"All were good at getting the translation across ...so it was the four principals who carried the evening."
John Allison, Opera, May 2005
"..if you want to be entertained, I recommend this version of Don Pasquale. It was a more satisfactory production than the recent effort at Covent Garden... Outstanding with his high acting ability and warm resonant voice, Paul Carey Jones portrayed the catalyst Dr Malatesta with aplomb and conviction."
Anne Dunn, Gloucestershire Echo, 1st March 2005
"The whole thing is just right for the Bel Canto company. Boyd has transferred the setting to 1960s London, which works perfectly well in this exuberant production. There is strong support from Paul Carey Jones as the creepy Malatesta."
Giles Woodforde, The Oxford Times, 4th March 2005
"Operas are about singing, acting and direction and in these essentials Bel Canto, as ever, excels. The four principals are splendid. Pamela Hay as Noreen brings beauty and vivacity to match her beautiful soprano, the baritone Paul Carey Jones is superb as the scheming Malatesta, and tenor Stephen Brown is perfect as the foppish Ernesto. All bring dramatic awareness and stage presence to match their vocal talents. And a particular word of praise for Graham Stone, an eleventh hour replacement as Don Pasquale, whose performance betrayed hardly a hint of hesitancy."
Stuart Russell, The Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard, 10th March 2005
