Concert : I Solisti di Zagreb

…on Tuesday night ,its concert at the Metropolitan Museum of Art took an uncommon turn with the appearance of a singer, Mira Zakai, as guest soloist. Her vehicle was a Handel solo cantata - La Lucrezia.

Miss Zakai's delivery of this challenging dramatic work was outstanding. The recitatives, arias, ariosos and so on that make up the cantata cover a broad range of vocal and expressive demands, and the soloist was equal to all of them. She performed the cantata from memory — a notable accomplishment by itself — and her concentration never wanted during the more than twenty minutes of constant singing involved. She moved easily from high-intensity declamation to fluent coloratura and from the rage of a wronged woman to the pathos of one whose death is at hand.

The Atlanta constitution

Yugoslav group performs splendidly.
Handel supplies the soloist with innumerable opportunities to shoe her vocal and histrionic skills. Ms. Zakai proved more than equal to the task. The contralto commands a truly imposing voice, huge in volume and complex in character as a fine wine. She sang the role as if Lucrezia’s plight were her own.
Odd, isn't it : I Solisti di Zagreb fully lived up to the reputation of their numerous recordings,revealing themselves as superb instrumentalists. Yet it was a singer who stole the show.

Gstaad Festival

— Der Bund , Bern

Two unusually strong musical events were contralto Mira Zakai’s deeply moving interpretation of the aria Erbarme dich , mein Gott
From the St. Matthew Passion with Menuhin playing the violin solo — one has never heard it performed with such emotional intensity.
In Handel's cantata Lucrezia - Mira Zakai showed a dramatic intensity and power that the listener fully understood each nuance. This appearance belongs to the absolute highlights of the festival...

Contraltos are scarce in the recital hall, rare and exotic — it was good on Sunday night to hear one of the worlds most acclaimed,the Israeli contralto Mira Zakai.
Her program of Brahms and Schumann Lieder revealed a voice whose compass and resonant majesty prompted reminiscences of the tradition of Norma Procter and Kathleen Ferrier.
-A huge reserve of tone, a wide variety of color and a strength she knows how to use. Her expression was always an acute reflection of the text.
Zakai's best and most imaginative work came with Schumann's Op. 39 song cycle,based on the themes of dead knights,dark forests,crepuscular mysteries and love lyricism that were typical obsessions of German Romantic poet Eichendorf.
Sensitivity to the word and apt tonal coloring could scarcely have been improved upon,and in this respect it would be a gross omission not to mention the work of Mikael Eliasen, a magical pianist.

Symphony is fascinating in Romeo and Juliet,Sergiu Commission conducting.
The work opened with an introduction and prologue in which Zakai made her appearance. Hers was a contralto voice of exceptional beauty, rich and voluptuous...

To me, the most electrifying moment of last nights Mahler Second came in the consoling fourth movement - primal light.
Would that all last-minute substitutions were as successful as contralto Mira Zakai's eleventh hour engagement. She was fresh off the plane from Tel Aviv - the plaintiveness and warmth of her voice brings to mind the legendary Ferrier...

Mira Zakai was impressive, for one, visually with her remarkable appearance and than mainly because of the immense penetrating power of her voice, particularly in the middle and lower register - she mastered her part and could dominate even when the orchestra and choir played and sang vigorously..

Mira Zakai gave a remarkable interpretation of the complete emotional scope of the work..

Contralto Mira Zakai immediately struck the melancholy mood of the piece — from the very beginning. She put herself into the difficult and profound situation,entirely into the center of experience and bestowed upon her part a soaring quality through a gentle and flowing melodic line.

The great revelation was Israeli Mira Zakai. What exceptional timbre, rich, somber, ripe and moving! It is so rare , and not since the great Ferrier, to confront a voice so directly overwhelming..

The two short vocal movements diffused the homogenity of the symphony, adding new dimensions. Mira Zakai was convincing in her musical interpretation of the short midnight song from Nietzche's — Also Sprach Zarathustra. Her voice was warm and deep, and her diction very clear.
Conductor, soloist, orchestra and choirs are to be commended for a praiseworthy presentation that fully deserved the standing ovation they Received.

Lately alto Mira Zakai has come up with some interesting musical surprises,and with this recital she did it again — an evening of beloved Israeli songs of olden times.
It was an evening of remembrance and of beautiful nostalgia,but not only nostalgia. It was Mira Zakai's golden voice which treated the songs with great sensitivity, love and understanding. So beautiful was the presentation, both by singer and pianist.

Zakai's superlative achievement

The idea was splendid,the music beautiful,the performance exciting.
Zakai performed 18 of Hemzi's settings - Coplas Sefaradies - Her performance was overwhelmingly beautiful in voice, crystal clear in diction (Ladino) and musically tremendously exciting. Each song created a different mood, portrayed a different situation and evoked a different emotional reaction. In her interpretation she revealed an immense inner richness. One is at a loss to find the superlatives that would do justice to her achievement.
When everything in a performance is so magnificent,one can hardly point out a peak, but the performance of Ravels Kaddish created a moment of awe-inspiring sanctification.

London Recital with pianist Anthony Saunders

I recall reviewing the British debut of Israeli contralto Mira Zakai in Scottish Operas production of - Orfeo - some years ago, a performance of considerable vocal promise. Now miss Zakai has matured as a singer of power and dramatic ability , amply demonstrated in her recital with Anthony Saunders.
A wide ranging program of song from the 18^th to the 20^th centuries included three marvelously delivered sets by Mahler,the Israeli composer J. Braun and De Falla. Miss Zakai was particularly telling in rendition of the folk-song Leila leila and in De Falla's Jota — the richness of her middle and lower ranges coming to fore with an impressive dramatic presence. An outstanding performance.

Mira Zakai's recital on Sunday was a purely musical event in celebration of the joy of singing.
Accompanied with great skill and sensitivity by Anthony Saunders, Zakai carried her audience through a repertoire extending from Caccini, Purcell, Mahler, De Falla to the present day Israeli composer Yehazkel Braun.
Throughout her craftsmanship fed her richly timbered voice in her near faultless interpretation. Her tone, breathing, enunciation, expression and sheer warmth were vital.
Everywhere her control startled in its accuracy.
With no difficulty in rising from her chest to her head voice or reverse, she used the music in subtle emphasis of the words and overall meaning. No composer could ask for better representation.
Hers is a big voice capable of drowning a lesser accompanist,yet how aptly she controlled it even in Purcell's - Hark! The Echoing Air and Lord, What is man?
Her expression in all the songs was an instant lesson in interpretation, the adjustment between the different composers and variation in theme being clear and distinct, and what wonderful contrasts there were!
But it was the verve and passion in De Falla's Seven Spanish Folk Songs, with which she ended her concert,which crowned her performance.
In a totally memorable performance it is these songs which will sing in my memory for long. I can only thank her and Anthony Saunders.

A Song recital of exceptional impact given by contralto Mira Zakai on Sunday ended the concert series by distinguished Israeli musicians.
Supported by one of our most able accompanists, Anthony Saunders,the program was almost too widely spread, to show just how broad a range this phenomenal voice could master.
Certainly the opening Purcell songs showed both the technique and the imagination to carry total conviction, propelled by a hidden energy.
Pergolesi and Caccini - in which Zakai produced a miraculous medieval sound and Durantes sparkling - Danza Fanciulla - all pointed clearly to a close rapport with this genre.
A leap to the five Mahler songs showed her equally accomplished with the full romantic sound. Happily her diction in German verse was perfect.
—A colorful and versatile talent was fully confirmed by the following Hebrew songs and folk-songs. Here Ms Zakais native cadences and rhythms forged a link between Biblical and modern times. Miss Zakai moved us to tears.
Her unaccompanied folk song showed her true and steady tones, her fluent ease and the dramatic instinct which left her audience silent for some seconds before they applauded.
Perhaps the highlight of the concert was the seven Spanish songs of De Falla. The precision and vitality of Miss Zakai rhythms with her rich tone colours were particularly attractive in the famous Jota, with its strong piano collaboration.