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REVIEW: A burst of emotions drives Boston Ballet’s brilliant ‘Fall Experience’

Posted on October 30, 2024 by The Sleepless Critic

With a wealth of urgency and powerful expression, Boston Ballet’s wonderful Fall Experience features a world premiere and an array of innovative pieces that depict the isolation and bleakness of the season as well as the excitement of what is in store.

With incredible choreography by Crystal Pite and music by Max Richter, The Seasons’ Canon finale is one of the most amazing pieces that I have ever witnessed from the Boston Ballet. The Fall Experience is not to be missed.

Boston Ballet’s Fall Experience continues at Citizens Bank Opera House in Boston, Massachusetts through Sunday, November 3. The production is one hour and 50 minutes with one intermission. Click here for more information and for tickets.

Boston Ballet’s ‘Fall Experience’ ‘After’

Featuring Christine Vitale on violin and Sienna Tabron on piano, the world premiere of Lia Sirio’s After is steeped in shadows and the only light shown is illuminating from a white cavern. John Farrell’s minimalist set design with Brandon Stirling Baker’s mood induced lighting highlights the stirring exuberance of the dancers. In flowing and translucent clothing, After features an array of enthralling pas de deux and a wealth of tender moments between the dancers. Fueled by piano and fiddle-infused urgent rhythms, After is evocative and expressive as the lighting morphs into a beautiful teal background with subtle bursts of color. This multi-dimensional piece depicts isolation and ingrates sharp staccato dance movements blending modern and traditional dance.

Yue Shi in Sabrina Matthews’ Ein von Viel; photo by Christopher Duggan; courtesy of Boston Ballet

In suit and tails, pianist Alex Foaksman joins duo Jeffrey Cirio and Gearóid Solan onstage for Ein von Viel. Cirio and Solan demonstrate their athleticism and pliable skills in this powerful piece filled with swift, pronounced and intricate movements. Foaksman performing onstage as Cirio and Solan synchronize, playfully compete and complement each other to splendid selections by Bach.

In front of one studio light designed by Brandon Stirling Baker, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber’s fiddle-laden score lays the groundwork for this bustling and intense dance in Elo’s Plan to B. Concise, surefooted, and sharp moves dominate this winding and briskly sweeping performance that features Chyrstyn Fentroy, Viktorina Kapitonova, Daniel R. Durrett, Yue Shi, Sun Woo Lee and Schuyler Wijsen.

Boston Ballet in Jorma Elo’s Plan to B, photo by Gene Schaivone, courtesy of Boston Ballet

Under a gleaming and morphing light by Jay Gower Taylor and Tom Visser, the Boston Ballet unveils a vision like none other with The Seasons’ Canon. Crystal Pite’s intricate and meticulously detailed chorography to Max Richter’s version of Vivaldi’s mesmerizing The Four Seasons makes The Seasons’ Canon a superlative experience. An incredible vision in every sense of the word, The Seasons’ Canon is innovative and unique as dancers pulse, sway, and tumble with such fluidity and precision that it must be seen. Moving like one organism with grace and intensity, the sheer exactitude and congruent nature of these movements cannot be overstated. It is an exciting and commanding piece with bursts of energy as the landscape transforms into shades of silver, orange, and gold, exquisite in each season. It is a haunting and brilliant performance sure to stay with you long after the piece has ended.

Pacific Northwest Ballet in Crystal Pite’s The Seasons’ Canon ©Angela Sterling

Boston Ballet’s The Fall Experience continues at Citizens Bank Opera House in Boston, Massachusetts through Sunday, November 3. The production is one hour and 50 minutes with one intermission. Click here for more information and for tickets.

VOCES8’s Barnaby Smith talks power of music, music foundation, and long-awaited Boston concert debut

Posted on February 12, 2017 by The Sleepless Critic

Driven by a Capella inspiration such as The King’s Singers and Manhattan Transfer, dynamic, internationally-renowned vocal group, VOCES8 will make their Celebrity Series of Boston debut following Valentine’s Day on Wednesday, February 15 and Thursday, February 16 at Longy’s Pickman Hall at 8 p.m. Mastering a variety of music genres, this multi-talented British octet has toured around the world and after the tremendous success of their previous album, Winter, they are now working on a new album.

VOCES8’s Artistic Director Barnaby Smith talks about his extensive music background, VOCES8 charitable foundation, and their first appearance in Boston, which is a destination that has been on their bucket list for a long time. Click here for more information and for tickets to their upcoming Celebrity Series of Boston debut.

Jeanne Denizard: You are known for your work in Choral, Baroque, Classical, and film genres. What first attracted you to music and what led you to pursue a music career?

Barnaby Smith: I started singing at age 3 because my parents used to run an amateur music group. We did concerts once a month up in the rural North of England. Despite crying from the beginning to end of my debut solo at just age 4, I went on to love making music. So my parents sent me for an audition to be a Chorister at Westminster Abbey. I passed, and left home to sing in the Abbey choir at age 8 and never looked back. The choirboys are aged 8 to 13. We used to sing 4 hours a day 6 days a week, and by the time you have done this for 5 years, I think singing is in your bones. It was an incredible opportunity at such a young age and instilled a sense of such great enjoyment that I never wanted to stop.

JD: Were you always interested in those specific genres or was it another music genre that first grabbed your attention?

BS: There is something special about experiencing the sound of the human voice live in the room, and that is what has always grabbed me about choral music. When someone sings to you, you get a sense that you connect with them on a very deep level, like they are sharing something very personal with you. You can really see deep into their soul. If you then consider that choral music uses multiple singers and that these singers work together to create beautiful harmony as well, then I can’t imagine ever enjoying anything else more. I feel so grateful to be able to take part in such an activity as my job.

JD: VOCES8 tackles a number of music genres such as pop and Renaissance polyphony.

BS: Singing lots of different music in different styles is what keeps our job so wonderfully engaging. We get to enjoy many different styles of music, but we also have the challenge of trying to master them too. Singing a Bach motet requires a very different skill set than scatting a jazz tune. We have eight wonderful personalities and it is exciting that everyone brings an area of expertise, so we can all always be learning from each other too.

JD: VOCES 8 can be heard regularly on the radio and also involved with the charitable music foundation, VOCES Cantabiles Music. Please tell me about that.

BS: When we founded the group in 2003, we wanted to sing concerts, but we also felt so fortunate for the upbringing in music that we had been afforded, we wanted to give something back. For this reason we also formed our own charitable trust called the VCM Foundation. We made it our mission to get as many young people singing as possible. If children are encouraged to use their voices, it inspires inner confidence to be heard and communicate. Music is also a wonderful thing for young people to experience and will help them appreciate the world around them.

Since we began our work, we have spent a decade researching and writing The VOCES8 Method, a set of musical games and exercises that are designed to work the brain in a way that will help children to develop their linguistics and numeracy skills. The method is also designed so it is broadly applicable in a class of 6 or group of 600. We preach this method everywhere we go because everyone has a voice and it is free to use your voice, so all children should be encouraged to get involved, experiencing music, and get creative. The VOCES8 Method book is published by Edition Peters and since its publication, has been experienced by over 500,000 children across three continents.

We are also now fortunate to run a centre of singing excellence in a beautiful church built by Sir Christopher Wren who also built St Paul’s Cathedral in London. Our centre is called the Gresham Centre and our Foundation is based there. It is in the heart of London and we always encourage any choirs visiting London to get in touch with us in the hope that we can extend them an invite to discover the incurable acoustic of the building and meet and sing with us.

Celebrity Series of Boston presents VOCES8 on Wednesday, February 15 and Thursday, February 16 at Longy’s Pickman Hall in Cambridge, MA at 8 p.m. Click here for tickets and for more information on Celebrity Series of Boston.