Critical acclaim for Nick's performances on the operatic stage, concert platform and in recital. Click on the publication title for reviews in full.
Stephen Hough: Other Love Songs – Songmakers Australia
“Brilliant polymath, Sir Stephen Hough, is best known as an outstanding pianist, but his output as a composer of note is considerable. His song cycle Other Love Songs was important enough to give this recital its title, and was understandably its centrepiece in terms of interest and artistry…A mixture of duets and ending with quartets, the eight songs use texts by Claude McKay, Julian of Norwich, AE Housman and others…The music itself is diverse in style ranging from bluesy through music-hall to the quiet intensity of the final setting of words from St John’s Gospel. On the one hand we had the witty “Madam and her Madam”, sung with playful character by Wilson, on the other the question and answer of Jesus and John sung with great sensitivity and velvety tone by Dinopoulos and Spiteri, who were joined by Quaife and Wilson as wonderfully ethereal voices for the “Agnus Dei” of the final section. It was a compellingly mystical note to finish on – one that deserved time to absorb fully…”
Heather Leviston, Classic Melbourne - 29 November 2024
Handel: Messiah – Polyphonic Voices & Melbourne Chamber Orchestra
"…Nicholas Dinopoulos began with an assured Thus Saith the Lord and acquitted himself well throughout…”
Elizabeth Quinn, Limelight - 26 November 2024
"…bass Nicholas Dinopoulos’ dramatic delivery of the text in ‘Why do the nations’ was injected with spiteful venom. Dinopoulos was in full voice for ‘The Trumpet shall sound’, in duet with a flawless performance from solo trumpet player Callum G’Froerer.”
Stephen Marino, Classic Melbourne - 24 November 2024
Victoria: Officium Defunctorum 1605 – The Giovanni Consort | “Consort winds back centuries in Requiem for an Empress”
"The 1603 Mass for Empress Maria of Austria, by Spanish composer Tomas Luis de Victoria, wove its early-modern magic in the unadorned acoustics of Guildford Town Hall; 12 voices reinforced by new artistic director Nicholas Dinopoulos, and Peter Moore’s curtal…Interleaving melodic lines filled out the room as the quartet processed into view, with curtal underpinning...then silence for Dinopoulos to intone a prayer — modelling a firm, authoritative delivery…Call and response carried through the Sequentia, a reflection on the day of wrath recited in a mix of hushed reverence and existential angst; Dinopoulos urging then calming sections before uniting all in a climactic amen…”
David Cusworth, The West Australian - 7 April 2024
Bach: St. Matthew Passion - Melbourne Baroque Orchestra, Polyphonic Voices, Trinity College Choir & The Australian Boys Choir
"Dinopoulos’ warm authoritative bass, enveloped by Christ’s ‘halo’ of strings, conveyed the narrative with due solemnity while also capturing its dramatic essence.”
Jack Stephens, classikON - 26 March 2024
Nostalgia: Piazzolla 101 - Port Fairy Spring Music Festival
"As promised in the program note, bass-baritone Nicholas Dinopoulos enchanted us in a joyous Argentinian homage to Piazzolla, accompanied by the wonderfully expressive Andrea Katz. Their Argentinian (Katz) and Spanish (Dinopoulos) background showed in the flair with which they conjured up the spirit of Buenos Aires. Dinopoulos was by turns lovelorn, nostalgic and even a little crazy, and his Spanish accent was impeccable.”
Kristina Macrae, Classic Melbourne - 31 October 2022
Closing Gala: Regenerations - Port Fairy Spring Music Festival
"Dinopoulos nailed the “Toreador’s Song”, wooing the audience with swagger in a bright red jacket.”
Kristina Macrae, Classic Melbourne - 31 October 2022
Händel: Acis and Galatea - Genesis Baroque & The Consort of Melbourne
"Nicholas Dinopoulos’s Polyphemus was a stand-out…he was in fine voice, with excellent control, offering a convincing vocal interpretation of the role. It is a shame that there wasn’t more for him to sing.”
Megan Steller, Limelight - 15 July 2022
"As the monster, bass-baritone Nicholas Dinopoulos was terrific – in both senses. Prowling around the audience cigarette in hand, leering at certain members, or leaning nonchalantly against a wall – too cool for school in his Misfits t-shirt – he cut a menacing figure. Polyphemus has the most familiar number in the opera: “O ruddier than the cherry” and Dinopoulos made the most of it. Even in the preceding recitative, “I rage – I melt – I burn” he was monstrously dramatic. Up to that point the audience had not clapped at all, but such an impressive display of bass energy, especially in the more florid sections, had listeners too excited to worry about interrupting the flow.”
Heather Leviston, Classic Melbourne - 15 July 2022
"Dinopoulos brings terrifying form and powerful vocals to his unhinged Polyphemus.”
Paul Selar, Opera Chaser - 14 July 2022
Australian Digital Concert Hall – Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra, The Australian Boys Choir & The Vocal Consort
"The glorious Agnus Dei, with all four soloists combining beautifully, complemented by the 50 voices and strings, brass and drums, brought this excellent program to a close. Dinopoulos led a tight and well-judged performance, leaving those who had attended either live or digitally with some superb musical memories of this Austrian Encounter.”
Steve Moffatt, Limelight - 23 May 2022
Victoria: Officium Defunctorum 1605 – Australian Boys Choir & The Vocal Consort
"Dinopoulos shaped a precise, perfectly balanced and totally committed performance from the choir...The success of this performance was built on the vocal texture achieved. The uniqueness of boys' voices in creating an almost celestial aesthetic has long been the desired goal in sacred music and it was clearly audible in this performance.”
Bronislaw Sozanski, The Courier - 17 May 2021
Australian Digital Concert Hall – Songmakers Australia | “From health risk to exquisite tonic”
"Dinopoulos brought heartfelt passion to Die Mainacht, displaying an admirable evenness of tone throughout his range...[and]…a touch of class to the once popular parlour ballad The Roses of Picardy, investing it with warmth and genuine emotion.”
Tony Way, The Age - 7 December 2020
Australian Digital Concert Hall – Songmakers Australia | “Songmakers Summon Emotion”
"Dinopoulos is a gifted word-painter, particularly in German repertoire, and his bass-baritone aptly captures the crisp bitterness Schubert requires. At his most impressive in Der Doppelgänger, where, as the protagonist finds the man who haunts his dreams is himself, Dinopoulos sang with a darkness and burnished power that you just know would have knocked you back in your seat had you been in the room.”
Bridget Davies, The Age - 5 April 2020
Arvo Pärt: Passio – Australian Boys Choir, The Vocal Consort & The Consort of Melbourne
"Dinopoulos’ mode of direction came from an emphatic and clear school; just the sort of conducting that you’d expect from a singer-musician who has learned his craft from observing both the worthwhile and the useless gestures of senior figures during his career to date.”
Clive O'Connell, The Music - 28 March 2019
C.P.E. Bach: St. Matthew Passion – Melbourne Bach Choir
"Nicholas Dinopoulos sang Christus with an assurance that recalled Warwick Fyfe’s exertions in the same role during earlier Melbourne Bach Choir Passions. Just as pliant as [tenor evangelist Andrew] Goodwin, this bass made the Gethsemane section a powerful, unsentimental experience and negotiated his line with a no-nonsense gravity during the exchanges with the High Priest and Pilate."
Clive O'Connell, The Music - 20 February 2018
Fauré: Requiem – Gloriana Chamber Choir
"Nicholas Dinopoulos again showed his capacity to understand a part almost instinctively, lending a warm strong baritone to the Offertory and later to a vigorous Libera me."
Suzanne Yanko, Classic Melbourne - 27 September 2017
Lyric Rhapsody – Art Song Canberra
"...Dinopoulos has a thrillingly powerful voice..."
Len Power, Canberra Critics Circle - 29 August 2016
Bach and His Ancestors – Latitude 37
"Finally, it was the turn of Johann Sebastian Bach and his cantata Ich habe Genug. Dinopoulos captivated the audience from the outset, his voice melding beautifully with the instruments, particularly [Kirsten] Barry's oboe. He used it to differentiate the various sections, from joy to despair - but always with a sense of calm."
Suzanne Yanko, Classic Melbourne - 1 April 2016
Gluck: Iphigénie en Tauride – Pinchgut Opera
"For their production of Iphigénie en Tauride, Pinchgut assembled an ensemble of Australian singers whose fluency in Gluck's musical language is impeccable. Portraying both an unnamed Scythe and the Ministre du sanctuaire, bass-baritone Nicholas Dinopoulos - an Oreste in the making - sings handsomely and powerfully, the authority of his voicing of the latter part's 'Étrangers malheureux, il faut vous séparer' markedly increasing the menace of the scene in Act Two in which he appears. His music in Iphigénie en Tauride is neither demanding nor extensive in comparison with other works in his repertoire, but Dinopoulos is a singer whose attractive, assured vocalism and unaffected acting are always noticed."
Joseph Newsome, Voix des Arts - 14 December 2015
Cavalli: Giasone – Pinchgut Opera
"The rôles for low-voiced gentlemen are sung with epic technical control by bass-baritone Nicholas Dinopoulos and baritone David Greco. As Ercole, Mr. Dinopoulos lacks none of the burly masculinity of this legendary hero. His famous labors behind him, Ercole lent his brawn to the Argonauts' expedition to seize the golden fleece, and Mr. Dinopoulos lends his resonant voice and charismatic self-assurance to this performance of Giasone. His singing of the opening scene, 'Dal'Oriente porge l'alba,' is suitably robust, and his annoyance with Giasone's amorous dalliances is amusingly evident throughout the performance. His dueting with Isifile in Part Two is extraordinarily charming, and he impresses in every scene in which he appears with his uncanny combination of firm, ringing tone throughout his range and great flexibility."
Joseph Newsome, Voix des Arts - 5 August 2014
"As Ercole, Nicholas Dinopoulos had a suave breadth and depth to his sound (as attendant to a philander this role is an interesting antecedent to Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni)."
Peter McCallum, Sydney Morning Herald - 7 December 2013
"From the first, Dinopoulos demonstrates not only the depth, but length, breadth and richness of his voice, which only gets better as he and the opera rollick along. Better still, he's just as substantial theatrically...Like Dinopoulos, [countertenor David Hansen] has corresponding strengths in the dramatic and, especially, comedic stakes."
Lloyd Bradford Skye, Daily Review - 6 December 2013
Piazzolla: María de Buenos Aires – Victorian Opera
"...operatic baritone Nicholas Dinopoulos, sensitively and authoritatively tackling multiple roles as the Cantor..."
Peter Burch, The Australian - 23 August 2013
"Nicholas Dinopoulos, as the Cantor, has a vocal warmth and resonance that embodies the fluidity and ardour of Piazzolla's music and tells the story sensitively."
Kate Herbert, Herald Sun - 22 August 2013
Bach Cantatas – Peninsula Summer Music Festival
“At Saturday's opening, tenor Paul Bentley and bass Nicholas Dinopoulos sang a cantata each before combing for a hefty performance of Ich lasse dich nicht, BWV 157, distinguished by the singers' intensity, Bentley's easy negotiation of each top B in the operatic ‘Ich halte’ solo, and the mellow pleasure of the bass' lowest register."
Clive O'Connell, The Age - 31 December 2012
Buxtehude: Membra Jesu Nostri – Melbourne Festival
“Bass Nicholas Dinopoulos invested his active solos with a vigorous bounce.”
Clive O'Connell, The Age - 11 October 2012
The Seasons – Songmakers Australia | "Bass-Baritone Dinopoulos wows Piazzolla fans"
"The night’s main interest came in bass-baritone Nicholas Dinopoulos, who surged through five numbers, at his most impressive in ‘Balada para un Loco’, which displayed a convincing mastery of the Spanish text by Horacio Ferrer and a powerful ardour when the actual song got under way. This young singer impressed with his linguistic fluency in three Romance tongues and an unswerving conviction that carried his audience with him through the macho world that Piazzolla’s work inhabits."
Clive O’Connell, The Age - 24 September 2012
Bach: Johannes Passion – Gloriana Chamber Choir
“Nicholas Dinopoulos sang an imposing Christ...”
Clive O’Connell, The Age - 11 September 2012
Grainger: Tribute to Foster – Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
“The night ended with...the Tribute to Foster, with an enthusiastic quintet of young soloists, led off by bass Nicholas Dinopoulos.”
Clive O’Connell, The Age - 1 September 2012
Grainger: Tribute to Foster – The Consort of Melbourne
“But the pleasures were...Nick Dinopoulos's potent bass in the Foster score.”
Clive O’Connell, The Age - 4 July 2011
Mozart: Don Giovanni – Gertrude Opera
“Nicholas Dinopoulos (Leporello)...had definite stage presence.”
Barney Zwartz, The Age - 4 September 2010
“Nicholas Dinopoulos sparkles with comic invention as Giovanni’s manservant Leporello, here re- imagined as more of a best friend, riding the Don’s coattails and enjoying the spoils that are cast aside. The close age and friendship of the pair made Don Giovanni’s betrayal of Leporello all the more dramatic, almost more important in revealing Giovanni’s evil side than the murder of the Commendatore. Dinopoulos had the audience in the palm of his hand and he sings the bass role with assurance.”
Simon Parris, Theatre People - 3 September 2010