“Mario Cavaradossi è interpretato dal bravissimo Rame Lahaj, dalla splendida voce di tenore lirico, omogenea nell’intera gamma, morbida e rotonda, dal bellissimo colore, assolutamente ben proiettata. Il suo Mario è un giovane appassionato, lirico nell’aria d’entrata “Recondita armonia“, dove l’artista ha modo di esibire un ottimo legato. Nel confronto con Scarpia diviene eroico, pronto a difendere con la vita il fraterno amico Angelotti, mentre nella celebre aria “E lucean le stelle“, il cantante è un Mario assorto nei ricordi dei momenti trascorsi con la sua Floria, il suo canto è a fior di labbra con una meravigliosa mezza voce, che successivamente si dispiega in drammatica disperazione nel toccante finale dell’aria, dove il pittore canta il suo amore per la vita. Il si naturale della difficile frase “La vita mi costasse” e il la diesis tenuto sul celebre “Vittoria!” Sono impressionanti per forza e volume.”

“As Alfredo Germont the Kosovar tenor Rame Lahaj perfectly conveyed the naiveté of a very young man who would fall heedlessly in love with a society woman, oblivious of the extent to which she lives off the generosity and sexual needs of wealthy benefactors. His duet with Alleaume towards the end of the opera, when they are trying to delude themselves into re-imagining a happy future in Paris (“Parigi, o cara“), was striking in the contrast of vocal color between them: Alleaume clearly conveyed the ravages of a mortal disease as Lahaj bloomed in oblivious full health.”

“Rame Lahaj is a dashing presence as Alfredo – tall, dark, and brooding against Alleaume’s open, sparkling Violetta. He sings with passion and has a warm, rich tenor with a charming smoothness and sense of line. His humiliation of Violetta – where he violently throws playing cards at her collapsed form with savage calculation – was the most believable facet of his Alfredo, and made me rethink the character as more immature and toxic than I’d previously imagined.”

“In his Australian debut, Rame Lahaj cut a dashing figure as Alfredo Germont. Not only is his voice strong enough to carry far into the back of the auditorium, it is also smooth and flexible enough to deliver the nuances of his wildly fluctuating moods. Reaching his high notes with ease and holding firmly on to them, he deftly handled a variety of inflections and finely honed phrasing. Expressive without being melodramatic, neither did he overplay his hand.”