Press
The group’s latest venture in this respect was its participation Saturday in the premiere of Andrew Earle Simpson’s score for the 1928 silent film “The Wind,” staring a youthful Lillian Gish at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring. That the choral performance was so embedded in the visual-dramatic ensemble that you can’t talk about it on its own is a testimony to the excellence of the undertaking.
Thanks to careful rehearsing and a score that allowed for some flexibility, Becker kept the singers and a small instrumental band (that included Simpson on the theater organ) wonderfully synchronized with the movie. ... The music did its job of amplifying the story’s passion, humor and drama and did it splendidly.
Joan Reinthaler, Washington Post, June 10, 2012
On Saturday the Cantate Chamber Singers’ adventurous program focused on American music by four of the 20th century’s leading composers. These works do not often crop up in many concerts, but this type of program is up this group’s alley. Last week the singers, headed by music director Gisele Becker, won the Most Creative Programming Award at Washington’s second annual Ovation Awards.
Saturday’s program at St. Columba’s Episcopal Church highlighted an imaginative mixture of assorted vocal soloists, chorus and orchestra for music that draws somewhat on avant-garde techniques, more traditional styles and the personal musical idioms of individual composers.
...Becker guided the ensemble through Corigliano’s nostalgic evocations with sharp-edged dynamic contrasts. And she emphasized the resonance of clear vowel sounds to capture his fluid, sonorous textures....Becker’s well-timed pacing and rhythmic incisiveness gave Bernstein’s ever-present theatrical overtones a solid punch.
Cecilia Porter, Washington Post, June 6, 2011
Schoenberg’s “Friede auf Erden" (Peace on Earth), its explicit humanity by turns ecstatic, serene and emphatic but always on display, contrasted startlingly with Stravinsky’s ritualistic and determinedly unemotional Mass. Conductor/Music Director Gisèle Becker and her 36 singers projected both of these extremes well, emphasizing beautifully balanced and glowing sonorities in the Schoenberg and an astringent sense of timelessness in the Stravinsky. Lucy Bowen McCauley’s choreography, commissioned for the occasion, highlighted the form and structure implicit in Stravinsky’s music and was danced fluidly and with appropriately muted energy.
Joan Reinthaler, Washington Post, (online)
The Cantate Chamber Singers and an excellent group of vocal soloists brought rarely heard music by Handel to Bethesda on Friday at St. John's Norwood Parish, performing the three-hour-long "Brockes Passion." ...While Handel's work follows the traditional Passion story -- the course of events leading to Jesus's crucifixion -- it does so with fire and ice, combining high dramatic tension, an emotionally wrought cast of characters and even fast-paced dialogue. Together these elements suggest live theater laced throughout with blood and gore in explicit, endless detail.
Friday's soloists, chorus and orchestra not only offered splendid performances, they also portrayed characters caught up in the emotions of the moment. The Cantate singers played the role of an ancient Greek chorus, commenting with a finger-pointing moralistic twist. Conductor Gisèle Becker took a speedy pace that, along with pungent dotted rhythms, further heightened the sense of theater; the mood of anguish was intensified by the virtuosic orchestra's involvement.
Cecilia Porter, Washington Post
Menotti's rarely heard, allegorical tale of artistic iconoclasm and social conformism, "The Unicorn, the Gorgon and the Manticore," is written as a series of a cappella choral madrigals, interspersed with movements -- scored for an unusual ensemble of winds, lower strings, harp and percussion -- that are intended to be danced. The Cantate Chamber Singers teamed with the distinctive and prolific D.C. ensemble Bowen McCauley Dance at Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church on Sunday for a fine production of Menotti's work....Conductor Gisèle Becker found the wit and neoclassical grace in this piece, and drew lovely, text-conscious singing from the Chamber Singers. Earlier in the program, the 34-member choir (divided into subgroups of 17) sang enchantingly through a program of short, animal-themed pieces (with Hindemith's rapt Rilke-setting "A Swan" and Josquin des Prez's onomatopoeic "The Cricket" proving most memorable).
Joe Banno, Washington Post
Conductor Gisele Becker and her Cantate Chamber Singers delivered a performance of Haydn's exuberant oratorio "The Creation" on Saturday evening at Westmoreland Church in Bethesda. With a choir of 35 and orchestra of 30 -- just the right size for the warmly immediate acoustics of the church -- Becker shaped introspective moments with sensitivity and kept faster movements surging forward at a smacking pace.
Joe Banno, Washington Post
The Cantate Chamber Singers, under Music Director Gisele Becker, reliably present programs that feature both unfamiliar repertoire and intriguing themes... Becker and the Cantate Chamber Singers put equal commitment into every note of their precise, riveting performance.
Andrew Lindemann Malone, Washington Post
"..a version as transfixing as it was bold...riveting in its fresh, impassioned and personal vision..."
Cecilia Porter, Washington Post
"..the group retained impeccable diction and superb intonation...overtones floated throughout the room, as seductive harmonies were brought out with rippling waves of sound."
Bob Waters, Washington Post
"The program was not only beautifully sung, expertly paced and balanced, it was a series of revelations for the thoughtful listener. "
Joseph McClellan, Washington Post
"Cantate Singers, Hitting It Big. . .The choir wept and exulted, knocked off florid coloratura...all with polish and scrupulous sectional balancing."
Joe Banno, Washington Post
"..the 35-member Cantate Chamber Singers reveled in agility...conductor Gisèle Becker has molded her group into a well-balanced and responsive ensemble....focused, intelligent music-making..."
Joan Reinthaler, Washington Post
"The depth of talent in the ensemble was evident from the quality of the soloists and Gisèle Becker led the singers in a truly virtuoso performance..."
T. Elizabeth Carson, Washington Post
"A Fauré Requiem to die for...enviable balance and emotional precision...intricate webbing of voices...diaphanous."
Thomas May, Washington Post
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