Reviews for Mary’s Hand, Tete a Tete Opera Festival, London August 2018
McCaldin herself was magnetic throughout, holding her audience within her power absolutely.
Opera Magazine, October 2018
At the centre of it all, holding the stage with girlish, flickering fingers and a pitiless thrust of the chin is mezzo-soprano Clare McCaldin… an outstanding singing-actress.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Alexandra Coghlan for The Independent. Click here to read full review
McCaldin convincingly brings the music, as well as Di Sherlock’s potent text, to life.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ Edward Bhesania for The Stage. Click here to read full review
a moving performance in an historic setting, beautiful, dramatic and unique.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ Robert Hamilton for Northern Soul. Click here to read full review
It’s a performance that’s somehow both handsomely relaxed and precision-sharp
Adrian Ainsworth for Specs Blog. Click here to read full review
McCaldin’s body language on stage was deliberate, poised and enlightening. Her voice soared elegantly across the church and she engaged the audience’s attention with every breath
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ Mary Nguyen for TrendFEM. Click here to read full review
McCaldin’s performance itself is mesmeric… This piece is thoroughly enjoyable, McCaldin Arts have not just reached, but exceeded their brief of bringing to life historical characters, examining their lives provocatively with passion and modernity.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ Thomas Joy for Mind The Blog. Click here to read full review
McCaldin is variously eye flashingly sexy, imperious, wistful, resigned and angry. And she maintains a remarkable level of energy given that this is effectively an 80 minute solo. Her voice includes some ruby red impassioned low notes and some fierce, sometimes hysterical, high ones. She manages the emotional contrasts with verve… Words and music complement each other seamlessly.
Susan Elkin for Lark Reviews. Click here to read full review
the performance from Clare McCaldin was a real tour-de-force as she brilliantly incarnated Mary, going from imperious Queen to tragic heroine at the end. McCaldin brought a real sense of personality to the performance, and held us gripped as Mary explored the various factors which contributed to her make up… A remarkable feat of stamina and power, creating a dramatic narrative and holding our attention for 80 minutes, making Queen Mary live before our eyes.
★ ★ ★ ½ ☆ Robert Hugill for Planet Hugill. Click here to read full review
Reviews for Vivienne, Riverside Studios, London August 2013
[Clare McCaldin’s Vivienne] is a far better performance than we’re entitled to from someone who can also sing.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Kieron Quirke for The Evening Standard
Clare McCaldin performed fantastically… It’s rare that a one-woman show can be so clever and funny without dragging towards the end
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ Kate Mason for One Stop Arts
Vivienne… was elegantly performed by Clare McCaldin and pianist Elizabeth Burgess and deserves a rich concert life after this.
Alexandra Coghlan for The New Statesman
McCaldin gave a remarkable performance. Remarkable perhaps because in its complete identification with Vivienne and its intensity she made you forget that this was sung at all and the work became simply drama of the most involving kind.
Robert Hugill in Planet Hugill
Reviews for Notes from the Asylum, CHRCD111
This is a powerful disc, and McCaldin demonstrates the wide range and adaptability of her voice across such a broad range of repertoire, but it is in Vivienne that her dramatic abilities are most impressively in evidence.
Nick Boston in Classical Notes, August 2016
richly sung, richly imaginative
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ Rebecca Franks in BBC Music Magazine, July 2016 (August edition)
Clare McCaldin shows how she is able to shape and control her voice to draw so much from each song, following the subtle nuances of each text to deliver the most remarkable performances.
Bruce Reader in The Classical Reviewer, June 2016
Vivienne is a remarkable tour-de-force, in the flesh the piece is highly theatrical but this new disc does really capture the brilliance of McNeff and Rashleigh’s recapturing of Vivienne Eliott’s point of view. The whole recital puts together an interesting sidelong view on madness, combining both fictional characters and real experience.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ Robert Hugill in Planet Hugill, June 2016