Reviews of Kenneth Lane
From the 1997 SCHWANN ARTIST Classical Music Catalog -
America's Guide to Classical Performers - pages 14A and 15A

Reviews of 3rd CARNEGIE HALL (main hall) concert [solo "ALL-WAGNER"] 6/18/95:
"With impressive vocal skills and record-setting stamina heldentenor Kenneth Lane delivered the performance of a lifetime. For the first time ever a single-singer ALL-WAGNER program was sung in a major concert hall and virtuoso Kenneth Lane certainly gave the audience their money's worth. The athletic feat included all 9 heroic tenor roles... as well as all five Wesendonck songs [the first time ever sung in a major concert venue by a male voice]... effortlessly filled Carnegie Hall with tenor more dramatic & heroic than Wagner himself could have hoped for."
­Stefan Jux,, Music Critic, New Yorker Staats Zeitung

"Kenneth Lane's All-Wagner solo concert marathon was one of the extraordinary events of the century. It's hard to imagine anyone daring to stand on the stage of the hallowed Carnegie Hall, and with no more than about a minute in between selections, peal forth in lustrous tones Wagnerian scenes from RIENZI to PARSIFAL, and then amazingly, add ALL of the WESENDONCK LIEDER. Each selection was treated as an example of genuine introspection and committed vocal authority. My own personal favorite was TRISTAN which captured the agony and ecstacy in the heartbroken hero, in a voice that rode the crest of Wagnerian passion."
­Don Goldberg, Celebration Opera, WRHU

"His voice easily filled the farthest reaches of Carnegie Hall... Mr. Lane's concert should be recorded in the Guinness Book of Records as a one-of-a-kind event."
­Martin Kalmanoff, Music Critic & Opera Composer [Opera, Opera (Saroyan),
The Harmfulness of Tobacco (Eric Bentley) & Just Say I Love Her

Reviews of "WAGNER'S EPIC HEROES" CD:
"In this chronological survey of Wagner's output, Mr. Lane proved that dramatically and vocally he is that rare real heldentenor [heroic tenor]. The voice managed the upper regions with secure, ringing tones and a warm baritonal color in the lower and middle registers. His prodigious talent for both vocal and histrionic expression literally and viscerally, demands viewing him in "live" opera performances, so strong is the impact that this recording conjures up visually in one's imagination!"
­ Laszlo Halasz, Founder & First Artistic & Musical Director, New York City Opera

"Music to some enthusiasts is a quasi-religious experience. I am a moderately religious person, but the combination of Wagner and Kenneth Lane's voice makes conventional religion seem almost pedestrian !"
­Brice M. Clagett, Author/Critic/Attorney

"Kenneth Lane is certainly at home with the heroes! How many other tenors would (or could) attempt such an ambitious program? One would assume such a voice to come from a person of Valhallic proportions, as are most Wagnerian tenors. That he manages to maintain the support and heft for his heroic vocal undertakings and yet stay youthfully trim is certainly a tribute to his life-style and discipline. It must also come as a pleasant surprise to those who see him in operatic performances as well."
­Lawrence F. Holdridge, recordings' annotator, reviewer, radio commentator, and publisher of "The Record Auction" of Amityville, New York

"Hearing Kenneth Lane sing Wagner one is transported not only to the ideal aural realm of the Wagnerian heldentenor protagonist he is interpreting, but also convincingly to the entire Wagner canon, sensing the majesty, wide emotional outpourings and deeply-felt tenderness so palpably atmospheric of the Wagner we all imagined, but have not heard since the one and only Melchior."
­Martin Kalmanoff, Music Critic, opera composer ["The Bald Soprano" (Ionesco), "Insect Comedy" (Lewis Allan), "Joy of Prayer," & "pop" standard "Just Say I Love Her"]

Lane's voice is indeed powerful and full of character.... He captures effectively the anguish of TRISTAN denouncing the cursed drink (and himself), the confusion of PARSIFAL confronting Kundry, the regret of the dying SIEGFRIED, the torture of OTELLO's jealousy.... It is also pleasant, these days when most would-be heldentenors are wimpy and characterless, to find a singer like Kenneth Lane, who has real dramatic power.... There is rich promise in his singing.... WE NEED HIM!
­William Youngren, Music Critic, FANFARE, March/April 1997

Kenneth Lane is a tenor with impressive credentials.... The evidence provided by [Lane's] "Amfortas! Die Wunde!" and "Nur eine Waffe taugt!" suggests that he'd be quite an imposing PARSIFAL.... [Lane's] three TRISTAN excerpts also tantalize with their power.... Noted: he does nail the two "Bb"s in "Dio! mi potevi scagliar! [Otello]"
­James Miller, Music Critic, FANFARE, March/April 1997

Lane's Rienzi­heartfelt, spiritual, even vibrato! Otello­great hi Bb (!!) many, many very impressive points.
­Eugene Kohn, Metropolitan Opera Conductor

Reviews of 2nd CARNEGIE HALL Concert & CD:
"CARNEGIE HALL TEN-LANGUAGES 'LIVE' SOLO DÉBUT" CD:
"Kenneth Lane's CDs are quite an achievement-displaying wide scope, fine musicianship and, above all, his stamina!"
­George Jellinek, host of the 2 nationally broadcast series,The Vocal Scene & Vocal Gold;
Author, History Through the Opera Glass from the Rise of Caesar to the Fall of Napoleon

"Not only does Lane have one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard, but the style and feeling with which he sings quite different pieces is unmatched in my experience. His renderings have an intensity, a warmth and an elegance that I have rarely encountered, a heroic quality-Melchior is the only comparison that comes to mind."
­Brice M. Clagett, Author/Critic/Attorney

"The size of Mr. Lane's voice is astounding, and he lives every word he sings. Lane's Florestan's aria (Fidelio) left me gasping! Only Roswaenge's had the same effect on me, but Lane's rendition contains a singularly up-tempo finale which is both a vocal and dramatic knock-out."
­Joe Pearce, Sec'y, Vocal Record Collectors' Society, Contributor,Opera Quarterly & The Record Collector

"Huge, wide-ranging voice... heroic notes up to high B... a true dramatic tenor--a potential phenomenon--who can act with his voice as well as sing with it."
­Bill Zakariasen, New York Concert Review

"A true Tenore di Forza!"
­Aida Favia-Artsay, Author, Caruso on Records

Reviews of 1st CARNEGIE HALL Concert [with dramatic soprano Norma Jean]:
  • New York Times: "stentorian tone"
  • Musical Courier: "voice of rare vocal beauty"
  • New Yorker Staats-Zeitung: "Kenneth Lane possesses unquestionable material, a well-developed technique which allows for his big tone production and the necessary endurance to go with it."
  • Musical America: "Kenneth Lane sang in no less than ten languages... Mr. Lane's... tenor voice was dark in quality and large enough to fill Carnegie Hall quite easily. The good-sized audience was quite enthusiastic."
Reviews on tours:
  • Chicago American: "an exciting voice"
  • Houston Post: "a dramatic tenor of exceptional range & intensity"
  • Montreal Gazette: "a dramatic tenor with a bel canto quality"
  • Vancouver Sun: "a magnificent voice of pure quality & fine resonance"
  • Toronto Telegram: "a tenderness that belied the real strength of the voice "