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“All of the smaller parts were taken with distinction, chief amongst them Josephine Goddard’s characterful and beautifully sung Berta.”

Music OMH

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“Seizing her single aria by the throat, Josephine Goddard impresses as Berta, the irascible maid.”

The Times

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“Josephine Goddard seizes her opportunities as housemaid Berta, making her ‘seen-it-all’ aria a standout.”

The Stage

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“Josephine Goddard sang Berta’s ‘Il vecchiotto cerca moglie’ with pragmatic chirpiness.”

Opera Today

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Kathleen Ferrier Award Final - 2018

"Josephine Goddard and pianist Elliot Launn invited us on a journey, opening their programme with a gorgeous and utterly absorbing performance of Duparc’s ‘L’invitation au voyage’ in which the soprano spun the high line with a silvery gleam above Launn’s delicately trickling accompaniment. Here, again, was the vocal elegance I admired when I saw Goddard perform the role of Adolfo in the 2017 London Handel Festival production of Faramondo , and the well-shaped melodism that Goddard demonstrated as Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Royal College of Music earlier this year was again in evidence in Mimì’s ‘Donde lieta uscí’ in which strength of line was complemented by an appealing ‘freedom’ in the voice. Goddard controlled both dynamics and tone effectively, injecting a lovely flush of colour at the close, when the dying Mimì offers Rodolfo her pink bonnet as a memento of her love.

Launn’s steady, precise and gently articulated piano chords contributed greatly to a well-structured rendition of the ‘Nocturne’ from Britten’s 1937 song-cycle On this Island, in which the simple melodic line was expertly controlled and shaped creating a wonderfully serene image of the world sleeping as the globe spins ‘through night’s caressing grip’. Goddard coolly negotiated the sometimes surprising harmonic twists of the song, making much of the dissonance at the close, ‘Calmly till the morning break,/ Let him lie,’ before slipping easefully into the final cadence, ‘then gently wake’. Written for Peter Pears, and more commonly sung by the tenor voice, this song perhaps acquired even greater serenity from the sweetness of Goddard’s soprano. Rosalinde’s homeland reminiscences, from Johann Strauss junior’s Die Fledermaus), swept us from soothing slumber to champagne-fuelled masquerade. The aria ranges high and deep, but the soprano soared smoothly and evening through the melodic arcs. Goddard’s German was also excellent, and she paced the growing exuberance of the Csárdás perfectly, gradually ratcheting up the tempo and allowing the ‘Hungarian Countess’s’ high spirits free rein at the close. The Wigmore Hall audience loved it."

Claire Seymour, Opera Today, 2018