“Chris Pedro Trakas, an elegant baritone with a commanding sound, covered a fair amount of stylistic ground in his five-song set.”     (New York Times)

“Leading was Mr. Trakas, who is making a career somewhat off the beaten path. Last season he was outstanding as ‘Alberich’ in Eos’s [Alden and Sheffer] off-beat Rheingold. With a voice deepening toward Alberich [he is] a non-traditional Figaro, but he certainly engaged the audience.”    
(New York Times)

“In particular, Chris Pedro Trakas made Alberich the piece’s most sympathetic character. With little sexual enticement coming his way from the Rhinemaidens (they were more interested in each other), he was able to play the first scene as a weakened, anxious man thirsting for something positive in his life, with gold the most obvious prospect. Since, in this chorus-less production, he was not seen wielding his power over others, his entrapment and swindling at the hands of Loge and Wotan became cruel. His strong but versatile vocal coloring and abundant lyricism made him noble, and every word shone.”     (Andante.com)

“Commemorating the 400th anniversary of Spain’s most famous novel at the Kennedy Center on Saturday night, the Post-Classical Ensemble presented “Celebrating Don Quixote,” a charming collection of music inspired by literature’s quixotic hero. The 28-piece orchestra, led by Angel Gil-Ordonez, featured baritone Chris Pedro Trakas in Jacques Ibert’s Songs for Don Quichotte and Ravel’s Don Quichotte à Dulcinée. Trakas’s elegant and sweetly expressive voice conveyed Don Quixote’s musings in song and narrated his adventures in excerpts from Miguel de Cervantes’s text, read in English translation . . . Trakas displayed sardonic humor while gliding through challenging vocal passages.”     (Washington Post)

“Le baryton Chris Pedro Trakas (Alberich) réussit également l’exploit de la limpidité, fait d’une diction exemplaire et d’un réalisme musical en phase avec le personnage qu’il compose.”    
(La Scena Musicale.com)

“The real find, however, is the American baritone Chris Pedro Trakas. His sound is consistently honeyed and sexy and he has the ability to float soft high notes effortlessly. His way with words tells you he understands French poetry as much as he understands French words. Graham Johnson at the piano is immaculate, as always.”     (The Guardian)

“On Wednesday evening in the Music Room at St James Cavalier [Valetta], in what was perhaps its [Winterreise] first ever complete performance in Malta, the young American baritone, Chris Trakas, triumphantly met the challenge. His voice is one of great power, and beauty, too, moving easily from a passionate fortissimo to a quiet sustained high sotto voce and everything in between. The range of emotions covered in the 24 songs of The Winter Journey is immense: anger, bitterness, loss, grief, frustration, desolation, alienation even madness, wonderment, joy (however temporary), resignation and, finally, acceptance of a place alongside even the humblest in God’s creation, the organ-grinder who plies his lonely trade unremarked and unrewarded. Trakas conveyed all these changes of mood with a wide range of tonal colour and deep emotional involvement . . . to bring us closer to the heart of the harrowing story. It was evident, too, that he must be a fine opera singer (he has already appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in New York). His face is wonderfully mobile and expressive and he has the gift of conveying changes of feeling or atmosphere with a small gesture or slight change of stance. At times his power, though never overdone, and interpretative insight were reminiscent of the great Fischer-Dieskau. There can be no higher praise.”    
(The Times of Malta)

“The right planning can make a good concert into a great one . . . A case in point was the “Green And Pleasant Land” that the Artists of the Royal Conservatory (ARC Ensemble) recreated at Ettore Mazzoleni Concert Hall . . . Sunday night’s emotional core lay at the centre, with the poetry of A.E. Housman and composer George Butterworth’s jewel-like settings of A Shropshire Lad. The tragic irony here was Butterworth’s death at the Battle of the Somme after he had set these words lamenting England’s young men lost in the Boer War. Providing a flawless interpretation of six of these songs were visiting American baritone Chris Pedro Trakas and faculty member James Anagnoson on piano. It was difficult for all not to get swept up in the emotion here when young people are still being sacrificed in senseless wars in foreign lands. The combined effect made this one of the most powerful musical evenings so far this season.”     (Toronto Star)

“ . . . but the real star of the evening was the Dandini of Christopher Trakas. His warm focused baritone and fine comic performance — richly detailed yet impeccably controlled — made one wonder why more American companies don’t scramble to cast this underrated artist.”    
(Opera News)

“Chris Pedro Trakas [as Hopper] has the responsibility to deliver one of the hardest arias in all opera — hard not only because of the notes but the words, which describe a particularly smutty film. The aria is the turning point of the opera and the baritone handled it with sensitivity, Hopper’s angst compellingly overpowering eroticism.”     (Los Angeles Times)

“Trakas picked a challenging program: four cycles as varied in style as in language. Any one of these could have been the highlight of a more ordinary recital: together they added up to a complex, multi-faceted statement and a demonstration of dazzling musicianship by one of the world’s most impressive young singers.”    
(Washington Post)

“Et surtout en l’Américain Christopher Trakas (Pelléas) avec ces aigus bronzés, charnus, et cette assise vocale et expressive large qu’un ténor mal à donner: Trakas a une voix rare.”     (Tribune de Geneve)

“Pelléas, der in Basel mit Christopher Trakas ideal besitzt.”     (Südkurier)

“Trakas’ hoher bariton trägt dem Pelléas einen jungen, schwarmerisch-ephebenhaften Ton zu.”     (Opernwelt)

“Remember the name. Trakas took the 1985 Naumburg Award, and if the effortlessly beautiful singing on this disc is indicative, the young American baritone should develop into one of the world’s foremost song interpreters in the coming decade. Buy this record.”     (San Francisco Examiner)

“One outstanding performance: Christopher Trakas, who sings and acts the part of the valet Dandini with a flair that makes me want to see him in Eugene Onegin, Don Giovanni, La Boheme, and The Magic Flute. In his Washington Opera debut, Trakas brought a distinction to his role.”    
(Washington Post)

“It will be a long time before I forget Mr. Trakas’ ‘Dichterliebe.’ I doubt I ever will.”     (The Post and Courier)

“ . . . and Trakas was outstanding as Shaunard, a role that rarely commands as much attention as Mr. Trakas’ portrayal demanded.”     (New York Times)

“Dignotoso il conte d’Almaviva del ponderato Trakas.”     (Il Tempo)

“Trakas, una vera rivelazione per tratto scénico é sapienza vocale.”     (L’Unita)

“Trakas, with his warmly beautiful baritone and acute sensitivity to words, drew the contrasting emotions with all the palpable regret of one who has loved more impetuously than wisely . . . a splendid storyteller, in character for every song yet never pushing the poet’s suffering into bathos. And his German diction was excellent. If there were more young American singers around as gifted as Trakas, the music world would have no reason to worry about the future of song recitals.”    
(Chicago Tribune)

“Trakas sang a strong and expressive baritone Achilla.”     (Times of London)

“A baritone with a smoothly produced voice of pleasing bright quality, a strong musical foundation, the ability to sing in several languages (five on this occasion) and a curiosity about the art song repertoire that sets him apart from most of his contemporaries.”     (New York Times)

“The strongest member of the cast was Trakas, who sang the Count’s music with
agility and empathy in a beautiful baritone voice: for once the rakish Almaviva
was not reduced to a blustering stereotype.”     (New York Newsday)

“Mr. Trakas makes a very strong Count [Almaviva], resentment boiling at every moment, and a hair-trigger temper that makes him seem not only funny but dangerous. He’s a fine actor, despicable without ever becoming disagreeable . . . He was deeply moving at the climactic moment when, outsmarted and weeping in humiliation, he kneels before his Countess, kisses the hem of her dress and publicly begs her forgiveness.”    
(The Post and Courier)

“ . . . on opening night Chris Pedro Trakas made an appealingly devious Figaro . . .
a nicely brawny baritone.”     (New York Newsday)

“The star of the show was Christopher Trakas, whose light baritone showed grand flexibility as Dandini.”     (Opera)

“A measure of Gordon’s wonderful eclecticism is the fact that the classical/opera singers on hand for the concert — Camellia Johnson, Monique McDonald, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and Chris Pedro Trakas — seemed as much at home as the musical theaterfolks.”     (TheatreMania.com)

“Trakas was dashing in the title role, making his “Largo al factotum” a musical tour de force rather than a gag fest. His voice is a true singing baritone, and backing it up were a bright stage presence and a sure knack for characterization. For three hours we could forget some of the stage-worn singers of the past who have hammed and faked their way as Figaro.”     (St. Paul Pioneer Press)

“Given Ives’ craggy profile, the pure expression in his songs is disarming. The brilliant baritone Chris Trakas and pianist James Tocco performed four, bringing a swell of dynamics and emotion to the misty childhood memories in “Tom Sails Away” and panache and charm to the brass band parody in ‘The Circus Band.’”     (Detroit Free Press)