Hugh Mackey / Ocene

"Belfast baritone Hugh Mackey is, we understand, intent on learning 'sean nos' Irish singing. Proper order too. He already sings in Russian, German, French, Italian and English."

An outstanding arts festival, which opens its three-week run in Belfast Nov. 10, is celebrating 25 years of musicmaking and the arts. The festival is reinforcing a sense of confidence, self-respect, and even fun in a city that has been beleaguered for so long during ``the Troubles.'' The 25th annual Belfast Festival has grown into a major British arts festival, second in size only to the more famous Edinburgh Festival. Its attractions this year include Britain's Royal Shakespeare Company, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and China's Shanghai Kungu Theatre. Also featured are two of Northern Ireland's top international musicians - flautist James Galway and pianist Barry Douglas, who last year became the first European ever to win the gold medal in the Tchaikovsky piano competition in Moscow. Apart from the high artistic quality of the events, the festival is a tremendous morale-booster for Northern Ireland. It attracts a sophisticated clientele from outside the province and provides a rare opportunity to challenge negative stereotypes. English actor Anthony Quayle said, ``I found Belfast, with all its hideous problems, stimulating and exhilarating. I never expected such humour, such a passion for life.'' ``The warmth of feeling from these audiences hits you like a blast of steam,'' agreed violin virtuoso Yehudi Menuhin. The Belfast Arts Festival is just one example of the city's refusal to be battered into submission by terrorism and violence. In recent years, restaurants and night spots have literally mushroomed in the area around Queen's University, the site of the Festival. After a long period of urban warfare, when people were often too frightened to leave their homes, a growing number of Belfast residents appear to have decided to get on with the business of daily living.

Hugh Mackeys runder, in allen Lagen ausgeglichener Bass-Bariton…“ “Hugh Mackey's round, at all times, balanced Bass-Baritone…”

Hilary Finch rediscovers...unjustifiably neglected works "A rare opera which has been given a single performance somewhere in Europe within the last two decades may well be shunned as shop-soiled by the Wexford International Opera Festival with its tireless, even obsessive interest in exhumation. Imagine the consternation, then, when it was discovered that this year's piece de resistance. Donizetti’s L'assedio di Calais, had been given a showing only last September in Bergamo, the composer's home town. Wexford, though, need feel no great disappointment on being pipped at the post. Not only is its production only the second this century, but its stature served, thrilllingly, to reveal that of the opera itself. L'assedio is one of those truly rare creatures: a neglected opera that really did not ever deserve to be overlooked.The 1347 siege of Calais inspired Donizetti to create one of his most propulsive dramatic structures, hurled forward by robust choruses, superbly orchestrated connecting scenes, highly charged moments of recitative, and arias of extraordinary fertility..."

"Zo kommt et dat we zaterdagavond,….en gedurende het tweede deel een scenische opvoering konden volgen van de kantate L’Enfant Prodigue waarme Debussy destijds de prijs van Rome heest gewonnen. bewonderden … ook de bas-bariton Hugh Mackey bezit een warme en goed gewormde stem. Met veel overtuingskracht zong hij de oogsten van Simeon“ "On Saturday night we heard …after the intermission the Belgian premiere of Debussy’s 'L’Enfant Prodigue' which won for Debussy the Prix de Rome…produced with minimum effects …… Also, we were amazed by the bass-baritone Hugh Mackey with a warm and well-rounded voice, singing, very convincingly, the heights of Simeon” Gazette van Antwerpen Belgium

Haydn: “The Nelson Mass“ Vaughan Williams "Five Mystical Songs" “The baritone, Hugh Mackey, was the outstanding soloist in Haydn’s “Nelson Mass”, with a beautiful contribution in the “Qui Tollis” ... ..Vaughan Williams’ ” Five Mystical Songs” gave Mr. Mackey another opportunity to display a fine voice and sensitive musical perception.” D. S. Kentish Times

“Hugh Mackey sang the bass solos with admirable style and dignity…” Belfast Telegraph

"Equally confident and successful here was the Belfast-born baritone soloist, Hugh Mackey, who displayed an excellent and well schooled voice in a performance of great style and marked sensitivity and sincerity"

“Die Überraschung des Abends …Londoner Bariton Hugh Mackey. Schon im Prolog zum „Bajazzo“ war er ganz präsent, und erst recht ließ er aufhorchen in der (wie im Prolog auch hier in Italienisch gesungenen) Arie des Edgar „Questo Amor” aus der ganz selten gespielten gleichnamigen Oper Puccinis. Mackey ist mit wahrhaft schönem Stimmaterial begabt, verfügt über ein nobles Timbre und lasst auch Ansätze zur Dämonie spuren, wo sie hingehört. Ein ausgereifter „Opernschurke “ist er noch nicht, aber er hat das Zeug dafür, auch ein ganz großer Scarpia zu werden. Wäre ich ein Opernintendant, wurde ich ihn auf der Stelle engagieren“ ​ „The surprise of the evening…London baritone Hugh Mackey. Already in the Prologue to "I Pagliacci" he was quite present, and he made one sit up and listen even more in the (as in the Prologue, here in Italian sung) aria of Edgar "Questo Amor" from the very rarely played eponymous opera by Puccini. Mackey is gifted with truly beautiful vocal material, has a noble timbre and also suggests hints of the demonic where it belongs. He is not a mature "operatic villain" yet, but he has what it takes to become a very great Scarpia too. If I were a director of opera, I would hire him on the spot. "

Dal germe di questo lavoro Macrini arriva alla realizzazione di un’opera vera e propria che integra il passato della musica classica – attraverso un approfondito lavoro sugli archi – alla contemporaneità della musica elettronica. Nasce così The Book of Thel, presentato in un primo studio al sessantesimo Festival dei Due Mondi nel 2017 e in questi giorni in scena al Rose Theatre nella sua ultima versione “Le mie note” spiega l’autore “hanno cercato di alternare la stessa idea di bellezza e oscurità, di gioia e di morte che Blake trattava con una leggerezza inquietante”. Un incontro fondamentale è quello con l’illustratore spoletino Jacopo Maran, che grazie alle sue le sue tavole, completa quell’intersezione così importante per Macrini tra elementi visivi, le parole e la musica.

"Aus Nordirland stammt Hugh Mackey (Fürst Igor),..."

“A resaltar los papeles del Baritono Hugh Mackey…Mackey fue un asombroso Gran Sacerdote, gran fuerza y nada amedrentado por le sonido que salia a sus espaldas desde el coro y los atriles“ “To highlight the roles of Hugh Mackey…Mackey was an amazing Grand Priest, with great force and not at all intimidated by the sound that came from behind him from the choir and the lecterns“

Wagner : “Parsifal“ Staatsoper Hamburg „…Auch die kleinen Parteien waren kompetent besetzt; ...fiel der neuengagierte Hugh Mackey als zweite Gralsritter mit wohlklingendem Material angenehm auf,...“ “Even the small parts were competently taken ; …the newly engaged Hugh Mackey attracted attention as the Second Knight of the Grail with good-sounding material…”