Reviews
It's always great to have Catherine on board as either a soloist or in the chorus. She is always extremely well prepared for a performance, and frequently seems to have committed large parts of the score to memory! It's a great comfort as a conductor to see Catherine's bright face looking up well in advance of every entry and completely secure in every aspect of what she's doing. Catherine has a beautiful clear voice that has the power to project over an orchestra but also blends very well with a choral soprano section. I'm very glad our paths crossed.
Thank you so much for singing so beautifully for the Portsmouth Festival Choir's 'Come & Sing' Mozart Requiem yesterday. Singers and audience loved your clear and seemingly effortless sound, and there were tears in some eyes after the Benedictus. Many participants told me that the day would have been worthwhile just to hear the soloists sing!
... Between the Funeral Sentences and the closing anthems, soloist Catherine White gave a superb performance of Purcell's theatrical, virtuoso setting of a Latin ode to the Queen - handling its spectacular high notes and elaborate ornamentation with apparently effortless clarity...
... the brief solos by Chloe Allison (Micah), Alex Ledsham (Samson) and Simon Herbert (Manoah) added welcome contrast – as did the return of Catherine White to sing the celebrated duet between soprano and trumpet, Let the bright seraphim...
... The solos were sung with deep feeling and imagination. The Pie Jesu was plaintively sung by the ravishing soprano, Catherine White, and the dark, rich bass of Richard Latham was a joy...
... Chairman David Shearmur praised the five soloists - Susie Hyman, Catherine White, Guy James, Sam Oladeinde and Laurence Williams.
He said: "They blended splendidly and gave a very high-quality performance."...
Vox Cantab, founded in 2010 by Louisa Denby, is a highly accomplished group of current and former choral scholars from Cambridge University. They immediately showed their outstanding musicianship in Poulenc's four unaccompanied motets for the time of penitence... The singing had eloquence and the intensity of the music was idiomatic. Duruflé's four motets on plainsong themes for unaccompanied voices show an astonishing conciseness. They were all sung with love, warmth and precision... wonderful!
This was a deeply expressive, sensitive performance from the excellent choir and orchestra, directed with love and passion by Jonathan Willcocks.
