La Fortuna & Giunone: Il ritorno d’Ulisse / Garsington Opera at Wormsley 2026
“…an aristocratic Queen of the Gods.”
Music OMH
Micah: Saul / Arcangelo at London Handel Festival 2026
“Jessica Cale’s high-flying lyricism suited the dewy-eyed Michal, contrasting nicely with Emőke Baráth’s spitfire soprano as the haughty Merab.”
The Guardian
“Sopranos Merab and Michal were well realised by Emőke Baráth and Jessica Cale, respectively, Baráth’s slightly creamier tone contrasting well with Cale’s more bell-like timbre, the better to point up the Merab’s snobbishness and Michal’s somewhat obsessive adoration of David.”
Music OMH
“Sopranos Emőke Baráth Jessica Cale brought warmth and finesse to the roles of Saul’s daughters.”
The Standard
“Admirably centred throughout was the graceful soprano Jessica Cale, as David’s betrothed, who drew us in with hushed entries.”
The Times
Bobbie: The Railway Children / Glyndebourne 2025
“The three youngsters, wrenched from home and comfort and plunged into doubt about the probity of their beloved father, express conflict and anxiety as well as charm: Jessica Cale (Bobbie), Matthew McKinney (Peter), and Henna Mun as the teddy-bear-clutching littl’un, Phyllis. Bobbie’s lonely struggle to do the right thing after parental, and official, authority have crumbed elicits some of Turnage’s most tense but tender writing. Cale and McKinney (both Kathleen Ferrier Prize laureates) shone equally, with Mun their endearing, annoying sidekick.”
The Arts Desk
“Singing from all was faultless, with clear communication, strong depiction of characters and evenness of strength and projection. Jessica Cale was exceptional as the eldest child, Bobbie, torn between feeling responsible for her younger siblings and the need to support her mother, and she communicated her growing strength well through the mixture of narrative and interaction with other characters, her bright soprano similarly increasing in strength of conviction… All three managed to pull off playing children, not an easy feat, and capturing the dynamic of the young siblings well.”
Bachtrack
“The focus of the story is always the three children and all three demonstrate really confident singing and acting. Jessica Cale has a lovely, soft soprano as Bobbie, burdened with her feelings of responsibilities as the eldest.”
Broadway World
“The three children are sung by young adults – Jessica Cale, Matthew McKinney and Henna Mun, two of them bigger than their mum – who light up the show.”
Financial Times
“The cast is strong all round, especially Jessica Cale, Matthew McKinney and Henna Mun who are entirely believable as the three children. With her soft-grained soprano, Cale conveys Bobbie’s awakening sense of responsibility as well as her mounting adolescent angst.”
The Guardian
“The singing was uniformly strong. Adults playing children is always a challenge, but Jessica Cale, Matthew McKinney and Henna Mun made their roles entirely believable.”
Opera
“A lot rides on the performances of the three children, and confident vocalist and purposeful acting grants Jessica Cale’s Bobbie, Matthew McKinney’s Peter and Henna Mun’s Phyllis clear success.”
The Stage
“However, the three children, Jessica Cale as Bobbie, Matthew McKinney as Peter and Henna Mun as Phyllis are splendidly characterised in Stephen Langridge’s skilful production and effortlessly steal the show from the cloudier characters around them.”
The Telegraph
“What Turnage and Hewer have wisely retained is the poignant essence of Nesbit’s story — bewildered children coping with the loss of their home. That’s beautifully conveyed by three fine young singers, Henna Mun, Matthew McKinney and especially Jessica Cale as Bobbie, the oldest sibling, who delivers Nesbit’s immortal final line “Daddy, my daddy!” as an unaccompanied cry just before the final blackout.”
The Times
Céphise: Pygmalion / Early Opera Company 2025
“Rising sopranos Jessica Cale and Lauren Lodge-Campbell did lively battle as love-rivals Céphise (Pygmalion’s neglected girlfriend) and the Statue – Cale’s warmer, fuller voice a foil to Lodge-Campbell’s silvery clarity.”
The Arts Desk
Giulietta: I Capuleti e i Montecchi / English Touring Opera 2025
“But it’s Giulietta’s embattled solitude that consistently holds the eye – and ear, when Cale’s robust and agile soprano gloriously breaks her silence[…] As for Cale’s Giulietta, the anguished recitative “Oh! Quante volte” – where, kneeling forlorn on the bar, she laments her fate as a “sacrifice” to family honour – revealed an equally formidable, full-bodied instrument.”
The Arts Desk
“The performance came to life with Jessica Cale’s entry as Giulietta. Preceded by a gorgeous horn solo, her meditative entrance aria “Oh! Quante volte” lit up the Hackney Empire with the sweet timbre of the long-breathed notes, the poise of her phrasing and her glittering decoration.”
Bachtrack
“Jessica Cale’s solos are rapturous.”
British Theatre Guide
“Jessica Cale had the biggest voice of all, powerfully communicative but beautifully controlled in intimate moments. In a production that conjures perma-violence, Cale’s Giulietta is a force to be reckoned with.”
The Guardian
“Samantha Price and Jessica Cale make for a fine match, balanced and richly blended.”
Opera
“Jessica Cale’s Giulietta was Price’s equal in vocal expressiveness, manifesting all the emotional conflict inherent in the role and impressing with the security of her coloratura lines.”
Opera Today
“Jessica Cale’s superbly sung Giulietta is perfectly matched by Samantha Price’s artfully voiced Romeo in terms of their equivalent and nigh-on flawless skill and execution.”
The Stage
“Jessica Cale, as Giulietta, is also impressive, particularly when she whittles down her big sound to a haunting pianissimo.”
The Times
J. S. Bach: Christmas Oratorio / Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment 2023
“Jessica Cale’s pure bright sound charmed in her ‘Echo aria’.”
Bachtrack
J. S. Bach: Magnificat / London Handel Players at Wigmore Hall 2023
“Jessica Cale glowed with warmth and strength across her range in the “Ex exultavit.””
The Arts Desk
Poppea” The Coronation of Poppea / English Touring Opera 2023
“Jessica Cale’s Poppea is magnificently self-assured, coolly using her sexuality for her own ends and ambitions.”
The Guardian
“Jessica Cale’s attractive and well sung Poppea.”
Opera
“There is an attractive hypnotic quality (a question of design as well as pacing) that draws you in. There is something glacial about Jessica Cale’s Poppea, but very watchable.”
Opera Now
“Throughout, Jessica Cale is an articulate, lyrical Poppea, using her sexual power to ensure that her career path is upwards.”
The Stage
“Jessica Cale, slinky and seductive as the part demands.”
The Standard
“Jessica Cale’s languidly wheeling Poppea.”
The Times
October 2023
Armira: Scipione / Early Opera Company
“Jessica Cale used her fresh, clean soprano with skill and expressiveness to convey Armira’s pride and integrity.”
Opera
J. S. Bach: St John Passion / Academy of Ancient Music 2022
“Jessica Cale’s purity of tone and confident phrasing enhanced the pained sentiments of ‘Zerfließe, mein Herze’.”
Opera Today
Second Niece: Peter Grimes / Teatro La Fenice
“Auntie’s two Nieces were played by sopranos Patricia Westley and Jessica Cale, both of whom put in strong performances. While they were suitably flirtatious and off-hand with the clients of ‘The Boar’ public house, they also managed to successfully capture the misery and reality of their jobs.”
Operawire
Fiordiligi: Così fan tutte / Saffron Opera Group 2022
“Jessica Cale guided us through the gradual erosion of Fiordiligi’s resolve with considerable subtlety. Her lead into ‘Come scoglio’ and the aria itself were expertly phrased and shaded, all the more affecting for aspiring to be a sternly purposed Baroque scena, and in Act 2 she got straight to the point of being careful what you wish for in a heart-breaking ‘Per Pietà.”
Opera
“The young lovers were astonishingly well cast and – crucial for this opera I suspect? – they generally had youth on their side. Fiordiligi is the character who is most conflicted by events and has the biggest arc – which Jessica Cale with her bright eloquent soprano created perfectly – from professing Fiordiligi’s rock-like constancy in ‘Come scoglio’, her tenderly introspective ‘Per pietà’, to her succumbing to the impassioned Ferrando in their ‘Fra gli amplessi’ Act II duet.”
Seen and Heard International
