Theatre of the Ayre at Wigmore Hall
Anna Picard, The Times
24th February 2016
Directed by the theorbo player Elizabeth Kenny, Theatre of the Ayre’s meaty programme of anthems, devotional songs and dialogues, canons, chaconnes and trio sonatas explored the blur between church and stage music in Restoration London, animating the shame of the sinner and the bliss of the devout...
...The sopranos Sophie Daneman and Katherine Watson, the countertenor Robin Blaze, the tenor Nicholas Mulroy and the bass Matthew Brook sang with fervour and elegance, their voices balanced beautifully in ensemble, their delivery of these vivid, complex texts of penitence and redemption expressive and engaged....
...The Italian influence was underlined in Watson’s shapely reading of Carissimi’s Lucifer, coelestis olim, a motet found in 21 English sources...