"Michael Spyres has been making a specialty of Arnold of late and it isn't hard to see why. In this, his first fully staged performance of the role in the U.S., Spyres made the fiendishly difficult vocal writing sound like child's play. The duets with Mathilde were beautifully phrased and the repeated ascents to the highest notes rang out effortlessly. As expected, "Asile héréditaire" was excitingly performed with bright and ringing tone, yet was a part of the drama, not just a tenor showpiece. Spyres is also a compelling actor: it was wonderful to encounter such a handsome and theatrically convincing singer in this difficult role."
George Dansker, Opera News

"... tenor Michael Spyres’s work as Arnold was impressive." Randolph Lacy, The Bee

"The cast was uniformly good and the principals were world-class. In fact one could argue that the tenor Michael Spyres is the best Arnold (the main tenor role) in the world today. He is from Kansas’ neighbor Missouri, and he has sung the most difficult Rossini roles in the festivals dedicated to the composer in Pesaro, Italy, and Wildbad, Germany, as well as at Covent Garden and many other prominent opera houses. (...). Spyres sings it all with relish and faultless high notes."
Charles Jernigan, Opera Pronto