LATEST NEWS
Tom Purdom reviews FESTA VIVALDI"...For his all-Vivaldi season finale, Vox's Valentin Radu selected five unfamiliar pieces from Vivaldi's huge catalogue, along with one piece I will hear as often as any one wants to play it: the buoyant, irresistible Lute Concerto in D Major. The opening and closing movements of the Lute Concerto raced along with all the required gaiety, and the slow movement received a perfect treatment, with Daniel Boring playing in front of a beautifully controlled, nicely modulated string background. The other concertos on the agenda were all equally satisfying examples of Vivaldi's enthusiastic exploitation of instruments that reached a new level of development during the Baroque era. ..." (5/18/10)
Tom Purdom reviews BACHFEST"...We often talk about the composer’s intentions when we discuss music, but the performer’s intentions can be just as relevant. The Vox Ama Deus conductor, Valentin Radu, discussed his attitudes toward Bach’s music at some length in the program notes, and Radu’s personal, highly individual vision shaped the entire evening..." (2/09/2010)
CD review - VIVALDI: FOUR SEASONS & MORE "...of all Vivaldi’s works, none is more popular – or deservedly acclaimed, for that matter – than his set of four violin concerti, “The Four Seasons.” That’s why this album by Valentin Radu and the Camerata Ama Deus, “The Four Seasons & More…”, is such a treat..." (11/26/2009)
Michael Harrington of The Philadeplphia Inquirer, November 1, 2009 on the Papa Haydn Bicentennial Gala
7 days
Joe Barron of the Montgomery Ticket takes a look at the Camerata Ama Deus and the Ama Deus Ensemble
tributes to Joseph Haydn, October 16, 2009
With Camerata Ama Deus, long-neglected Haydn works get their due.
The Metropolitian Opera's David Shengold praises the Ama Deus Ensemble CD
recording of Judas Maccabaeus, (posted October 2009)
Opera News Online: Opera and Oratorio.
The 2009-2010 Season is highlighted in the July 30, 2009 County Lines Magazine
Guide to the Performing Arts.
Mozart Requiem: "Valentin Radu caught the personal fervor of the music in all its varied expressions. One felt as much as heard the music, and that was made especially possible because so much of the singing and playing was excellent in caliber. Soprano Andrea Lauren Brown was especially affecting in her solos. Mount Airy mezzo Jody Kidwell and tenor Kenneth Garner (a longtime soloist at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill) also sang well. The chorus proffered impressive power, clear diction, broadly based dynamics, sharp rhythms, and emotional delineation through the text. The orchestra played with style and passion, all under Radu's demanding baton. Brown was also admirably heard in the motet prior to intermission." (04/09/2009)
Maestro Valentin Radu on WRTI's Crossover (Note: this link includes some dates from the already concluded Spring 2009 concert season.)(03/14/2009)
Judas Maccabaeus: "... and several excellent performances from his soloists. Chief among these was tenor Timothy Bentch, who sang the oratorio's title role. Bentch was in fine voice Friday evening. His projection was exemplary, his tone was clear yet unforced, his high notes rang with clarion brilliance yet he employed soft singing to telling dramatic effect, his diction was excellent, and he embellished the vocal line with stylistically appropriate bravura and emotionally compelling expressivity. Although bass Ed Bara bellowed mercilessly as Simon, the High Priest, soprano Andrea Lauren Brown sang with tonal beauty and dramatic exuberance as the Israelitish woman. Alto Tatyana Rashkovsky, tenor Dana Wilson and baritone Richard Shapp rounded out the vocal cast admirably. Among the instrumentalists, Fix-Keller's fine playing was joined by flutists Colin St. Martin & Steven Zohn, cellist Vivian Barton-Dozer and trumpeter Elin Frazier."(03/05/2009)
Handel Candlemas: "Of the pieces programmed Saturday evening, those that received the most convincing renditions were the three solo concerti: the Oboe Concerto in G minor with soloist Sarah Davol, the Flute Concerto in D major with Steven Zohn, and the Suite in D for Trumpet, Strings & Continuo with Elin Frazier. Davol expressively projected the intimate sweetness of tone of the mellow baroque oboe. Zohn proffered such delicacy of color and eloquence of phrasing with the wooden baroque flute that one truly lamented its modern replacement by silver, gold or platinum. And Frazier proved that the baroque trumpet produced a singing, rather than a ringing, tone. In all three works, Radu led the period instruments of the Camerata Ama Deus with sensitivity to his soloists' interpretations." (02/12/2009)
Bach: Brandenburg & More: "The evening's finest playing was heard at the start of the program in the Fifth "Brandenburg" Concerto, a spectacular score featuring soloists on harpsichord, violin and flute plus full tutti. Roxborough's Bronwyn Fix-Keller was the harpsichordist and she played with consumate artistry. Employing a commanding rubato (give-and-take of tempo) to replace the dynamic shading capabilities the instrument doesn't possess, Fix-Keller conveyed the elemental emotion of the music with passionate intensity and its towering structural inventiveness with digital wizardry...flutist Colin St. Martin played with suave beauty of timbre, aristocratic refinement of phrasing, and unforced projection of tone." (10/23/2008)
ARCHIVED NEWS
"Nowhere does this whole-hearted enthusiasm become more evident than during a performance of Vox Ama Deus. Specializing exclusively in the vocal and instrumental music of the [Renaissance], Classical and Baroque periods, Vox Ama Deus has been garnering the attention of classical music aficionados since their founding in 1991 for the Mozart Bicentennial (in fact, the name, which roughly translates as "Voice of God's Love" is also a play on Mozart's first name)." Read the feature story by Dan Prosen about Vox Ama Deus in Life Style Magazine, March 2008 issue.
Joe Barron of The Montgomery Ticket previews the 2007 Holiday concert: Vox Consort brings Renaissance music to the Castle.
Handel's Messiah: Lindsay Warner, for The Evening Bulletin, her article is titled Precisely Performed, Ama Deus Shines With Handel's 'Messiah'.
Handel's Messiah was also reviewed by Sydney de Lapeyrouse, arts and entertainment writer for Phillyist.com. Read the concert review here.
Our Winter concerts were previewed by The Bulletin. Read "Classically Correct: Vox Ama Deus Focuses On Musical Masterpieces" by Julia Bartz, 11/30/2007.
View our 2006-2007 media appearances: interviews, pre-views and reviews.
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