“Pérez’s Floria Tosca is a hypersensitive but at first still likeable lover … Every top note hits the mark, subtle phrasing lines the characterisation, and all her reactions to the horrors that suddenly unfold in Act Two are credible, not histrionic. This was a “Vissi d’arte” which started with such refined, luminous emotion that it brought tears to the eyes. And in Act Three, we simply see the diva as a vulnerable girl who’s placed her trust in a lie – fake execution and safe conduct out of Italy – which Cavaradossi doesn’t believe for a moment. The touch of her theatrical bolt-upright when she tells him to act it nobly still brought a laugh from an audience hungry for humour throughout.”
The Arts Desk