Metropolitan Opera Recital

"Is there a singer on the Metropolitan Opera’s roster more deserving of a solo recital on its stage than René Pape, who received that honor on Sunday afternoon? After nearly 20 years and 200 performances with the company, this German bass’s steady, wine-dark voice and suave presence have become indispensable . . . Mr. Pape is elegantly restrained, a natural storyteller who draws you in slowly and carefully, yet confidently, rarely grabbing you by the lapels but effective, nevertheless, at making you listen . . . His final encore, “If Ever I Would Leave You,” from Lerner and Loewe’s “Camelot,” summed up the recital: calm, burnished, decorous, gorgeous."

– Zachary Woolfe, The New York Times