Reviews

“The choir softly set the atmosphere with Tavener’s O do not move, a brief, deceptively simple carol with a haunting drone on the bottom. In the cavernous nave, the simple fact of the sound’s expansion, movement, and decay into nothingness became transcendent, an object for reflection and awe. Taverner’s Leroy Kyrie and Audivi vocem de caelo venientem then sweetened the air with rich, imitative polyphony. The “i/ee” vowel of “Kyrie” and “Christe,” which elsewhere is so often stretched wide into the grotesque, was tall and satisfying. The trebles contributed some especially graceful chant interludes to Audivi vocem. Each phrase shaped itself as naturally as water falling over stones.”

— Zoë Madonna, Boston Music Intelligencer review of Long, Long Night

“Boston Choral Ensemble is a professional-quality choir that consists of both professional and hobbyist, but all skilled, singers. The music that comes from the Boston Choral Ensemble ranges from religious songs sung in churches around the city to secular music performed at a variety of venues. The organization is relatively new, having been formed in 2001, but it already has a name for itself and performs as well as much older institutions.”

— CBS Boston, Boston's Best Choirs

“I was an immediate convert to the premise. It was disconcerting in the complete darkness (save for the projected images on the domed ceiling) not to be able to watch the chorus perform, but in compensation, we were overwhelmed with images of space, celestial bodies, and, at times, abstract images. Certainly this is a far more visual experience than a traditional choral concert, but it challenged audience members to engage with the music on a very different level. Indeed, I was struck by how appropriate the planetarium and the projections felt for the program: if much of the Western religious choral repertoire has been written for audiences sitting in in buildings either dedicated to, or adorned with symbols of martyred saints, isn’t it fitting that during a performance of music about stars and planets, audience members be reminded of how the music relates to these spheres?”

— Sudeep Argalwal, Boston Music Intelligencer review of Cosmic Journey