Soprano Soloist in Verdi Requiem

San Francisco Opera

“Where the performance shone most unforgettably was on the female side. Soprano Heidi Melton, a third-year Adler Fellow who stepped in at a day's notice for an ailing Patricia Racette, swatted away any hint of nerves with a big, gleaming and tonally resplendent performance. The ravishing high point of the evening was the women's ‘Recordare’ duet [with mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe], delivered with aching sweetness and backed by steely technical assurance.”
-Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle

“It was supposed to be all about Donald Runnicles, the outgoing artistic director of the San Francisco Opera conducting his own gala concert for an adoring audience eager to make it known that he would be truly missed. Leave it to a diva, however, to steal some of the anticipated thunder. Due to a sudden onset of illness, soprano Patricia Racette withdrew on the eve of the performance. That left Heidi Melton, a third-year Adler Fellow, to step in at the 11th hour. And step in she did, rising to the occasion and demonstrating that she has a voice of her own to be reckoned with.”
-Paul Duclos, Seen and Heard International

"Heidi Melton, who replaced the ailing Patricia Racette on two days' notice, rose to the occasion impressively; the soprano, a third-year Adler fellow, blended fluently with Blythe in the Recordare and produced large, bright, ringing tone in the final Libera Me." 
-Georgia Rowe, Opera News