“Kelsey, who was making a role debut as Scarpia, had just finished his triumphant run as Rigoletto three evenings earlier. The malevolence and vocal beauty which the baritone brings to Verdi’s jester, transfers perfectly to Puccini’s heinous chief of police.”
“Over those four decades I have seen and heard many wonderful Scarpias but how many have so clearly lived the part as Quinn Kelsey did or sang it with an oleaginous charm so chilling in its masking of wicked evil. Rarely has Scarpia’s lascivious sexual advances to Tosca appeared so real and it was a magnificent Met role debut”
“Quinn Kelsey is the “Italian” baritone we’ve been looking for, with a big, resonant sound and a wonderful, dramatic snarl that never stretches or distorts the vocal line. His Scarpia radiates cruelty; his “Tosca, you make me forget God” at the close of the Te Deum, perfectly audible above the chorus, was filled with horror and rage. He stalked Tosca like a tiger.”
“Kelsey gave us a suave would-be seducer who, for once, could have been a real romantic threat to Cavaradossi. His high, supremely secure baritone pined with enraptured love (or was it simply lust?) for Tosca and only revealed his brutal side when torturing Cavaradossi.”
