By Allan Kozinn [NY Times, 17 January 2009]

The mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux has a fondness for Baroque opera, and more important, a sense of the style and how it can be used. That isn’t just a matter of technique. Knowing how and where to ornament and what kind of sound works best for a Baroque piece is important, but lots of singers are schooled in those things now. Ms. Genaux’s strength is her combination of lively musicianship and the kind of personality that adapts easily and believably to the concerns of the character she is singing, even if she inhabits that character for the space of only a single aria.