Maria Forsström is much appreciated for her soulful Mahler interpretations and her extremely intelligent musicianship, being equally at ease in a Lieder recital as on the opera stage. Her coloratura, her deep knowledge about style and source reading makes her the both ideal Baroque singer, as well as an interpreter of the Romantic and modern composers.
"Her rich voice with clear diction, laden with alto tones reminiscent of Kathleen Ferrier, evokes the tragic tale."
"Here she sings Messaggiera with a conviction and involvement that challenges Cathy Berberian (Harnoncourt) and Anne Sofie von Otter (Gardiner).
“La Mezzo-Soprano Maria Forsström vient insuffler avec authenticité ses ondes délicieuses par un chant réconfortant habité d’une douceur bienfaisante"
Classiquehd.fr
"With the Lund Student Singers' resonant sound and Maria Forsström's passionately vibrant mezzo the performance reached a new level. It seemed as one was transferred to a entirely new concert."
Helsingborgs Dagblad
"Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Teodor Currentzis and Maria Forsström are captivating together! (---) ”Phaedra” has some terribly difficult vocal sections in it, and with her dark timbre the mezzo soprano Maria Forsström gives both expression and depth to the piece. (---) Luciano Berio’s ”Folk Songs” are at times wild, at times recall the music of a snake charmer, at times they lull you softly to sleep, they bring out the smile on your lips and goose bumps all over your body. Maria Forsström offers an outstanding show..."
Polska Muza, Concert Review
"... Even without sets and costumes everything is very much alive and moving. One of second part's highlights is when Elijah almost has given up hope and wants to die, and is comforted by an angel wonderfully portrayed by Maria Forsström (when she's not excelling as the Queen)."
Göteborgs-Posten
"The mezzo soprano Maria Forsström is shaping the arias into something completely brilliant, passionately, with a musty bite dressed in a fiercely red Dracula cape."
Dagens Nyheter
”Maria Forsström in the travesti role Maffio Orsini, has a beautiful contralto voice that carries through, completely. Quite fun that this castrato singer has some outward resemblances to the pop star Barry Gibb from The Bee Gees..."
Expressen, Review of Lucrezia Borgia
”Greatest impression was Maria Forsström. Her sound is dark and deep, filled with intellectual calmness and heartfelt energy. She conveyed a grand existential feeling.”
Ongaku no Tomo, Concert review of Das Lied von der Erde
”... Maffio Orsini is sung by a contralto, a trouser role, sung with highest level of expression by Maria Forsström. I note that her opera debut was done with the celebrated conductor Teodor Currentzis in Perm, Russia 2011.”
Ystads Allehanda
”Maria Forsström is interpreting ”Der Tamboursg’sell”, the tale about the drummer boy waiting to hang, in a way so moving that I had loved to stay in this abyss for some time. An unforgettable excursion into the darkness ... She has such a technical command that even those notes that ought to be strained, high or low, just stay beautiful. During the evening Forsström places herself throughout in the middle of the sound. The orchestra is sensitive. Does she hear it from inside? From there stems her versatility.”
Dalademokraten
”... It was the mezzo soprano Maria Forsström that carried the vocal splendour on Poetry’s winged voices. A respected name in the international Mahler circles, she brought life to songs from ”Des Knaben Wunderhorn”, ”Rückert-Lieder” and symphonic solo parts – everything delivered with a clear diction and a mild expressivity that lighted up both inner dramas and implicit passions”.
Dalarnas Tidning
"Tremendously strong performance from Maria Forsström as Idamante..."
Tidig Musik, Concert review of Idomeneo
"...The great instrumentalists and Teodor Currentzis were joined by the likewise wonderful Swedish singer Maria Forsström, endowed with a beautifully coloured mezzosoprano voice, oozing with charisma. Convincingly she created a moving portrait of the unhappy, mythical heroine in Racine’s tragedy.
If she conveyed a kind of divine presence in her Phaedra, she demonstrated her vocal versatility, her stage temper, her dancing skills and humour in the Folk Songs by Luciano Berio. Each one of the eleven songs so artfully performed was a real gem."
Dziennik Polski, Concert review, Mahler Chamber Orchestra
"Despite the lateness of the hour, much of the audience stayed to profit from the night program, which included cabaret numbers sung by ... Maria Forsström, an alto with the type of suave, old-world cool that would not be out of place at the Carlyle."
The New York Feuilleton, Concert Review
"... a particularly solid Dorabella from Maria Forsstrom. Incredibly, this was the Swedish mezzo's stage debut; her creamy timbre and natural dramatic grace deserve engagements elsewhere."
Opera Magazine
"Teodor Currentzis together with his MusicAeterna orchestra and world-class guest soloists staged in Perm the production of Cosi fan tutte. Perfectionism – it is the first word that comes to mind ....Teodor Currentzis, bringing together for the premiere performances nearly perfect double cast, on the first night set forth the baroque virtuoso Simone Kermes (Fiordiligi) and Swedish Maria Forsstrom (Dorabella). Their singing was sophisticated, slightly tendered, not even least bit forced ... a Mozart of this kind has never been heard or performed in our country before."
Muzokno
“I was deeply moved by Mahler's Kindertotenlieder, which in great part was thanks to the Swedish contralto Maria Forsström and her deep translucent voice … It is always a pleasure and joy to meet unknown but exquisite artists …"
Nikkei Shimbun
"Maria Forsström, a less-caricatured Marcellina than most, is allowed her frequently-excised aria in Act Four, ‘Il capro e la capretta,’ and she sings it excellently... Her interactions with Susanna display wonderful comic timing, especially in their duettino ‘Via, resti servita, madama brillante"
Voix des Arts, CD Review
“… a voice of immense beauty ... almost like Birgit Nilsson in her heyday, or - to use an even more Scandinavian comparison - Kirsten Flagstad.”
Music Web International
”surprisingly broad range and great variety in her vocal timbre”
”… my associations go to Birgit Nilsson …”
Swedish Radio, CD review
”… one of this year’s most interesting discs … it is devastatingly beautiful.”
Dagens Nyheter, CD review
”The songs by Mahler were brought to life in an inner cathedral, where a brilliant architect had made it possible to hear each consonant, each syllable in a space where the roof was made by the night’s sky …an incredibly strong, naked and moving version of Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder and Rückert-Lieder.”
Kyrkomusikernas Tidning, CD review
”Caccini, Monteverdi and Frescobaldi suit her balanced contralto voice perfectly, and seldom Early Baroque sounded, simply said, that beautiful.”
Tidig Musik, CD review
"surprisingly broad range and great variety in her vocal timbre"
"...associations go to Birgit Nilsson..."
Swedish Radio, CD review
”Naturally large, warm contralto voices are very few. If one can also bring life to a text with such conviction as Forsström did, well, then one is almost obliged to share one’s art of singing with fellow humans.”
Göteborgsposten, Concert review