press clippings

La bohème Puccini
Northern Ireland Opera

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There’s an excellent Mimì, Gemma Summerfield, who produces beautiful sounds all night with an unfaltering legato line and some touching acting.

Richard Morison, The Times 21/9/22

Gemma Summerfield, gave a totally convincing and very moving performance, from effortless top B flats to lovely quiet moments.

David Byre, The Irish Times, 20/9/21

British soprano Gemma Summerfield gave an assured performance in the role of Mimì perfectly capturing the alluring and frail qualities of the character in equal measure. She gave a fine account of Puccini’s big set piece numbers. I particularly loved her performance of ‘Si, mi chiamano Mimì’ with its beautifully sustained lines and radiant sound.

Robert Beattie, Seen and Heard International 22/9/21

Falstaff Verdi
Scottish Opera

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Gemma Summerfield’s Nanetta outshone… her floating pianissimi were truly magnificent, and her ballad as queen of the fairies was an ethereal delight.

Mark Brown, The Telegraph 5/7/21

Gemma Summerfield stands out as a silver-toned, beautifully nuanced Nannetta.

David Kettle, The Scotsman 9/8/21

Gemma Summerfield gave an exceptional performance as Nannetta, her Queen of the Fairies magically floating notes with pure beauty.

David Smythe, Bachtrack 9/8/21

The Magic Flute Mozart
Glyndebourne Festival Opera Tour

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The other star, was the talented soprano Gemma Summerfield, whom I saw in Scottish Opera’s Magic Flute at the Hackney Empire last year. Her heroic-toned Pamina continues to grow in stature, a bigger voice than customary today, perhaps, but one wielded with remarkable delicacy and musical insight, and her G minor aria was treasurable.

Hugh Canning, The Times 8/11/20

Gemma Summerfield sang Pamina’s Aria with such ravishing purity that one wished less of her music had been excised.

Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph 2/11/20

Gemma Summerfield, an obvious star in the making … brings the full radiance of youthful soprano to Pamina; the closing stages of her lament were magically hushed, too, and the moments where time stands still – in Act One when she tells Papageno to “be truthful”, in Act Two where she greets her prince before the trials, and meets a similar response of heartbreaking tenderness, simply perfection.

David Nice, The Arts Desk 2/11/20

there are moments of transcendent beauty – such as Gemma Summerfield in Pamina’s Ach, Ich Fühl’s

Amanda Holloway, The Stage 2/11/20

The Magic Flute Mozart
Scottish Opera

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The women also give the strongest vocal performances of this cast, Gemma Summerfield a lovely warm-toned Pamina…

Keith Bruce, The Herald, 6 May 2019

The women also give the strongest vocal performances of this cast, Gemma Summerfield a lovely warm-toned Pamina…

Keith Bruce, The Herald, 6 May 2019

…Gemma Summerfield’s honeyed Pamina…

David Smythe, Bachtrack, 6 May 2019

All cast members generally impress - though Gemma Summerfield and Julia Sitkovetsky shine above them all vocally, commanding powerful yet elegant and agile instruments in the roles of Pamina and The Queen of the Night respectively.

William Parker, Opera Guide Scotland, 6 May 2019

The new cast was altogether classier than in 2012. It announced a heart-stealing Pamina in Gemma Summerfield, plumbing the depths of “Ach, ich fühl’s” with her clean, personable soprano and artless phrasing.

Andrew Clark, Opera magazine, July 2019

Il Vologeso Jomelli
Classical Opera

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…her Berenice was regal, vivid and possessed of a whole range of tone-colour, suggesting not just an ideal Mozart Countess but also a possible Strauss soprano in the making. It’s early days yet, though—she’s still studying at the Royal College of Music—but Summerfield already seems to be the complete artist.

David Nice, TheArtsDesk, 29/4/2016

In the title role was mezzo-soprano Rachel Kelly, …the commanding point to her sound was thrilling from bottom to top. Matching that command was soprano Gemma Summerfield as Berenice, Queen of Armenia and Vologeso’s fiancée. Her arias demanded plenty of technique as a singer and actor, and she had a warmth that seemed to turn on a dime when Berenice needed to dig in her heels against the manipulative Emperor Lucio Vero. Her final mad-scene-like aria reminded us a bit of Elettra in Mozart’s Idomeneo, and Dejaneira’s final scene in Handel’s Hercules. Summerfield’s performance was one of those moments where a character seems to warrant a change in an opera’s title; Il Vologeso could easily be called instead, La Berenice.

Jenna Douglas, Schmopera, 29/4/2016

Gemma Summerfield made a strong Berenice; Summerfield has a highly dramatic voice, which can move when needed. Berenice is steadfast, but also strong in her own right and the moment at the end of Act Two when she tells Lucio Vero that he will have to rip her heart out if she wants it, was priceless. But it is in the long scene in Act Three where Summerfield really came into her own […] Summerfield really held her own and showed a fine combination of technical skill and dramatic nous.

Robert Hugill, PlanetHugill, 29/4/2016

Rachel Kelly and Gemma Summerfield as the lovers Vologeso and Berenice were capable of enacting their parts with alternate force and tenderness [and] Summerfield’s agile handling of the tricky coloratura was a wonder to hear.

Curtis Rogers, Classical Source, 29/4/2016

Ariodante Handel
London Handel Festival

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Gemma Summerfield is a voice on the move towards the more dramatic [but] in the meanwhile we could enjoy her lively personality and vibrant characterisation as Ginevra. A pleasure in the joyful first half, she brought great intensity to Ginevra’s scenes later in the opera. Thanks to some strongly dramatic singing and fine personen-regie we really felt disturbed by Ginevra’s scene at the end of Act Two. This was a finely balanced cast and whilst you suspected that Summerfield will go one to have careers in more romantic repertoire, [she] showed a nice sense of style.

Robert Hugill, PlanetHugill, 9/3/2016

Ferrier Award Recital
St John’s Smith Square

Quite apart from the technical challenges surmounted and the diversity of musical idioms mastered, Summerfield also proved herself to be an excellent linguist, moving confidently from German to French, from English to Finnish, and back to German. Summerfield swooped and leapt effortlessly, and with pinpoint accuracy [with] the opportunity to display the glossiness of her gleaming soprano, which slipped smoothly through unusual harmonies. After the interval, Summerfield return to the platform alone, for a performance of Jonathan Dove’s Ariel, in which she showed her theatrical instinct, deftly capturing the mercurial character of the eponymous sprite […] her Ariel was both ethereal and sensuous, defiant and pliant. It was good to have the opportunity to hear again a young artist of such promise and potential.

Claire Seymour, OperaToday, 13/1/2016

Die Fledermaus Strauss II
Royal College of Music

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…easily the most dominating figure was Rosalinde, sung on the first night by Gemma Summerfield, both in voice and in stage presence. Her voice carried easily and she handled her high notes with panache. As an actress, her outrage was a delight to behold and she delivered some of the best comic moments of the evening, as well as offering a genuinely moving “Klänge der Heimat”.

Dominic Lowe, Bachtrack, 23/11/2015

Soprano Gemma Summerfield as … Rosalinde is already a fast-rising star. She achieved the rare feat of winning both the first prize and the Loveday song prize in the 2015 Kathleen Ferrier awards. Projecting fluently, enunciating every word clearly, she has a beauty and confidence of tone across the range.

Fiona Maddocks, The Guardian, 29/11/2015