Reviews of Live Performances

'an uncommonly versatile singer... a luminous, clear, natural voice in which classical vocal production is barely perceptible. She combines intelligence and sensuousness in her singing, and is able to sound at once tender and thrillingly beautiful. This was put to powerful effect'

Basler Zeitung

'In performances this fine, Monteverdi challenges the mind, stirs the heart and caresses the soul, which is about all you can ask of music... in both locales the shining soprano of Emily Van Evera stood out.'

The New York Times, selecting two Taverner Consort programmes as 'Best Early Music Events of the Year'

'the most phenomenal program I have heard in the 16 summers I have been in the audience... a once-in-a-lifetime concert. ...Van Evera's crystal clear soprano brings a new vibrancy to music that so often collects dust on the shelves of history. ...The effect was simply as clear and powerful as chamber music can be.'

Duluth News Tribune, August 2010
Mahler Symphony No. 4, 1921 chamber orchestra version, arias by Handel and Arne

"a dream of a Bach soprano"

Salzburger Nachrichten

'Van Evera is a gem of a singer. Her sense of pitch is unerring, her enunciation impeccable. But most of all, her delivery and phrasing project the sentiments of whatever she is singing to the smallest detail.'

The Columbus Dispatch

'Emily Van Evera showed herself to be a world class artist... an imaginatively gifted composer demands extraordinary interpreters who leave nothing to be desired in range, security of intonation in large leaps and virtuosity in audacious melismas... Here, such an expert was on hand in the form of soprano Emily Van Evera... she has at her command a radiant and well-projected voice... deeply impressive'

Thurgauer Volkszeitung

'As a freelance record critic, I do too much of my listening via CDs... Nothing could have shaken my loyalty to CDs more than this reflective and entertaining evening.'

Early Music Review, Eric Van Tassel
Recital of English lute songs with Anthony Bailes, Cambridge, October 2004

'Unsurpassable are her security of intonation, the immaculately clean command of the voice, which blooms magnificently... and the heart-penetrating shaping of the text: every word has the right emphasis... moves listeners most profoundly'

Thurgauer Zeitung

'a uniformly excellent cast of singers, headed by the elegant Emily Van Evera as Agrippina'

Birmingham Post, UK, September 2009
Staged production of Handel Agrippina, The Barber Institute

'...magical.'

The Times, London

'beautiful singing from Emily Van Evera... instinct for graceful phrasing... perfect ease and naturalness... an extraordinary display of vocal virtuosity'

The Houston Post

'The auditorium glowed with tenderness... as [the] final concert of this season softened several hundred hearts... Van Evera, with her clear and gentle lyricism, sang songs from the 13th to the 20th centuries... [With] her wonderful voice, Van Evera reached out and touched the longings... that exist in most hearts. What joy!'

Duluth News Tribune, May 2004
Mixed programme of Vaughan Williams, Charles Ives, Bach, Perotin, Arne, Schubert and Irish traditional song [arr. Van Evera]

Reviews of Recordings

mlr

My Lady Rich
(Avie Records 0045)
Emily Van Evera & Christopher Morrongiello &

'magnificent... This is a majestic program from start to finish - beautifully conceived and executed. Emily Van Evera's voice seems perfect for evoking the ethereal beauty of Lady Rich.'

American Record Guide

'intensely moving and touching... of the highest order... strongly recommended'

Fanfare

'exquisitely wrought album from Emily Van Evera and her seasoned collaborators... a stand-out recording.' starstarstarstarstar 5 stars

Classic fM Magazine

'Van Evera's voice is enchanting. Her command of both the florid and simple English, French and Spanish songs is unimpeachable... A wonderful and unique disc.' starstarstarstarstar 5 stars

Anna Picard, Independent on Sunday

'...Van Evera's dynamic contrasts are riveting, as are the purity and power of her voice. The all-star cast of singers and musicians with whom she performs respond to her dramatization... Lady Rich was once called 'heart-stealing'; this recording is as well.' starstarstarstarhalfstar 4½ stars

BBC Music Magazine

'Emily Van Evera is such a fine singer that after a while one won't really care who wrote what, happy just to luxuriate in Van EveraÕs singing and the fine playing of the all-star instrumental support'

Barnes & Noble

'this recital succeeds marvellously... an impressive cast of musicians... musical portraits are seldom more attractive than this.'

Gramophone

'a rich tapestry of miniatures... quite aside from what it teaches you about the period, My Lady Rich is a winning and musically satisfying sequence, balanced to perfection' starstarstarstarstar 5 stars

The Independent

'an inspired idea... a vivid and touching portrait'

The New York Times

'a beautiful album... with a strong poetic and historical interest.'

James Fenton, The Guardian

'exquisite ... first-rate'

Early Music Today

'An outstanding collection... of unusual quality and beauty... consummately performed. Van Evera's angelic voice carries each piece to airy heights, evoking the beauty of each melody with matchless skill... providing a sparkling glimpse into what the Elizabethan court must have been like. The extensive booklet included with the CD is an added bonus, providing valuable information regarding the music and its origins' starstarstarstarstar 5 stars

Renaissance

'Although the UK's Avie label has not released an SACD since Lorraine Hunt Lieberson's magnificent Handel recital issued over a year ago, their commitment to producing audiophile quality recordings of fine artists remains paramount. A case in point is this wonderful recording of Elizabethan music dedicated to Lady Penelope Rich... The beauty of Van Evera's voice, which has graced any number of award-winning recordings, is enough to make one hit "repeat"... the quality of the musicianship makes this recording a must' starstarstarstarhalfstar 4½ stars

Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity

'As the choice of music suggests, however, she knew more tears than joy, especially when her lover, Lord Mountjoy, died soon after returning from three years' military service in Ireland. John Coprario's Funeral Teares, a set of seven songs inspired by his death, provides the programme's tragic climax. Emily Van Evera's outstanding performance movingly charts Lady Rich's descent from stoical resignation to black despair in the passionate intensity of In Darkness Let Me Dwell, and to the desolation of utter loss in the hushed first verse of My Joy Is Dead. She also provides brilliantly graphic imitations of a whole flock of birds in three consolatory songs by John Bartlet, while some charmingly playful French chansons by Charles Tessier are a reminiscence of happier days at court.'

The Daily Telegraph
Classical CD of the Week, 4/6/05

'This CD is brilliantly put together and performed, creating a satisfying and illuminating portrait... the forces assembled... allow great variety... Christopher Morrongiello's lute is beautifully played and recorded, leaving one wanting more; Emily Van Evera's singing is expressive and touching... sighs and silences are exploited to the full... a lovely jauntiness... glorious viol accompaniment. The vocal consort is excellent, as are the opulent-sounding viols...'

Lute News

'a magnificent recording.'

Goldberg

 

dido

 

Originally commissioned by the BBC 1994, released by Sony 1995, to be reissued by Sony in 2009 (not available for inclusion in BBC Radio 3's March 2009 comparative review of all available recordings of Dido and Aeneas).

Dido and Aeneas Henry Purcell
Taverner Choir & Players, Andrew Parrott
Sony Classical
SK 62993

'for all the performances available out there, the listener could not do better than this vividly dramatic reading... and as Dido, Emily Van Evera is the standout. Her death scene is a marvel of... expiring passion.'

Newark Star Ledger

'This fresh performance... places the accent on giving colour and meaning to every word... a performance that charms as well as moves in abundance... Given a simple choice [amongst all recordings]... I'd walk away with this one.'

BBC Music Magazine

'a fine group of soloists [led by] Emily Van Evera's passionate Dido... moods and emotions are vividly expressed throughout... Van Evera's noble account of Dido's lament [creates a] feeling of profound grief at the opera's close.'

The Daily Telegraph, UK

'Of the vocal team, scoring positively above all are the lightning clean, fantastically homogeneous and tonally beautiful Taverner Choir and the outstanding, high artistry of the taker of the title role, the American Emily Van Evera. With her immaculate, ringing soprano she holds the ideal balance between stylised, beautiful singing and a finely nuanced, very moving range of expression.'

RONDO, Germany

 

sweet

 

The Hildegard Choir and guests
Gulliver Ralston, conductor
Emily Van Evera, soprano
in music by Berlioz, Britten, Godár, Liszt, Rheinberger...

Somm Céleste Series
SOMMCD 0102

So sweet a melody
The female voice - music for Christmas and beyond

'Amidst the perennial glut of Christmas-themed recordings that will be released (and re-released) this year, few seem likely to match this entrancingly filigree-fine collection of pieces for female voices... a robust traversal of Europe, taking in familiar Yuletide pieces from France, Germany and, most substantially, the choir's native England, as well as lesser-known music from Slovakia. Formed in 1991, the Hildegard Choir is billed as appearing "with guests": a nine-strong permutation of soloists providing becoming instrumental accompaniment, together with the soprano Emily Van Evera on selections from Benjamin Britten's A Ceremony of Carols - capped by the bittersweet chiaroscuro coupling of 'That yongë child' (with Van Evera deliciously otherworldly-sounding) and joyous 'Balulalow' - that lace this deftly programmed recital together. A brace of contemporary songs by Slovak composer Vladimir Godár - the exquisitely tender Dormi, Jesu... and the humbly somber Ecce puer... with numinous contributions to both from Emily Van Evera - particularly catch the ear. ...But a word, too, for two rarities: Ján Levoslav Bella's Verbum caro - in which Van Evera's silvery soprano floats diaphanously over a Schubert-lite coupling of two violins and two violas... Sheer simplicity of concept and execution is the attraction here, and this delightful seasonal offering will offer guaranteed distraction from both Christmas excess and winter gloom.'

The Classical Review, December 2010

'The deeply expressive soprano Emily Van Evera ...has a huge command of timbre and phrasing.'

Birmingham Post

 

ren

Renaissance Music from the Courts of Mantua & Ferrara
Circa 1500

'Every once in a while a disc comes along that stops you dead in your tracks. You insist on playing it for every visitor, and you become thoroughly boring, extolling its virtues to everyone who will listen. This is one of those discs and it has everything one could wish for ... it is the soprano Emily Van Evera who is the undoubted star ... most striking is the downright sensuality of her singing, which is at times deliciously erotic. Buy it.'

Classic CD, UK

'The soprano starring in most of these tracks is Emily Van Evera, whose voice is as near to an angel's as I have ever heard. I eschew encomia, but this must be what heaven sounds like. Her singing is sheerly, absolutely ravishing. This collection will cudgel your sensibilities with beauty, no quarter given.'

Amazon review, Patrick Moore

 

promise

The Promise of Ages
A Christmas Collection

'... which Sony might safely have named 'Quite Simply the Best Christmas Album Ever' had not that title already been nabbed.'

BBC Music Magazine

'No one has recorded more innovative Christmas anthologies than Andrew Parrott - and this disc is no exception. The Promise of Ages presents a collection of wonderful seasonal music arranged for women's voices (all arrangements were either made or sanctioned by the composers)... All of the performances are exemplary, but Emily Van Evera deserves special praise... This collection can stand alongside Parrott's The Carol Album as the thinking person's Christmas albums.'

Amazon music editor, Matthew Westphal

 

streets

In the Streets and Theatres of London
Elizabethan Ballads and Theatre Music
The Musicians of Swanne Alley

&

As I Went to Walsingham
Elizabethan Music
The Musicians of Swanne Alley

'I do not know of a Renaissance ensemble, in the Old or in the New World, which performs on such a high level ... devastatingly beautiful ... it is even more fantastic when Emily Van Evera sings: with spontaneity, freshness and palpable sensuality. This disc is exquisite and the best Renaissance music interpretation in a long, long time!'

Alte Musik Aktuall (Germany)

'Reviewers praised the original issue on Virgin to high heaven and I will heartily concur... In short, highly recommended to all those who love this type of music.'

Classical Net

Page under construction - further reviews to follow. See also www.taverner.org