Minneapolis StarTribune
September 27, 2008:
"Ralph Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony (Symphony No. 1) is a monumental and moving choral work. It's hard to understand why it is so rarely programmed. Yet [Friday's] performance at Orchestra Hall ... touched the soul of this profound composition. ... From the fortissimo opening, the Minnesota Chorale delivered a tour de force performance. ...The text of the final movement was especially dense. But the setting and the performance conveyed mystical truths, ending the symphony with a sense of sublime mystery."
--William Randall Beard

St. Paul Pioneer Press
September 27, 2008:
"Ralph Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony...was brought to vibrant, turbulent life by conductor Osmo Vänskä, the Minnesota Orchestra and a team of expert singers. ... The words were wonderfully sung by the Minnesota Chorale, which seemed impressively comfortable with the composer's very British harmonies and an array of moods that runs from explosive martial fanfares to the ultra-soft pianissimos at the work's conclusion. ... This was a case in which a concert offered so much that it's hard to imagine anyone could have left Minneapolis' Orchestra Hall unsatisfied."
--Rob Hubbard

Minneapolis StarTribune
May 15, 2008:
"Minnesota Chorale takes center stage at this week's Minnesota Orchestra concerts, singing three rarely heard choral works by Johannes Brahms. Under legendary guest conductor Helmuth Rilling, it is doubtful that these works could be heard better performed anywhere in the world."
--William Randall Beard

St. Paul Pioneer Press
May 15, 2008:
"[F]ans of choral music...will be delighted by the shiver-inspiring performances given [to Brahms's "Nänie" and "Schicksalslied"]. Of the many excellent choral groups in our area, the Minnesota Chorale has always struck me as particularly suited for the kind of rounded, uniformly textured part-singing that Brahms requires. ... [T]he Chorale's sturdily supported singing and fine balance — credit artistic director Kathy Saltzman Romey for developing this — results in a wonderful reading of Brahms. The female voices, in particular, can handle the kind of long-flowing eruptive melodic lines without strain and the aching harmonies between all the vocal parts are clearly and beautifully revealed."
--David Hawley

Minneapolis StarTribune
December 14, 2007:
"The vocal highlight of the evening was the Minnesota Chorale. They sang joyously, making even the most overfamiliar music, like "Hallelujah Chorus" sound fresh. And with their exemplary diction, they communicated the meaning of the texts..."
--William Randall Beard

St. Paul Pioneer Press
December 13, 2007:
"[Conductor Stephen] Layton summoned up a gentle "Messiah," handled with care by the orchestra, the Minnesota Chorale and a quartet of strong vocal soloists. ... A scaled-down 46-voice version of the Minnesota Chorale responded to Layton's leadership with admirable delicacy, especially on a finale that found power in gentleness."
--Rob Hubbard

Minneapolis StarTribune
November 9, 2007:
"[Arvo] Pärt is an exponent of what is most accurately described as 'sacred minimalism.' He uses the most limited melodic and harmonic resources and yet infuses them with deep mystery. ... In Como cierva sedienta (As the Hart Pants), Pärt evolved beyond strict minimalism, though he retained a commitment to simplicity. His setting of Psalms 42 and 43 took on an element of intensity and drama. The texts, expressions of faith in the face of oppression, have their roots in Russian Orthodox chant, set against a frequently agitated and dissonant accompaniment. The women of the Minnesota Chorale sang this difficult music exquisitely, despite the punishingly high tessitura."
--William Randall Beard

Choral Journal
July, 2007:
"Osmo Vänskä's Ninth is notable for its energy and precision; the Scherzo in particular has been praised as perhaps the finest on disc. But let's cut to the chase--the finale, too, is just terrific. Kathy Saltzman Romey's Minnesota Chorale sings German with echt Viennese feeling but Berlin-style (i.e., breathtakingly clean) diction. Although Vänskä employs the new Barenreiter urtext edition, he allows the singers all of the exuberant, climactic moments that Beethoven surely intended; this is no cut-the-music-down-to-(our)-size 'historically informed' performance. ... Highly recommended.”
--Lawrence Schenbeck

Audiophile Audition
October 21, 2006:
"…[T]he most powerful and exciting Ninth I have ever heard."
--John Sunier

Minneapolis StarTribune
October 13, 2006:
"Beethoven's grand choral finale, the goal toward which each of the earlier movements points, is trickier, especially given his unmerciful vocal writing. The Minnesota Chorale sings wonderfully, with spirit and superbly well-focused tone. The sopranos hit their string of high A's without strain, and the great climax on "Vor Gott!" is as thrilling as any you'll hear."
--Michael Anthony

ClassicsToday.com
September 22, 2006:
"…[T]he chorus sings magnificently throughout, and with such clarity of diction that you can practically transcribe the text of Schiller's ode even if you don't know German. As with the instrumental contribution, Vänskä gets all of his singers to communicate the sense of the music with remarkable immediacy, and even with swift basic tempos there's plenty of weight at such places as the big tenuto on "vor Gott!" as well as in the choral fugue with its spectacular soprano climax."
--David Hurwitz

St. Paul Pioneer Press
Saturday, April 29, 2006:
"…[T]hanks to the sure hand of conductor Roberto Abbado and the skilled singing of the Minnesota Chorale and four soloists, Friday night's concert proved a heavenly delight. …[T]he most transcendent sections of the concert came on such achingly beautiful distillations of pure sadness as the Laudate Dominum from [Mozart's] "Vesperae solennes de confessore" and the more solemn sections of the [Coronation] Mass. At such times, the chief cherubim transporting listeners to celestial bliss were the Minnesota Chorale - displaying its customarily outstanding sense of dynamics - and Karina Gauvin … who suffused each sigh-inducing solo with light and loveliness."
--Rob Hubbard

St. Paul Pioneer Press
Friday, January 13, 2006:
"Thursday night's first offering of [Beethoven's 9th] proved perhaps the most exciting take on the symphony local audiences may ever have the fortune to experience. ... But the most exhilarating performance came from the Minnesota Chorale, which has likely never sounded better. Executing smooth crescendos and diminuendos where one customarily hears percussive blasts, the Chorale--expertly prepared by Kathy Saltzman Romey--wove an "Ode" of impeccable beauty and power."
--Rob Hubbard

Minneapolis StarTribune
Friday, December 9, 2005:
"English conductor Paul Goodwin offered ... a solid, communicative account [of Handel's Messiah] that benefited from the excellent singing of the Minnesota Chorale and four accomplished sololists. ... The chorus, prepared by Kathy Saltzman Romey, had many impressive moments, from the light transparency of And he shall purify to the weighty drama of Surely, He hath borne our griefs."
--Michael Anthony

St. Paul Pioneer Press
Thursday, December 8, 2005:
"A tradition that gets better by the year:
"...[W]hen one thinks of Messiah, it's the voices that pop to mind. And not only did the Minnesota Chorale deftly evoke the work's emotional extremes, it did so with purposeful passion. "[T]he Minnesota Orchestra's annual performances of the work seem only to improve with age... and never in recent memory have the orchestra and Minnesota Chorale shown themselves to have such a clear handle on Handel."
--Rob Hubbard

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