HANDEL: MESSIAH DECEMBER 2007

Boston Globe (David Perkins)
“Christophers' reading was a revelation...”

“[Christophers'] focus was on the beauty and drama of the vocal line, which he gave breath and breadth. He conducted from memory, and his gestures, fluid and mostly horizontal, were generally directed at the 33-voice chorus. They responded with enthusiasm, solid tone, and dramatic fervor.”

The Hub Review (Thomas Garvey)
“I may have never heard a chorus find such a precise match between eloquence and passion--somehow the line between word and song simply melted away under Christophers' direction.”

"[The chorus'] acting was likewise exemplary... Christophers brought a very convincing sneer to "Let Him deliver Him, if He delight in Him," for example. And in the end, this commitment to the oratorio's human story, rather than any surprises in technique or interpretation, won the day."

"The Christophers version [of Messiah] was something special."

ROYAL FIREWORKS JANUARY 2008

The Boston Globe (David Weiniger)
“The orchestra was at the top of its game throughout the evening, the trumpets turning an especially dazzling performance.”

“Yet what at first glance promised only a hit parade of familiar favorites wound up delivering a richer than expected, multidimensional portrait of the Baroque."

The Berkshire Review for the Arts (Michael Miller)
“When the results are as ebullient and musical as on Friday evening, such tried and true programming can only seem brilliant.”

“The musicians' sense of flow, their elegant shaping of phrases, the rhythmic interaction of the different sections, all went straight to the heart of this mostly extroverted music, all stemming from courtly entertainments and the theater.”

"In J.S. Bach's Third Orchestral Suite, the keenly appreciated Air was an example of the best in contemporary historical practices. Any trace of the familiar soaring melody over a plodding bass line was gone, replaced by a far more expressive, dance-like interchange among the various choirs of the orchestra."

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