REVIEWS - 2024

Rossini's The Barber of Seville, English National Opera

As Don Basilio, the well-loved and universally admired Alastair Miles (who sang the same role in 2017) was simply perfect, his ‘La calunnia’ dripping with experience.

seenandheard-international.com

With his superb bass, Alastair Miles reprises his role as the slimy music teacher Don Basilio from the 2017 revival. He appears particularly menacing during his ode to slander, ‘La calunnia è un venticello’, as he  rises to his full height and generates huge shadows while Bartolo cowers in a chair. He is not, however, quite as sinister as some Don Basilios, which allows him to bring maximum comedy value to the role.

Sam Smith, opera-online.com

British bass Alastair Miles reprises the role of Don Basilio after performing it in the 2017 revival. With long greasy hair and a ridiculously outsized hat, Miles brings an oleaginous quality to the character and delivers Don Basilio’s slander aria ‘La calumnia è un venticello’ with its famed Rossini crescendo with aplomb.

London Unattached

Verdi's Ernani, Buxton International Festival

The most interesting of the three rivals is Elvira’s uncle, Don Ruy Gómez de Silva, alternately protecting her and threatening his opponents: the veteran bass Alastair Miles turns in a terrific, hard-hitting account of some wide-ranging, demanding lines.

Nicholas Kenyon, Daily Telegraph

But with the great Verdi bass Alastair Miles on the bill, it’s little surprise that his Silva takes top honours: a masterclass in Italianate legato, diction and patrician nefariousness which earns him the evening’s loudest cheers alongside the inevitable pantomime boos.

Sarah Noble, The Guardian

Alastair Miles, who creates the venerable, implacable Silva persuasively in his solid and stylish bass. It’s a thrilling evening.

George Hall, The Stage

Alastair Miles (Don Ruy) is most impressive of all, with a richness in his bass that wonderfully underpins the ensembles.

Robert Beale, TheatreReviewsNorth

…a terrifically baleful performance from the bass Alastair Miles as the vengeful Silva.

Richard Morrison, The Times

Alastair Miles is in rich form for his Infelice!, and in the succeeding finale of Act One his voice is the foundation of the whole tonal spectrum.

theartsdesk.com

Alastair Miles used his thrilling bass to perfection as de Silva with his unyielding code of honour.

thestar.co.uk

Bass Alastair Miles brilliantly played the role of Don Ruy Gomez de Silva as a man used to exercising raw power, unchecked by a moral conscience. He confidently abused those around him, including Elvira, whom he was supposed to protect. Vicious and demanding, his behaviour was unscrupulously fashioned to further his own designs. He was a thoroughly dislikable character, yet Miles never overplayed the part. His character never fell into a cliché and was always wholly believable. His singing was a cut above the other singers; he was able to introduce a greater degree of subtlety by moulding his intonation to fit the text and highlighting significant words to intensify the dramatic impact, which he showed off wonderfully in his aria “Infelice! E tu credevi.” Likewise, his recitatives were brilliantly rendered.

Operawire.com