Handel: Messiah
10 Decmber 2011
bachtrack.com, 13 December 2011
Laura Kate Wilson
On Saturday evening, Leeds Town Hall was treated to a glorious performance of the piece by the celebrated Leeds Festival Chorus, the English Chamber Orchestra and four wonderful soloists...
...An oratorio such as Messiah is, however, ultimately about the strength of the chorus, and Leeds Festival Chorus performed the work with great beauty and gusto. Under the baton of Simon Wright, they managed to combine power and dramatic expression with precision and diction, booming out an upbeat Hallelujah Chorus and tackling the soft, quiet aspects of “Since by man came death” with atmosphere and sensitivity...
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Ilkley Gazette, 15 December 2011
Geoffrey Mogridge
... [Simon Wright's] miraculous deftness of touch manifested itself in the fluidity of the choral singing and the pristine freshness and buoyancy of the great choruses such as When We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray, For Unto Us A Child is Born and the spine-tingling Hallelujah Chorus with its added timpani and incandescent trumpets...
Bruckner: Motets
Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in C minor, "Resurrection"
12 November 2011
The Public Reviews, 13 November 2011
Nicola Harrison
...The choristers of Leeds Festival Chorus and Leeds Philharmonic Chorus clearly enjoyed the sonorous harmonies of the five Motets, their purpose and style were individualised and provided highlighted contrast in both dynamics and texture...
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Yorkshire Post, 18 November 2011
Chris Robins
...The combined choirs presented five of them and did so brilliantly. Technically, the two choirs have a direct tone and delivery with none of that treacherous sweetness that infects many English choirs...
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Ilkley Gazette, 17 November 2011
Geoffrey Mogridge
...The Leeds choirs were incandescant from that stirring entry for the tenors and basses, 'Werd' ich entschweben'...
...In the first part of the programme the combined choirs' stunning performance of five Motets by Anton Bruckner were models of textural clarity, exqusite phrasing, superb balance and blending of voices...
Bach: St Matthew Passion
9 April 2011
bachtrack.com, 11 April 2011
Laura Kate Wilson
...Always highly praised for their diction and dynamic range, they used both to full effect on Saturday night, interpreting the dramatic and emotional aspects of the story extremely well. They have great volume control, which was employed during the evening to create a range of different atmospheres- from soft and mournful ('Be near me, Lord, when dying') to earth-shatteringly powerful ('Let Him be crucified!'). Throughout the entirety of the piece, they seemed to be drawing on their dramatic as well as vocal skills, attacking the intensity of 'Thou that destroyest the Temple of God' with gusto, but drawing out the heartbreaking sadness of 'We bow our heads in tears and sorrow' during the final double chorus part with equal flair...
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Yorkshire Post, 15 April 2011
Chris Robbins
Conductor Simon Wright shaped each phrase meticulously while shepherding his huge forces through the work’s drama and spine-tingling spiritual introspection – few conductors anywhere in the world can achieve this as effectively as Wright.
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Ilkley Gazette, 15 April 2011
Geoffrey Mogridge
Of the many remarkable qualities of the performance conducted by Simon Wright, the phrasing and interpretation of the words by an outstanding roster of soloists and the 130 voices of the Leeds Festival Chorus, were paramount.
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Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K550
Mozart: Great Mass in C, K427
29 January 2011
guardian.co.uk: 31 January 2011
Martin Hickes
...Under the eye of the universally respected and immensely likeable conductor Simon Wright, Leeds Festival Chorus continues to be an inspirational emblem of appeal for choral lovers in the county and on the strength of this performance alone, long may it be so...
Read the full review at guardian.co.uk
bachtrack.com: 31 January 2011
Laura Kate Wilson
Leeds Festival Chorus and the Northern Sinfonia triumph with an evening of Mozart
...Shining brightly were Leeds Festival Chorus, who could never be accused of lacking vocal power. In recent years they have been highly praised, particularly for diction and dynamic range, both of which were in evidence on Saturday. Carried away by their beautiful accompaniment to Watts during the Kyrie, I nearly jumped out of my seat when they began the Gloria, so instantaneously huge was their sound. They summoned the same power and beauty for the opening of the Sanctus, and the complex parts which followed were breathtaking...
Read the full review at bachtrack.com
The Leeds Guide: 31 January 2011
Tom Goodhand watches a magnificent performance of two works by Mozart at Leeds Town Hall
...The real treat here though – and what attracted me to the concert in the first place – is the performance of the Great Mass in C minor by the Sinfonia and Leeds’ huge Festival Chorus. Leeds Festival Chorus boasts some 170 singing members and has been proclaimed “one of Britain’s finest”.
They perform the mass with four soloists Elizabeth Watts (soprano), Sophie Bevan (soprano), Nicholas Mulroy (tenor) and Neil Baker (bass-baritone). The soloists are all excellent, especially Watts, who has been called “one of the most beautiful voices Britain has produced in a generation” by International Record Review, but the real treat here is hearing the 170 amassed voices of the Festival Chorus harmonising in union over the backdrop from the Northern Sinfonia...
Read the full review at The Leeds Guide
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