In an overdue house debut, Louise Alder was an irresistible Susanna, a beautifully judged mix of cartoon coquettishness and emotional depth.

THE GUARDIAN - Flora Willson

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Alder's Susanna is world-class, exquisitely phrased, beautifully sung, worthy to be mentioned in the same breath as an earlier ENO singer of this role, Lillian Watson, or Lucia Popp and Miah Persson at Covent Garden.

THE SUNDAY TIMES - Hugh Canning

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.. only Louise Alder as Susanna realises both vocal and emotional possibilities... Alder, .. is a dream Susanna, winning us over immediately with her confidential reactions, naturalnes and vocal warmth.

THE ARTS DESK - David Nice

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Louise Alder’s Susanna is impeccable, and absolutely gorgeous of voice. She has the lightness for ‘Aprite, presto aprite’ (as it is in the original Italian) and her exchanges with Figaro in the opening scenes were magnificent. Alder has real stage presence – having enjoyed her in multiple performances of Handel before now, it is clear her Mozart, too, shines.

SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL - Colin Clarke

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Soprano Louise Alder gives a terrific performance as Susanna, the object of the Count’s lust. She is winningly streetwise and nobody’s fool. Not for nothing has Louise been heralded as “the brightest lyric soprano of the younger generation”. A fine actor and a superb singer she is one to watch.

LONDON THEATRE 1 - John Obrian

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Louise Alder’s Susanna is simply sublime. She nails the comedic mischief with a down-to-earth, no-nonsense realism that overcomes every directorial artifice. She’s pert and punchy, sometimes literally as Figaro finds to his peril, but also absolutely transcendent in Act 4’s ‘Deh vieni’: this aria was an absolute show-stopper. 

OPERA TODAY - Claire Seymour

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Louise Alder is a magnetic Susanna, embodying the character’s sparky sense of charm

THE FINANCIAL TIMES - Hannah Nepilova

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The quality of the singing, too, is well up to ENO’s best standards... ditto the sparky Susanna of Louise Alder – her last-act serenade simply sublime.

THE STAGE - George Hall

 

Louise Alder’s portrayal mingles wit and weariness, as is evident when she ends an occasional line with a word almost spat in indignation rather than sung. And she is a joy to watch, whether she’s slipping from the Count’s grasp or delivering a beautiful aria to Figaro when he suspects her fidelity. She proves the critical role of female agency in ‘rounding the play off nicely’.

MARK ASPEN - Matthew Grierson

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Louise Alder made an outstanding ENO debut as Susanna. She sparkled in her witty and wily movements, driving the action of the opera far more that its titular protagonist (Susanna is clearly the brains of the operation); in recitatives hers was a thrilling realisation of the text. Vocally she was lithe and crystalline, every phrase sculpted with intelligence and insight. Her “Deh vieni, non-tardar” was a show-stopping moment of humane tenderness. Her complex Susanna cultivated a delicious frisson with Hanna Hipp’s grungy Cherubino. 

BACHTRACK - Benjamin Poore

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Smiljanic was finely partnered by Louise Alder's poised and passionate Susanna. Quite serious when it came to her arias, Alder made Susanna a complex emotional figure, strong-minded with a sense of comedy, and a beautiful musical line. Her relationship with Smiljanic's Figaro was touching and, at times, funny but you felt this Susanna would often have the upper hand. Alder's voice has a richness to it so that in this soubrette role she did fill the Coliseum, and you felt the Countess (in a smaller house) beckoning.
PLANET HUGILL - Robert Hugill