Vox Ama Deus Stay in Tune Newsletter (May 2009)

MOZART REQUIEM

...Valentin Radu caught the personal fervor of the music in all its varied expressions. One felt as much as heard the music, and that was made especially possible because so much of the singing and playing was excellent in caliber. Soprano Andrea Lauren Brown was especially affecting in her solos. Mount Airy mezzo Jody Kidwell and tenor Kenneth Garner (a longtime soloist at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill) also sang well. The chorus proffered impressive power, clear diction, broadly based dynamics, sharp rhythms, and emotional delineation through the text. The orchestra played with style and passion, all under Radu's demanding baton. Brown was also admirably heard in the motet prior to intermission.
- Noteworthy, Chestnut Hill LOCAL 4/9/09 by Michael Caruso. (MOZART REQUIEM, Mar. 27th at the Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, PA)

JUDAS MACCABAEUS

...Radu and his forces -- including Roxborough
harpsichordist Bronwyn Fix-Keller -- acquitted themselves more than honorably if not quite
spectacularly...by the second and third parts of "Judas Maccabeus," [Radu] was eliciting exciting singing from his choir, ...good playing from his baroque orchestra, and several excellent performances from his soloists.

Chief among these was tenor Timothy Bench, who sang the oratorio's title role. Bench was in fine voice Friday evening. His projection was exemplary, his tone was clear yet unforced, his high notes rang with clarion brilliance yet he employed soft singing to telling dramatic effect, his diction was excellent, and he embellished the vocal line with stylistically appropriate bravura and emotionally compelling expressivity... soprano Andrea Lauren Brown sang with tonal beauty and dramatic exuberance as the Israelitish woman. Alto Tatyana Rashkovsky, tenor Dana Wilson and baritone Richard Shapp rounded out the vocal cast admirably. Among the instrumentalists, Fix-Keller's fine playing was joined by flutists Colin St. Martin & Steven Zohn, cellist Vivian Barton-Dozer and trumpeter Elin Frazier. Many of the same forces will return to the Perelman Theater on Friday, March 27, at 8 p.m. for a performance of Mozart's Requiem Mass.

- Noteworthy, Chestnut Hill LOCAL 2/12/09 by Michael Caruso. (Handel Judas Maccabaeus, Feb. 27th at the Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, PA)

HANDEL CANDLEMAS

...the most
convincing renditions were the three solo concerti: the Oboe Concerto in G minor with soloist Sarah Davol, the Flute Concerto in D major with Steven Zohn,
and the Suite in D for Trumpet, Strings & Continuo with Elin Frazier. Davol expressively projected the intimate sweetness of tone of the mellow baroque oboe. Zohn proffered such delicacy of color and eloquence of phrasing with the wooden baroque flute that one truly lamented its modern replacement by silver, gold or platinum. And Frazier proved that the baroque trumpet produced a singing, rather than a ringing, tone. In all three works, Radu led the period
instruments of the Camerata Ama Deus with sensitivity to his soloists'
interpretations.
- Noteworthy, Chestnut Hill LOCAL 03/05/09 by Michael Caruso. (Handel Candlemas, Feb. 7th at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Chestnut Hill, PA)