REVIEWS

"Baritone David Kravitz was a superb soloist, singing his passages with bronze tone and conviction. These were the BSO’s first performances of these luminous works, and Thursday’s fine singing will linger in memory."
- Aaron Keebaugh, Boston Classical Review

"As Davis Miller, David Kravitz had the no-doubt strange experience of portraying a living protagonist who was at the performance. A charismatic baritone, Mr. Kravitz offered a vividly etched and satisfying interpretation of the author, who reminisces in the opera about his troubled childhood."
- Vivien Schweitzer, The New York Times

"David Kravitz's warm, supple baritone and vibrant personality fleshed out Miller's character."
- Tim Smith, The Baltimore Sun

"In a lively spin as Miller, David Kravitz used his ample, sturdy baritone deftly."
- Tim Smith, Opera News

"The character of the adult Miller [was] sung with force and passion by baritone David Kravitz."
- Charles T. Downey, The Washington Post

"Sparr has worked to set the other central role, Davis-as-adult, for baritone Kravitz to capture that clear, strong voice, and feature the very notes where the man’s body shakes with aching power. Kravitz serves the score well, with intelligence and a deep connection to the material. His voice works without strain in the high notes of wonder and vulnerability while keeping the full power of his lower notes in a beautiful blend."
- Susan Galbraith, DC Theatre Scene

"Baritone David Kravitz [as Abraham] is magnificently stentorian and resonant — just the kind of singer you would want playing such a towering figure."
- Joshua Rosenblum, Opera News

"David Kravitz, in fine voice, plumbed the role of Enrico for every last ounce of its comedy."
- Jeremy Eichler, The Boston Globe

"Both the spotlight and the shadows fell on David Kravitz’s psychotic Scarpia in this blood-and-gore Tosca from Skylight Music Theatre (opened September 25). Kravitz’s penetrating voice projected with a manic focus that had the audience transfixed by his lust for torture, rape and killing. He is a first-rate actor, too, and his glittering, devilish silver-and-black costume (designed by Kristy Leigh Hall) made him even larger than life."
- Jonathan Richmond, Opera (UK)

"David Kravitz played the sleazy Scarpia with just the kind of overwhelming sneakiness Puccini wanted out of his evil foil. Kravitz has an exceedingly expressive baritone that captures each and every treachery Scarpia pulled off."
- Dave Begel, On Milwaukee

"Baritone David Kravitz played Scarpia with a warm, even, character-filled voice."
- Elaine Schmidt, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"David Kravitz gives the requisite keen, evil edge to Scarpia, the police chief bent on power and control."
- Paul Kosidowski, Milwaukee Magazine

Scarpia was "devilishly played to precision by David Kravitz."
- Peggy Sue Dunigan, Broadway World

"Kravitz is a gem, giving La Rocca certain Leporello-like oddities. His voice is brilliant, hosting a ping that gives surface to his voice as well as those around him.... Certainly the strongest performances of the evening."
- Samuel Kjellberg, Boston Musical Intelligencer

"Baritone David Kravitz gave one of his finest performances as Giulietta’s suitor La Rocca."
- Kalen Ratzlaff, Opera News

"David Kravitz brought a ringing baritone and impeccable comic chops to the treasurer La Rocca."
- Angelo Mao, Boston Classical Review

"David Kravitz sang splendidly, playing his buffo role to perfection."
- Ed Tapper, Edge Boston

"An especially fine actor with superb timing."
- Jack Craib, South Shore Critic

"One of the delights of the evening was to watch baritones James Maddalena and David Kravitz as the Barone di Kelbar and his Treasurer.... Kravitz, a superb singing actor, possesses a mobile face and he executed comic double takes with aplomb more than once. The success of their pair of patter duets was based on their clear and precise enunciation of the Italian text as well as their acting rapport."
- David Bonetti, Berkshire Fine Arts

"This excellent production falls mostly on the shoulders of baritone David Kravitz as Tevye ... It’s a tough part, and just singing it well wouldn’t be enough to carry the show. But Kravitz seems to “get” Tevye as a human being and ... becomes utterly believable as a loving, conflicted man. This is a show where the need for acting skill nearly trumps the need for a good voice. Kravitz doesn’t just play the role, he interprets it, both in his singing and acting — and, in doing so, gives us a new view of the character. His interpretation of the Chaveleh sequence, near the end, is quietly eloquent and moving. His subtly nuanced voice is rich and clear, fully balanced with his acting and orchestra."
- Clare Aukofer, The Daily Progress (Charlottesville, VA)

"Baritone David Kravitz sings Graham's elliptical poetry with a flexibility of tone and freedom of expression that suggest a deeper-voiced Peter Pears."
- Laurence Vittes, Gramophone (Jan. 2014)

"David Kravitz was vocally and dramatically excellent as Abraham."
- Jeremy Eichler, The Boston Globe

"MacMillan’s score renders the agonized and passionate character of Abraham, which large-voiced baritone David Kravitz realized very effectively."
- Charles Warren, New York Arts

"Abraham [was] performed with vocal presence and great personality by baritone David Kravitz."
- Brian Schuth, Boston Musical Intelligencer

"Kravitz’s baritone showed remarkable range both emotionally and musically."
- Sudeep Agarwala, Boston Musical Intelligencer

"Baritone David Kravitz as King Leontes bears the brunt of the show's musical and dramatic demands and remains the standout in a fine, fluid cast."
- Ken Smith, Gramophone (Dec. 2012)

"The recording thus benefits enormously from baritone David Kravitz, who invests Leontes with both enough sonorous gravity and enough quick-change musical fluency to lift the character beyond brittle or didactic."
- Matthew Guerrieri, The Boston Globe

"As Fredrik Egerman, the lawyer who realizes over the course of an evening what a fool he is to have married a girl younger than his son and that his true love – if such a thing exists under the midnight sun – is his old flame Désirée, David Kravitz put in a stellar performance, which should be no surprise to those who regularly hear opera in Boston. Kravitz spoke his words with nuanced understanding of their import and sang with vocal allure, creating a total performance that could not be separated into its component vocal and textual parts. Although it might not have been Sondheim’s intention, Fredrik became the moral and musical center of the entire work."
- David Bonetti, Berkshire Fine Arts

"Baritone David Kravitz brought potent acting skills and clear, natural diction to the role of Private Grayrock, giving full expression to the lost soldier’s fear, anger, bitterness, and gallows humor. Kravitz has reason to be proud of his powerful instrument."
- David Wright, Boston Classical Review

"David Kravitz sang powerfully and with feeling."
- Jeffrey Gantz, The Boston Globe

"The cavernous baritone David Kravitz is especially good in his description of the little cantor with his 'sweet tenor coloratura flautando' marching down the aisle of the synagogue."
- Joshua Rosenblum, Opera News

"A similarly striking mood is created with For Victims - a dramatic scene for baritone and string quartet. The texts by David Shapiro reflect on the atrocities of the Holocaust. The music is relentless in its impact and baritone David Kravitz gives a stirring performance."
- Daniel Coombs, Audiophile Audition

"For Victims is darker, thicker, and more intensely dramatic. David Kravitz navigates the David Shapiro text quite well and the blend between Kravitz and the Borromeo String Quartet is well done."
- Jay Batzner, Sequenza 21

"David Kravitz, familiar from performances with the Boston Symphony and Boston Lyric Opera, sang the role of Uberto with impeccable musicality, fine comic timing, and exemplary enunciation."
- Harlow Robinson, The Boston Globe

"David Kravitz resourcefully wrung a fair bit of character out of Taddeo’s nervous perplexity while lavishing a deep, ringing baritone on his lines."
- Matthew Guerrieri, The Boston Globe

"With his big voice and confident stage presence, Boston favorite David Kravitz, who debuted last season with NYC Opera, made more than most baritones ever do of the role of Taddeo, Isabella's older admirer who poses as her uncle. Pompous and cowardly, stuffy and shrinking, this was a broad but amusingly detailed characterization."
- Lloyd Schwartz, The Boston Phoenix

"In the hands (voice, posture, rubber-face) of the marvelous David Kravitz, Taddeo is one of the funniest, and oddly endearing, characters in this opera. He sang terrifically, as he always does, and was another serious reason to catch this opera this week."
- Susan Miron, The Boston Musical Intelligencer

"David Kravitz, with his rich tones and exceptional musicality, was an understated, but endearing Taddeo, mixing subtle humor and irony into what is all too often an over-ripe role."
- Richard B. Beams, Opera con Brio

As the angel Raphael, "baritone David Kravitz ... sang not only with power and eloquence but a deep understanding of the text."
- David Weininger, The Boston Globe

"In sumptuously flexible voice, singing a role usually reserved for the deepest basses, Kravitz captured both the stentorian grandeur of declamation and Haydn's tender, wide-eyed, yet also knowing snapshots of the animal kingdom."
- Lloyd Schwartz, The Boston Phoenix

"But the dramatic weight of the opera falls chiefly on Leontes, who was brilliantly sung by David Kravitz. His robust voice rang out easily over the orchestra, but it was chiefly his presence and the sheer force of his character that made Friday's performance so compelling."
- David Weininger, The Boston Globe

"Leontes was one of baritone David Kravitz's finest accomplishments, and he was one of the few people who could be both heard and understood distinctly over the orchestra."
- Lloyd Schwartz, The Boston Phoenix

"The opera might well be titled 'Leontes,' so decisive and overwhelming is this character's presence and mood.... [T]he concert has to be considered a personal triumph for the Leontes, baritone David Kravitz, almost as much as for Harbison. Kravitz's large, multi-layered voice, his passion, his subtlety, his deeply considered acting, rode large over everything.... No one, and nothing that happens, stands up to [Leontes'] strange mood - it is something we hear in Harbison's music and something that Kravitz projected not only in his voice, but in his face and bearing."
- Charles Warren, The Berkshire Review for the Arts

"The leads offered superlative singing.... As Nick Shadow, baritone David Kravitz was sonorously fine, a powerful gunmetal voice with a sardonic polish around the edges. Their characterizations were crisp: ... Kravitz giving Shadow’s lines a hint of mirthful color, bemused at his quarry’s fecklessness."
- Matthew Guerrieri, The Boston Globe

"Baritone David Kravitz, as Nick Shadow, the Devil, was in even fuller, rounder voice, the embodiment of sly, elbow-in-the-ribs Evil."
- Lloyd Schwartz, The Boston Phoenix

"Kravitz returned as the title character and gave a tour de force. Placed on a platform mid-orchestra, he sang for 18 minutes, managing the difficult stops and starts as the orchestra comes in to do his bidding. He produced a loud, handsome tone, and projected the text clearly."
- David Perkins, The Boston Globe

"This year's heartwarming, mostly-Mozart program proved particularly welcome, given the gloomy weather and the current general mood. And it made me wonder yet again why the program's hilarious secret weapon, baritone David Kravitz, isn't a bigger star.... Kravitz excelled in both [Mozart's Bastien und Bastienne and Cimarosa's The Music Director], and sang throughout with his customary command, but he was truly peerless in the Cimarosa.... In the witty Music Director, however, Kravitz was utterly in his element - not only was his sound gorgeous, but his characterization was superb, proving that he can slice the comic ham with the best of 'em.... The only question in any one's mind at the final standing ovation was - how will they ever top this next year?"
- Thomas Garvey, The Hub Review

"Baritone David Kravitz's Ko-Ko, the accidental Lord High Executioner, exhibited perfect comic timing, clear diction, and one of the best voices in the cast. His 'Little List' was a high point of the evening."
- Sarah Bryan Miller, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"David Kravitz had more than enough voice for Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner, and, looking like Groucho Marx, he found moments of pathos and hilarity ('Tit-willow' included both) while commanding the show."
- Judith Malafronte, Opera News

"David Kravitz is an irresistible Ko-Ko, with bright, forward tone and crisp diction."
- Scott Cantrell, Dallas Morning News

"The unequivocal show-stealer was baritone David Kravitz as Leporello. A natural crowd-pleaser, Kravitz sang with resonance and fluency, and he acted with an ease and expressiveness that far outshone the rest."
- Julie Mullany, Opera News

"David Kravitz nearly walked away with the show, his lush baritone putting across Leporello's music with stylish nonchalance."
-T.J. Medrek, The Boston Herald

"Kravitz easily walked away with the show in a nicely restrained comic performance as Leporello that was always alive and alert, both musically and theatrically.... This baritone possesses an evenly produced velvet sound, which he can shade with the utmost subtlety. His diction, even in that tricky patter 'Catalogue Aria,' was exemplary."
- Stephen Marc Beaudoin, Bay Windows

"David Kravitz was masterly as the servant Leporello, singing with drop-dead musicianship and voluble diction and acting with guile."
- Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe

"David Kravitz's saucy Leporello is the production's big success: he has the clearest enunciation, and he makes the jokes live."
- Jeffrey Gantz, The Boston Phoenix

"Baritone David Kravitz as the satanic Nick Shadow gave the best performance of his career. Kravitz was suavely evil, a salesman-tempter, singing with accurate abandon."
- Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe

"Set to a Hebrew text, the music portrays the fearsome power of the Old Testament God. Bass-baritone David Kravitz conveyed that power in a performance of staggering impact."
- T.J. Medrek, The Boston Herald

"George Rochberg's 'Sacred Song of Reconciliation' is an unyielding, granitic work on a Hebrew text, sung with power, character, and so much fervor by baritone David Kravitz that he brought the house down."
- Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe

"David Kravitz delivered the Hebrew text of Rochberg's 1973 Sacred Song of Reconciliation with power and sensitivity, holding his own against the pounding percussion."
- Lloyd Schwartz, The Boston Phoenix

"Baritone David Kravitz took the roles of Faust and Dr. Marianus. Each season this intelligent singer makes a leap forward in artistry and vocal security, and this may have been his most fulfilling performance yet. He reached great heights in Faust's passionate prayer that his days on earth not pass away and in the visionary rapture of Dr. Marianus's music."
- Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe

"Fine voices were everywhere: David Kravitz in the title role, singing as usual with taste and insight."
- Keith Powers, The Boston Herald