“First prize went to the Toronto tenor Charles Sy in recognition of his softly lyric sound but especially a natural sense of phrasing coupled with a rare willingness to project beyond the apron.”
– Arthur Kaptainis, National Post
“Sy sang with lovely, warm tone that was a pleasure to the ear. He offered perfect expression and a surfeit of elegance in both arias, and negotiated the treacherous final minute of Nemorino’s aria beautifully. An excellent performance.”
– Joseph So, La Scena Musicale
“With his pleasing, sweet timbre, and innate musicality, Sy shows enormous promise.”
“I thought Charles Sy truly gave the night’s best performance. He was vocally and dramatically mature, with a delicious dark tenor sound that stretched easily into shining high notes. He deserves accolades for being a smart singer, but he also gave the first real moments of storytelling. He didn’t let any physicality distract us from his seriously gorgeous sound, but he filled all the silences, bridged all the dramatic beats, and gave us a person instead of an aria.”
“My first impression of Sy … was simply “what a beautiful voice“. Sy’s two arias show us what he can do, pure and simple, and what he does he does very well.”
“He’s a genuine tenor with no sign of forcing the high notes. Very nice to listen to”
“Charles Sy is excellent from beginning to end as Wingrave’s friend Lechmere, whether singing the ironic quotation of the folk tune “the minstrel boy to the war is gone” or when in Act II he flirts shamelessly with Kate in their lyrical duet. It was a pleasure to hear him sing twice more after his two solid performances of Don Ottavio in Opera Nuova’s presentation of Don Giovanni earlier in June.”
-Stephan Bonfield, Calgary Herald
“Charles Sy sang with a warm and endearing voice as Mr. Upfold, the mayor. I’m excited to hear him over the next few years as he takes on Mozart and Donizetti.”
“Charles was in fine voice for the whole 65 minutes or so. He was delicate and floaty where he needed to be and fierce when warranted. It was lovely and text sensitive and proof, if anyone still needed it, of what a fine singer he has become in the last couple of years.”
– Opera Ramblings (about Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin)
“My attention was immediately drawn to one tenor voice that was obviously a bit special. This turned out to be Charles Sy who returned later to perform the balcony scenes from both Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette and West Side Story with soprano Karine White. These scenes were beautifully done and in the former Sy revealed a genuinely free and easy operatic tenor. Very nice.”
“Singing Odoardo in Ariodante and Don Anchise in La finta giardiniera, tenor Charles Sy brought out his trademark beautiful singing. A clear, clean line and shimmering tone throughout his range coupled with grace and skill on the stage were a perfect pairing for a Mozartian noble.”
“Charles Sy as Grimoaldo, Bertarido’s usurper, was in total command of the role. His vocal runs were impeccable. He showed off his voice’s stunning uniformity from bottom to top with the addition of some daring ornamentation.”
– Matthew Timmermans, Opera Canada
“Charles Sy, as Belfiore, followed Banješević’s strong lead and both blended nicely as they shared intimate and often very heated phrases. Sy developed his role in the second act and was seen as an overall artist enjoying the simple joy of expressing and creating in the moment.”
– Jennifer Pyron, Opere Wire (about La Finta Giardiniera)
“Und in der Kirche geben gerade die Masterclass Sänger von Ann Murray und Malcolm Martineau vor einem „warm, charming and knowledgeable public“ (Murray) ihr Abschlusskonzert; bei dem sich wiederum der Tenor Charles Sy als schönste Zukunftshoffnung erweist.”
Translation: And in the church, the Masterclass singers of Ann Murray and Malcolm Martineau give their final concert in front of a “warm, charming and knowledgeable public” (Murray); in turn, the tenor Charles Sy proves to be the most beautiful future hope.
– Manuel Brug, klassiker.welt.de (about the Britten-Pears Young Artist Program)