“Anyone who heard Maria Guleghina’s Lady Macbeth last month in Verdi’s “Macbeth” might have guessed that Norma, the Druid priestess of Bellini’s dramatically awkward but musically glittering opera, would be a perfect fit for this tempestuous Russian soprano. And they would have been proven right Monday night, when she sang her first New York Norma with bel canto brilliance and an almost blood-curdling gusto. In much of this repertory, singers are often categorized as either the Callas type or the Sutherland. Given her fiery temperament, Guleghina moves toward the Callas end of the spectrum. At times, as in the famous aria “Casta Diva,” the sheer technical beauty of her singing had more of Sutherland’s exquisite phrasing, but in her Medea-like vengeance, she was pure Callas.”
New York Post