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"One of the joys of the season." - The Chicago Tribune

"Superbly performed from start to finish." - The Houston Post

"A seasonal experience second to none. There wasn't a single cough, no purses
snapped shut, everyone kept eyes and ears wide open for a dip into an earlier age."

- The Toledo Blade

"An account of the Nativity teeming with simple beauties . . . glorious to hear."
- The Louisville Courier Journal

"Rarely do a thousand people sit as hushed as did this crowd . . . it was magical."
- The Kansas City Star

The Detroit News
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2002

Waverly Consort inspires with Christmas tale

     BLOOMFIELD HILLS – Under the high vaulted ceiling of Christ Church Cranbrook, in a gothic setting that took the imagination back a thousand years, a little band of angelic musicians made antiquity seem new Tuesday night in an exquisite retelling of the Christmas story. The Waverly Consort, 13 New York-based singers and instrumentalists famous for their mastery of music from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, parlayed minimalist theater into a sublime tableau of the characters and events that converged at the first Christmastide.
     With no sets or props, wearing the simplest of costumes to suggest performers of centuries long passed and singing Latin texts, the troupe under founding director Michael Jaffee brought home the Christmas story's defining blend of mystery, fear, magnetism and hope.
     To be sure, it was the ensemble's consummate musicianship first and foremost that sparked the timeless hymns and dialogues. Accompanied by early heraldic trumpets fiddles, drums, bells and harp, Jaffee's singers displayed a fusion of expressive clarity and technical finesse that comes only with years of living and absorbing a highly specialized art form.
     But the ethereal music was also anchored in a compelling earthiness, a satisfying naturalism in the bearing of the performers themselves.

Although various singers might slip in and out of roles within a single scene, those changing personas became as instantly sure and meaningful as a snapshot.
     The three "kings" needed no crowns to be credible in their awestruck adoration of the new-born Child. And with a mere gesture of the hand, the archangel Gabriel affirmed his divine authority. Never mind that the proclamations – or the fearful consultations between Herod and his son – were uttered in Latin; the faces and the body language were clearly recognizable as those of ordinary people in circumstances that were not just extreme but wondrous.
     Much like surtitles at an opera performance, a concise English text in the printed program made the Latin perfectly trackable. Indeed, this eloquent, energized music drama hinted at the world of opera that lay ahead in history. Jaffee's concept of medieval theatrics veered headlong onto an operatic footing near the end, as Rachel lamented the slaughter of the first-born by a terrified Herod desperate to eliminate this new King, his rival.
     At the close, with a hymn of thanksgiving, handbells rang out into soft tones of jubilation, and the performers melted away into darkness, their story told.

Los Angeles Times 
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2002

Drama adorns Waverly's holiday program

     The Waverly Consort's Christmas Story" digs into the past, finds great drama there and ends with a glorious blessing. Sung and enacted Sunday afternoon in the soaring Gothic-inspired confines of Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Mid-Wilshire, the program told the familiar story of the birth of Christ through unfamiliar music ranging from the 10th to the 15th centuries, drawn from Spain, Italy, France and Britain.
     The eight vocalists showed mastery in the range of styles, from a jaunty 12th century song addressed to an ass bearing one of the Magi, to the grating close intervals of a 14th century English Kyrie. Often they sang their difficult music a cappella. But a five-member period instrument ensemble – including founders Kay Jaffee and Michael Jaffee – also provided bewitching support.

     In fact, it was a burst of instrumental music that depicted the sophistication and corruption of Herod's court, where the dramatic conflict of the story arose: Herod's fear of another king leading to the slaughter of the innocents. Here the concert became as vivid as opera. Splendid irony occurred whenever characters addressed this mostly forgotten – apart from the Christ story – royal with the words "O king, live forever!"
     While the pain of the grieving mothers was not easily forgotten, the final Te Deum, sung by all the ensemble members, did much to alleviate it. The pure tones of the hand bells they rang enveloped the audience in a kind of benediction.



CONCERT ENSEMBLE

"Music of surpassing beauty . . . sung and played by the group whose
love and talent seem without limit."
– New York Magazine

"A group not only extraordinary in its ability to bring early music to life, but also outstanding in the level of individual virtuosity . . . rare refinement and imagination, and a sense of atmosphere that was enchanting." – The Boston Globe

"Performances extraordinarily accomplished and smooth, filled with
spontaneity and a sense of engagement."
– The New York Times

"The best of their kind. . . . In the creation of archaic moods and imagery and the most beguiling simplicity of means, they are hardly surpassed." - Los Angeles Times

"The Waverly Consort is the leader in the field . . . . If they didn't play with the
Waverly's gusto and reverence back in the 14th century, they should have."

- Newsweek

 

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