press
By the time the concert started, the hall was filled with about 300 audience members for “Voices and Video Games,” the first collaboration between the Music in Games Society and the Jacobs School of Music’s contemporary vocal ensemble, NOTUS.
Emerson Elledge
From start to finish, this year’s edition of “A Feast of Carols” was performed at the highest level I can ever remember the Mendelssohn Chorus singing. Ensemble, tuning, blend, diction and balance were consistently immaculate.
Michael Caruso
"In her score, Snider displays a delicate ear for the texture of choral writing, an imaginative feel for harmony and a lilting lyricism that sets the mood of the text beautifully. DiOrio led the Mendelssohn Chorus and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia with technical command and emotional vitality, eliciting a stirring ovation from the audience that nicely filled Holy Trinity’s stately Victorian/Romanesque sanctuary."
Michael Caruso
Raunchy lyrics and choral shouts of primeval joy rang out through Verizon Hall this weekend, as the Philadelphia Orchestra and three feisty choral groups offered a no-holds-barred performance of Carl Orff’s Carmina burana. Conductor Fabio Luisi and a stage full of genius proved just the right mix for this eagerly anticipated production.
Linda Holt
Carmina burana seemed like an oaf next to the Mozart (even spaced by intermission), but the performance was near ideal. Among its strengths: the impressive high notes of soprano Audrey Luna; the appropriately creepy characterization of the Swan by tenor Sunnyboy Dladla; the immediacy of the Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia; and the sweet polish of a children’s choir drawn from the Philadelphia Boys Choir and Philadelphia Girls Choir.
Peter Dobrin
Carmina Burana is a choral showcase at heart, and the Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia was in top shape, with especially fine contributions from the lower-voiced males.
Cameron Kelsall
Shatner’s spoken-word performance will be a collaboration with students and faculty from the Jacobs School of Music. It will include new original music written for the occasion by faculty member Dominick DiOrio, performed by student musicians from NOTUS, the Jacobs School’s internationally renowned contemporary vocal ensemble.
Mark Bode
Artistic director Dominick DiOrio led the symphonic-size Mendelssohn Chorus in a broadly varied program of Christmas music that spanned the centuries and covered a generous bounty of emotions.
Michael Caruso
"There's something really special about putting together the sound of the human voice and the sort of grandeur of the Philadelphia Orchestra," says Dominick DiOrio, Artistic Director and Conductor of the Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia.
WPVI-TV
From the opening statement of Dominick DiOrio’s You Do Not Walk Alone I was transported to sonic memories of the Midwest American Lutheran choral tradition and my jaw slackened and shoulders dropped. I submit this as a compliment to composer and performers and programming. But the beautiful text and embracing music can speak to anyone, to any time.
Daryl Browne
