It’s a delight to hear the program’s better-known works—“Song to the Moon” from Rusalka, “Marietta’s Lied” from Die tote Stadt, Léhar’s “Vilja Lied”—sung so directly, honestly and without affectation. Royal’s lovely, full lyric soprano blossoms as it rises and has great dynamic range from pianissimo to forte, all easily and naturally used. How brave and intelligent of her to have “discovered” arias that fit the “midsummer night” mood: One from William Alwyn’s Miss Julie, with its opening flute curlicues, is so evocative that we can almost smell the flowers, and Susannah’s aria (from Carlisle Floyd’s opera) “The Trees are on the Mountain,” with its folk imagery and melody, is heartrendingly sad in its directness. Cathy’s melodious aria of longing from Bernard Herrmann’s Wuthering Heights is a real find; Ellen’s “Embroidery aria” from Peter Grimes is the picture of regret and loss. The six other selections are equally affecting and artfully sung.

Robert Levine, Listen [July 2009]