Previous Press - Press Quotes 2002-2003 Season

Haydn’s The Creation
November 8 & 10, 2002

CANTATA SINGERS FILL HAYDN’S ‘CREATION’ WITH WONDER, SPIRIT
Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe
November 9, 2002

“David Hoose is celebrating his 20th anniversary as music director of the Cantata Singers and chose to open the season with the most celebratory musical work of all, Haydn’s “The Creation” – a hymn to the Creator and to all the marvels of our universe. . . . Choral singing doesn’t get much better than what the Cantata Singers offer in terms of discipline, diction, tonal quality – and spirit; everything they do has meaning. Hoose also has a superb orchestra at his disposal; many of the players are used to performing “The Creation” with other groups, but bring special qualities of attention and nuance to the collaboration with the Cantata Singers. . . . Hoose has always been a brainy conductor, attentive to detail and overall design; he combines this with an intense sense of musical drama. What he has acquired over the years is a surer sense of himself and a more communicative warmth; without losing vigilance, he’s become more relaxed. His interpretation of “The Creation” was always thrilling, but it has become full of wonder and charm too. . . . His tenure has kept the artistic standard of the Cantata Singers always ascendant, and the way he has done it is to work without ceasing on his own standards and abilities. At the end he foiled attempts to give him a solo bow by repeatedly signaling for the vocal and instrumental soloists and the other performers to rise; he knows he didn’t do it alone.”

Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress
January 24 & 26, 2003

CANTATA’S ‘PROGRESS’ KNOWS NO LIMITS
Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe
January 25, 2003

“The performance of Stravinsky's “The Rake's Progress” by David Hoose and the Cantata Singers & Ensemble last night at Jordan Hall was so good that it advanced our understanding of the work. The cast was of individual and ensemble excellence; the playing and choral singing was superb; Lynn Torgove's semi-staging was more fully realized than most full productions; and Hoose's work was the result of profound understanding and deep love. . . . As Tom Rakewell . . . tenor William Hite gave the best performance of his career, and so did baritone David Kravitz as the satanic Nick Shadow. Hite sang beautifully, and his characterization was as terrifying as one of Tony Perkins's studies of psychological disintegration. Kravitz was suavely evil, a salesman-tempter, singing with accurate abandon. Hoose cast the heroine Anne Trulove against type. Jennifer Foster's dark, vibrant soprano has nothing of the silvery gleam associated with the role, but by the time she reached her great aria of determination, one understood his choice. Her sound is beautiful because it is emotional and true, and she makes simple goodness and true love sound natural and convincing, pointing to the way all of us ought to be. . . . Torgove joins Richard Conrad and Sharon Daniels as one of the most effective stage directors in town; all three are singers and know the score. Torgove drew powerful acting from her cast and created stage pictures that were both amusing and touching; at the end, Tom lay in Anne's arms, like Christ in a Pieta. As the woodwinds played through this touching scene, one thought of Stravinsky afresh, as a man of infinite compassion.”

Lloyd Schwartz, The Boston Phoenix
January 30, 2003

“. . . one of the most challenging of all operas, Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, met with a brilliant success this past weekend at the multiple hands of David Hoose, the Cantata Singers, and an impeccable cast, with illuminating stage direction by Lynn Torgove, who may be better known as a mezzo-soprano but perhaps won’t be for long. . . . At the heart of the performance was some of the most stylish, atmospheric, and moment-to-moment sympathetic orchestral playing this town has heard. . . . A splendid chorus played “roaring boys,” whores, outraged townspeople . . . Tenor William Hite was appropriately callow in his interpretation, with singing that was sophisticated and authoritative . . . The warm-toned soprano Jennifer Foster
. . . was an appealing Anne Truelove, Rakewell’s steadfast, upstanding, and forgiving fiancée
. . . Baritone David Kravitz has been on the way up for some years now. . . . as the Mephistophelean Nick Shadow, he came into his own. His voice has blossomed, his comic timing has sharpened, and with his goatee and magic tricks . . . he was the Devil incarnate. . . . many people during the intermission of the second performance told me they were back after having already heard the first one.”

CANTATA SINGERS, LED BY TENOR HITE, CREATE AMAZING WORK IN ‘PROGRESS’
T.J. Medrek, The Boston Herald
January 27, 2003

“A triumphant performance by tenor William Hite in the leading role of Stravinsky’s 1951 opera “The Rake’s Progress” was the chief virtue of the opera’s performance by the Cantata Singers at Jordan Hall on Friday. That’s as it should be, because the role of the callow, aimless Tom Rakewell is a long, complex and exhausting one, both musically and dramatically.
But Hite’s stellar contribution would have had much less impact had he not been surrounded by a cast of Boston all-stars, including soprano Jennifer Foster as the hopeful-through-the-tears Anne Trulove; baritone David Kravitz as the Mephistophelean Nick Shadow; mezzo Janice Felty as the chatty bearded lady Baba the Turk; and bass Mark Andrew Cleveland as Anne’s patient father. With the cultivated musical direction of conductor David Hoose, the savvy stage direction of Lynn Torgove, who tellingly moved the singers on platforms strategically placed on the stage among the orchestra, and the vibrant, animated contribution of the chorus all on our — and Stravinsky’s — side, this was that rare night at the opera that satisfied in nearly every important way.”