March 13, 2018

"Curtis alum Jean-Michel Richer brings a pliant tenor voice to François, Dede’s French Canadian husband; a Montréal native himself, he sings the character’s French-inflected lines with authority."

March 13, 2018

"full-throated, impassioned Jean-Michel Richer"

October 23, 2017

"Tenor Jean-Michel Richer embodies the innocence of Count Vallier de Tilly. [...] Richer's soaring tenor pierces the auditorium with a panoply of emotion: love, regret, sadness and desire. Richer debuted the role with Opéra de Montréal in 2016 and is a standout performer in this production."

April 21, 2017

"Thursday night’s performance offered fine singing. [...] Tenor Jean-Michel Richer ably brought out Vallier’s Dionysian beauty;"

March 12, 2017

"And, best yet, the daddy who "flies across the ocean, leaving just a memory" is a flesh-and-blood character here (tenor Jean-Michel Richer), interacting with Pink as a boy."

February 24, 2017

"The members of the talented Canadian cast were comfortable with the spoken French dialogue and their light, healthy voices made the transitions from talking to singing natural and fluid [...] The tenor Jean-Michel Richer sang with affecting directness and poise..."

February 20, 2017

Gaveaux wrote the part of Florestan, the political prisoner, for himself to sing. On Sunday the role suited the voice of Canadian tenor Jean-Michel Richer, who produced a strong, pleading sound in his fine company debut. The aria at the character’s first appearance, spotlit in his shackles to open the second act with a slow aria, was especially striking.

May 23, 2016

''The all-Canadian cast of 10 (supplemented by a male chorus) could hardly have been better chosen. Simon and Vallier, the young lovers, had ardent advocates in Étienne Dupuis [...] and tenor Jean-Michel Richer.''

May 23, 2016

''...presented with uncommon conviction – by operatic standards – deliver a certain frisson to audiences accustomed to the art form's staid conventions. [...]Refreshingly, the cast was also an all-Canadian affair, ably led by Étienne Dupuis (young Simon) and Jean-Michel Richer (Vallier)[...] Richer's lithe tenor is the cornerstone of Vallier's more poetic soul.''

May 23, 2016

''This was all truly something to behold, and would have been satisfying in a purely new-music context, but the fact that this was all in service of a compelling, heartbreaking love story is what made this experience so powerful. There was so much going on in the orchestra, onstage, and in the skillful and artful vocal writing, that it was an overwhelming number of things to take in. This, I believe, is what a first rate experience of opera theatre should always be – more than the audience can possibly take in.''