Titus l’Empéreur- Handel, (Opera Settecento, Händelfestspiele Halle) June 2024
Dem als Titus eingesprungenen Francis Gush kommt eine gewisse Bühnenpraxis zu gute, um seine gut sitzende und schöne Counterstimme zu präsentieren.
– Mitteldeutsche Zeitung (Joachim Lange)
Francis Gush, who stepped in as Titus, worked the stage well in order to present his well-fitting and beautiful countertenor voice.
The Masque of Vengeance- Edward Lambert, (The Music Troupe) November 2023
The countertenor Francis Gush, playing the role of the Prince, delighted with his boyish charm and vocal pyrotechnics, dancing through the lyrics through cascading filigrees of notes with offhand elegance contrasted with soaring lines sung with limpid lyricism, charisma and style. – Planet Hugill (Robert Hugill)
A&E, Muelas/Ward (Grimeborn Festival) – August 2023
Francis Gush brilliantly plays the casual sex-surfer Daryl, transforming (in falsetto) into an entertaining online carousel of potential Tinder matches for Adam. –The Stage (Edward Bhesania)
Giulio Cesare, Handel (English Touring Opera) – Spring 2023
Gush has a finely upstanding stage presence, combined with an admirably secure technique with a lovely evenness of tone across the range. He is young, and this came across as a youthful Cesare, responding to Hurrell’s Cleopatra with engagingly youthful passion. In moments such as ‘Va tacito e nascosto’ in Act One, Gush brought an admirable sense of steel to the voice. His moment contemplating Pompey’s ashes was finely done. As a lover, Gush was delightful, mining a vein of English reticence dazzled by French style. When the plot really got going, Gush had a chance to show us his range. He brought a lovely sense of moral uprightness and entitlement. – Opera Today (Robert Hugill)
Francis Gush (a vigorous Cesare) seemed to play against the formality, with gestures, expression and singing all taking on a naturalness that just seemed to well up and overflow. Bearing in mind the constraints under which ETO operates, I can’t imagine a more effective Giulio Cesare. – The Spectator (Richard Bratby)
The music is wonderful and the voices and musicians worked together with great beauty and skill. The two countertenors were impressive with Francis Gush as a powerful Caesar. – The Sheffield Star (Mavis Kirkham)
The revival boasts a stunning vocal performance from countertenor Francis Gush in the lead role of Caesar. – Kent Online (Sam Lawrie)
The Power of Paternal Love- Stradella (The Barber Opera)- April 2023
Countertenor, Francis Gush manages to rise above all distractions by virtue of his rich, smokey voice and fine musicality. – Reviewsgate (David Grey)
Francis Gush makes good sense of the subsidiary plot-line, alongside mezzo-soprano Joanna Harries – The Stage (Edward Bhesiana)
Compared with the latter’s fraught state, Francis Gush sings with a pure-toned and straightforward guilelessness as Arbante, alongside Joanna Harries’s similarly unaffected Lucinda. – Classical Source
Steven Isserlis and Friends-Recital (Wigmore Hall) – November 2020
‘A show-stealing turn from countertenor Francis Gush – resplendent in both gown and bushy-beard, and certainly a shoo-in for the next Eurovision- hinted a the camp and Demi-mode that’s never all that far away in Proust’s Paris‘ – The Arts Desk (Boyd Tonkin)
Partenope- Handel (Hampstead Garden Opera) – May 2019
‘However, in the cast I saw, there are also two blowaway performances from Francis Gush as Arsace and Anne-Sofie Soby Jensen as Eurimene/Rosmira. Gush’s countertenor voice is bell clear and beautiful, his every word beautifully sung…‘ – The Stage (Tim Bano)
‘Francis Gush made a highly personable Arsace, singing with a lovely soft-grained voice and bringing a nice concentration to Arsace’s more serious arias. Gush made Arsace approachable yet entirely untrustworthy as he seemed incapable of understanding it was not OK to string two women along simultaneously.’ – Planet Hugill (Robert Hugill)
‘Her suitors all delivered, and Francis Gush admirably demonstrated the frailty, cowardice and inconsistencies of the lovestruck Arsace‘- HamandHigh (David Winskill)
The Duchess of Malfi – John Webber (The Royal Shakespeare Company) – 2018
‘Countertenor Francis Gush lends uncanny beauty to scenes of savagery‘ – Leamington Courier (Peter Ormerod)
‘Hauntingly sung alto‘ – The Times (Helen Maybanks)
Francis Gush - Countertenor 