An excellent musician who enjoys a wide range
of training experiences in all disciplines of the choral and instrumental
art.
Simon Carrington
Professor of Choral Conducting
Conductor of the Yale Schola Cantorum
School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music, Yale University
A talented and serious musician with considerable
ability as a communicator who has much to offer as a conductor
of vocal and instrumental ensembles.
Thomas Somerville
Oregon Bach Festival Master Class Director and Associate Teacher
Professor of Music Emeritus Occidental College
Director of Music First Congregational Church of Los Angeles
Artistic Director Los Angeles Bach Festival
For a performance of Orff's Carmina Burana
Hippo Press
/ December 27, 2006
Classical countdown for ‘06
The year’s 10 best performances
By Jeff Rapsis
I’m no Casey Kasem, but here’s an opinionated round-up of the region’s
10 best classical performances of 2006. It’s based only on those
concerts I attended and limited by my taste and judgment, or lack
thereof. Happy New Year!
• No 10: Nashua Symphony and Choral Society, a semi-staged
performance of “Carmina Burana” by Carl Orff, Richard A.A. Larraga
conducting, Saturday, March 25. With added staging, costumes, and
props, a bold effort to lend fresh interest to this warhorse. It
was actually fun to watch unfold and see what would happen next.
If more classical groups tried this kind of creative approach,
audiences would be more willing to get into the habit. Also, the
stripped-down orchestration for two pianos and four percussionists
proved very effective—at full blast, the ensemble sounded a little
like Danny Elfman’s score for Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, and that’s
not a bad thing.
For a performance of Handel's Acis and Galatea:
"The playing and singing, under the direction of Richard A. A.
Larraga, was trim and stylish....The chorus of nine offered disciplined
ensemble work, excellent intonation, and attractive tone -- qualities
shared with the early-instrument orchestra of 10 under the alert,
responsive, and lively direction of Larraga."
Richard Dyer
The Boston Globe November 23, 2004
"The chamber orchestra,
conducted by Richard A. A. Larrage (sic), made a crisp, sprightly
sound that never called direct attention to its musicians, only
inches away from the singers."
Carl Rossi
The Theater Mirror November 23, 2004
For a performance of Haydn's Mass in Time of War:
"The best moments were the busy passages where everything is going
at once; Larraga kept it all in balance and the clarity of texture
did ample justice to Haydn's contrapuntal mastery."
Jeff Rapsis
Hippo Press
November 16, 2004
The Vox Consort is reviewed in The Boston Globe
MUSIC REVIEW
Vox Consort delights with stylish 'Galatea'
By Richard Dyer, Globe Staff | November 23, 2004
The Vox Consort, a newish early-music ensemble, offered a delightful
performance of Handel's little opera ''Acis and Galatea" on Sunday
afternoon.
The group arrived on the scene highly recommended by its mentor,
Simon Carrington, a founding member of the King's Singers and later
director of choral activities at New England Conservatory (and
now at Yale), and Carrington wasn't wrong. The playing and singing,
under the direction of Richard A. A. Larraga, was trim and stylish,
and the semistaging by Stephen Marc Beaudoin was simple and effective.
Handel's black-comedy pastoral on a text by poet John Gay was even
more popular than ''Messiah" in the composer's lifetime. The first
part is a rural idyll depicting the romance of Acis and Galatea.
The second part pulls the rug out from under them. The giant Polyphemus
arrives on the scene, falls in love with Galatea, and, in a moment
of fury, kills Acis with a boulder. Galatea's lament is so poignant
that a goddess helps her turn Acis into a fountain; in this production
the chorus wrapped him in watery blue silk.
The Vox Consort played the piece on a bare platform and in modern
dress; the setting, the program leaflet told us, was ''a tony party
for the reunion of young hipsters," although in context, the cast
looked more like a well-dressed Sunday-school class. The exception
was Polyphemus, dressed as a burned-out vet with a backpack full
of drugs; he hurled the backpack at Acis to knock him down, finishing
the job with a few brutal jabs with a box-cutter.
The cast was excellent. Soprano Brenna J. Wells (Galatea) looks
and sounds so much like Emma Kirkby in her youth that it was interesting
to read that she has in fact been studying with the beloved British
early-music diva. Wells sang neatly and affectingly, but needs
to beware of blasting her top tones into shrillness. Tenor Jason
McStoots sang sweetly and insinuatingly as the confidant shepherd
Damon, dressed as a flower child. The direction increased his role
in the plot: Damon was pining in vain for Acis himself, and he
turned him over to Polyphemus when it became clear that there was
no place for him in the happy picture. Baritone Brian Church does
not boast the ripely rolling tones traditionally associated with
Polyphemus's hit song, ''O ruddier than the cherry," but he invests
himself in his singing and acting. Best of all was Lawrence Jones,
a new tenor from California now enrolled at Boston University,
who sang as Acis. The direction presented him as a kind of nervous
Nellie, unable to decide which shirt to wear to impress Galatea
(Damon had to help), but his singing had all the elegance and ardor
you could want.
The chorus of nine offered disciplined ensemble work, excellent
intonation, and attractive tone -- qualities shared with the early-instrument
orchestra of 10 under the alert, responsive, and lively direction
of Larraga.
The group's performances of Bach's ''St. John" Passion March 18
and 20 with McStoots as the Evangelist and choreography by Lorraine
Chapman promise much.
The Vox Consort
Richard A. A. Larraga, music director
At: St. Paul’s Church, Sunday
The Vox Consort is featured in The Boston Globe
After 40 years, Fleisher makes a welcome return to recording
By Richard Dyer, Globe Staff | August 27, 2004
New voices: Boston has a new musical organization: Vox Consort,
which performed Bach's B-Minor Mass last season with one voice
on a part. Some of Vox Consort's personnel were at the New England
Conservatory during the brief period that Simon Carrington was
director of choral activities. Now at Yale University, Carrington
recently wrote to voice support for Vox Consort, which he describes
as "really most impressive." The music director is Richard A. A.
Larraga, and the singers include some of the new generation of
New England professionals.
Vox Consort plans a five-program season. The three largest programs
are played twice, first in St. Mary of the Annunciation Church
in Danvers, with repeats in St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Brookline
or the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Boston. They include
cantatas by Bach, Scarlatti, and Caldara and Baroque concertos
by Telemann and Vivaldi; a semi-staging of Handel's "Acis and Galatea";
and a staged performance of Bach's "St. John" Passion, with the
Lorraine Chapman Dance Company.
Two chamber programs in the Loring-Greenough House in Jamaica Plain
are called "Vox Outside the Box." One of them features old music
accompanied by contemporary instruments; the other features old
instruments playing new music.
For further information write to Vox Consort, 765 Tremont St.,
No. 1, Boston MA 02118.
The Vox Consort is reviewed in the Theater Mirror
The CABARET Website / www.theatermirror.com
The Vox Consort, now in its second season, recently performed Handel's
charming Baroque opera ACIS AND GALATEA for two performances in
two different churches. Those who attended were treated to two
hours of lovely period singing by Boston-based artists who are
often passed over by other companies; established singers being
steadily cast in their places --- to remedy this, the Consort prefers
to use local talent, especially those with diverse backgrounds,
for its ensembles. One might assume that Handel's pastoral love
triangle between a shepherd, a nymph and a Cyclops would make for
a traditional, stately evening but in a recent interview director
Stephen Marc Beaudoin stated, "We're not interested in that whole
'formal concert setting' routine. The last thing Boston needs is
another tux-and-black-dress ensemble . [w]e're never going to be
that", and he semi-staged ACIS AND GALATEA at a posh party set
in contemporary times with the singers in casual dress (far too
casual, actually; the performance resembled a rehearsal); thus,
Galatea became a trembling socialite and Acis a swinger in a leather
jacket, both, conventional enough; fellow shepherd Damon, advising
Acis to use caution in love, was recast as his fussy valet; Polyphemus
the Cyclops sported an eye patch and stomped about with a backpack
full of drugs. Rather than Polyphemus discovering the lovers in
embrace and killing Acis in a fit of rage, as written, Damon, now
equally jealous of Galatea, led in the Cyclops and pointed out
the lovers to him. Ah, well: like youth, a director must (and will)
have his fling; my main concern, however, is that Mr. Beaudoin's
current ensemble is pedestrian in movement (after all, Baroque
singers must be seen as well as heard) and their numerous bits
of business cluttered up the sweep and majesty of Handel's music;
the soloists were often left stranded with plenty of "down" time
and forced to repeatedly smooth down their hair, brush off a shirt
cuff, etc. (in character) while awaiting their cues. For me, the
most effective moments came whenever the ensemble simply stood
still and sang in true Baroque fashion, allowing the drama in the
music to take precedence over physical action.
And my ear was constantly beguiled: Brenna J. Wells, a delicate
blonde sparrow, and Lawrence Jones, a willowy tenor, became flowing
silver (she) and gold (he), separately and together. Their physical
slightness is deceiving: Ms. Wells performed her trills with unforced
ease and demonstrated a few high notes in Dolby-like volume, and
Mr. Jones was transformed into a ringing trumpet for the celebrated "Love
sounds th' alarm"; it is to their credit that they sounded as fresh
at the end of the evening as they did at the beginning. Jason McStoots
must have been a honeycomb in a past life for his voice is sweetness
personified and 'tis a pity that his Damon had to turn villainous
for he's an adorable performer; Mr. McStoots' first aria lay too
low for him, making him sound fuzzy and breathless; his two other
moments displayed him at his best. Brian Church, for all his glowering,
turned in a gentlemanly-sounding Polyphemus, sung in smooth, warm
tones. Despite a few annoying moments --- e.g. yelling "WHOO!" when
Acis and Galetea finally kissed --- the Chorus provided a superb
frame for Mr. Beaudoin's quartet, especially in their perfectly
hushed "Ah, the gentle Acis is no more!" --- nine voices becoming
one. The chamber orchestra, conducted by Richard A. A. Larraga,
made a crisp, sprightly sound that never called direct attention
to its musicians, only inches away from the singers.
If the Consort's future productions continue to be sung as impressively
as this ACIS AND GALATEA, it would be a shame to continue larding
them with gimmickry just to make Handel and others more accessible
for today's audiences --- beautiful singing of beautiful music
need never grow tiresome in itself.
"Acis and Galatea" (19-21 November)
THE VOX CONSORT
Holy Trinity United Methodist Church, DANVERS, MA (19 November)
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, BROOKLINE, MA (21 November)
