Giacomo Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” is fraught with heartache and tragedy, but the most poignant moment of the Lyric Opera’s opening-night performance came not during the opera itself, but at the curtain call. Soprano Elizabeth Caballero, who had just delivered a stunning performance in the title role, sank to her knees in tears as the audience at the Kauffman Theatre rose to its feet. She had never performed the demanding role before and had been nervous about taking it on. But after her inspiring debut as the tragic heroine she may have felt like an enormous weight had been lifted.
Anyway you cut it, this was a personal triumph for Caballero, because after the final curtain her crystalline voice — delicate yet powerful, passionate yet controlled — is what lingers most vividly in the one’s memory.

Robert Trussell, Kansas City Star, 9/16/12

The performer who stole the stage was Elizabeth Caballero as Liu. At the conclusion of her first aria of the night the audience spontaneously erupted in applause. Her command of her character and her voice was exceptional and hers was the loudest applause at the conclusion of the evening.

Patrick Dixon, Austin Post 4/15/12

The show’s musical highlight is Elizabeth Caballero’s turn as Liu, the play’s most sympathetic character. Caballero nearly steals the show with a prodigiously beautiful voice, that shimmers with emotion, volume and nuanced shades of color. The crowd positively fawned over her, with an applause several orders of magnitude above the others (a wave of gratitude that topped any I’ve heard at the Long Center, for any concert). It plainly floored the young soprano.

Luke Quinton, Austin American Statesman 4/16/12

Most notable was Cuban-American soprano Elizabeth Caballero, who sang Liu in sensuously glowing tones, her charged legato shaping the music into cogent paragraphs. Liu’s death scene tore at the heart. For a long stretch in Act III, the performance achieved the kind of unselfconscious emotional directness that has lately been in short supply at the Met, where almost every production seems designed for people who think they don’t like opera, or worse, for the movie cameras.

Alex Ross, The New Yorker 10/31/11

The most poignant character in the piece is Liu, the loyal slave girl who has served Calaf’s father, the deposed Tartar king. in Act 1 Liu, who is secretly in love with Calaf, begs him not to risk his life on the riddles in the opera’s first great aria (“Signore, ascolta!”). Soprano Elizabeth Caballero’s performance of the piece on opening night was stunning. Indeed, Caballero threatens to walk away with the production, because her solo in Act 3, just before Liu takes her own life, is another highlight of this show.

Robert Trussell, Kansas City Star, 10/02/11

I’ve been attending Madison Opera performances for more than 30 years, and I don’t recall a more spontaneous or more enthusiastic response to a soprano than Elizabeth Caballero received following Friday night’s presentation of “La Traviata.”The audience was on its feet almost before the curtain was raised, indeed, almost before the curtain fell following her stage death in Act 3.

William Wineke- Cahnnel3000.com 5/02/11

The “top” came in the person of soprano Elizabeth Caballero as Violetta, the courtesan who finds true love, only to, in true operatic fashion, lose it and regain it only to lose her life — all the while singing gloriously. The glamorous coquette was clearly winning the audience’s hearts by the middle of Act I, when an aria that ended with a preciously soft high note swelled and glowed and sank back into a sweet nothing, elicited the first “bravas” of the night.

Greg Hettmansberger, Local Sounds Magazine 4/30/11

Fortunately, this Madison Opera production has a truly wonderful Violetta in Elizabeth Caballero, a Cuban-American soprano who has appeared previously in an Opera in the Park show but not in a full role here until now. With a lovely voice, she has a compelling sense of drama. As she puts the role through its paces, she creates a Violetta of passion and vulnerability, able to move from a conflicted sense of herself, through cruel sacrifices, to profound commitments. Even before her death scene, this Violetta is really heart-wrenching.

John Barker,Isthmus- The Daily Page 4/30/11

Forget the supertitles. When Elizabeth Caballero’s onstage, they’re not necessary.The star of Madison Opera’s shimmering production of “La Traviata,” closing on Sunday, May 1, in Overture Hall, communicates the meaning of each musical line from furrowed brow to restless pacing.From Caballero’s first aria, it’s clear that Violetta is consumed with longing, fear and – improbably – hope…….As the glittering party girl, Caballero commands an easy, lyric soprano, colorful and skilled with ornamentation. Especially impressive are the soft tones high in her range during arias like “Sempre Libera” (“Always Free”); they shimmer.

Lindsay Christians, The Capital Times 4/30/11