 2011
Mezzo-Soloist, The Messiah, Apollo's Fire, 2010
"The solo quartet is one of the most impressive Apollo's Fire has amassed in recent seasons...mezzo-soprano Amanda Crider brought bountiful warmth to her duties."
Donald Rosenberg - The Plain Dealer, December 2010
"Let's just say this right up front: the performance by Apollo's Fire, Jeannette Sorrell, conductor, of George Frederic Handel's oratorio Messiah this past weekend was riveting...Mezzo Amanda Crider gave a touching performance of "He shall feed his flock."...it is not every day that one can honestly report that a performance of a warhorse is revelatory. Apollo's Fire's Messiah met that test. It will linger in memory for longer than this Christmas season."
Timothy Robson - Cleveland Classical.com, December 2010
Le Nozze di Figaro, Des Moines Metro Opera, 2010
"A winningly boyish Cherubino from Amanda Crider..."
Mark Thomas Ketterson - Opera News, October 2010
Carmen, Florida Grand Opera, 2010
"Julia Ebner and Amanda Crider as Frasquita and Mercedes, respectively, were vocally magnificent."
Daniel Fernandez - El Nuevo Herald, April 2010
Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Florida Grand Opera 2010
Funniest of all, is mezzo-soprano Amanda Crider as Berta the maid. Crider plays Berta as a lavishly eccentric fuddy-duddy whose every take and piece of business is a priceless hoot."
Tony Guzman - Miami Arts Lover, February 2010
"Accomplished was Amanda Crider's Berta, a character that is often overlooked in its comical potential."
Daniel Fernandez, El Nuevo Herald, February 2010
Le Nozze di Figaro, Florida Grand Opera, 2009
"Of the supporting cast, we have to highlight the work of Amanda Crider as Cherubino...she earned deserved applause and 'Brava' cheers."
Daniel Fernandez - El Nuevo Herald, March 2009
"The one who grew extraordinarily in her role was Amanda Crider as Cherubino."
Daniel Fernandez - El Nuevo Herald, March 2009
"Cherubino was represented with complete grace by Amanda Crider, whom we have been able to admire on other occasions with the Florida Grand Opera."
Ariel Ramos - Diario Las Americas, February 2009
Lakmé, Florida Grand Opera, 2009
"Mezzo Amanda Crider was a magnificent Mallika, who shined in the Flower Duet and in her passages during the first Act."
Ariel Ramos - Diario Las Americas, February 2009
"Amanda Crider, with a beautiful mezzo voice, was enjoyable as Mallika."
Daniel Fernandez - El Nuevo Herald, February 2009
Orpheus in the Underworld, Eugene Opera, 2008
"Amanda Crider as the hunting goddess Diana, a.k.a. Sarah Palin, had all the moves that brought roars from the crowd, from her "you betcha" to her wink...and Amanda Crider's full mezzo soprano voice was delightful in her lament about losing a man because of her hunting dogs."
Marilyn Farwell - The Register Guard, January 2009
Scenes of Gypsy Life, Gotham Chamber Opera, 2008
"Each of the trio of Gypsies [were] sung very well by Leah Edwards, Amanda Crider, and Hannah Penn..."
Vivien Schweitzer - New York Times, January 2008
"Soprano Leah Edwards, along with mezzos Amanda Crider and Hannah Penn all proved adept musical exponents of Dvozak's atmospheric songs. Particularly lovely was the emphatic "Ma pisen zas mi laskou zni" (My song of love rings out) [sung by Crider]. Crider's rendition of the well known "Kdyz mne stara matka zpivat" (Songs my mother taught me) was melancholy but not lugubrious and showed a keen capacity for keeping a down-tempo musical line moving forward."
Adam Wasserman - Opera News, January 2008
Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition Winner's Concert, 2007
"Nobles seigneurs, salut! from Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots, received an impressive performance by mezzo-soprano Amanda Crider, sixth prize in advanced. She has a full assured voice and possesses good presence."
R. Spencer Butler - Palm Beach Daily News, May 2007
Cole Porter Celebration, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, 2005
"The longest applause for a soloist was reserved for Amanda Crider, mezzo-soprano, when she sang "So in Love" with her heart and soul. Her voice, personality and effective dramatic gestures, also won the audeince in "Why Can't You Behave?" and in a glorious four-part version of the gospel song, "Blow Gabriel Blow."
Sandy Copperman - Sun Herald, January 2005
Faust, Des Moines Metro Opera, 2003
"Amanda Crider plays her part in the trouser role of the youth Siebel with vivacity and confidence that belie her years, singing in a focused, golden toned voice."
Robert C. Fuller - Des Moines Register, June 2003
South Pacific, Opera Boston, 2003
"Director Patricia-Maria Weinmann agrees that musicals are different than opera, and that there is a sterotype about opera singers being unable to act or move. "Amanda [Crider] is a known up and coming mezzo-soprano. When you cast somethign like this, you call your friends around the country and say, "What about her?" Everyone said, "Grab her."
Catherine Foster - Boston Globe, August 2003
L'Enfant et les Sortilèges, Tanglewood Music Center, 2001
"in 'L'Enfant el les sortilèges,' Amanda Crider was a delightful pixie of a boy child, and she sang the gorgeous soliloquy about the heart of the rose with ineffable tenderness; her French was particularly good."
Richard Dyer - Boston Globe, July 2001
"Of the two L'Enfant casts, Amanda Crider and Erin Smith were both delightful as the wayward Child, but Crider made an especially lovely thing of the brief air, "Toi le coeur de la rose," with her care for French vowels."
Leighten Kerner - Opera News, November 2001