Ms. Montalbano’s performance of Baltic and Nordic songs in Lyric Fest’s Songs from the Tundra was described as “winning” by the Broad Street Review.

Maren Montalbano sang with warmth and expression that added luster to dramatic works like “Det syng” (The Song) by Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) and “Amidst Weeping,” a fervent nationalistic polemic by Ukrainian Vadym Kipa (1912-1968). Montalbano was especially winning in the Moravian folk song “Přeletěl slavíček” (As Dreams Flew), by Norwegian composer Arne Dørumsgaard (1921-2006), which she sang in her own translation.

– Gail Obenreder, Broad Street Review, January 15, 2019