James MacMillan  Since It Was The Day of Preparation…
Hebrides Ensemble with Brindley Sherratt

November 2015

“a welcome re-performance from co-commissioners the Hebrides Ensemble plus Synergy Vocals… (Their) performance had clearly matured and bedded down beautifully since the premiere… The Synergy singers were on very fine form, intoning the gospel story with crystal-clear diction and a silky balance between their vocal lines….. Tenor Benedict Hymas was particularly effective in the work’s opening, chanting from behind the audience with the effect that his voice seemed to be coming from all parts of the cathedral’s huge interior… It felt like a wonderfully mature, thoughtful performance.”

theartsdesk.com

San Francisco Symphony conducted by John Adams

“a fantastic performance by all concerned, not least the wordless female vocal trio that Adams employs….a great disc for all Adams fans!”

Presto Classical

“Notable is Synergy Vocals, the trio of female voices (described by Adams as sirens), singing a wordless harmony and a rather scat-like vocal ….. Significantly adding to the overall effect of the piece is Synergy Vocals as ‘the sirens’ with their ethereal wordless harmonies …. Marvellously played and recorded this CD will unquestionably appeal to a much wider audience than John Adams devotees. This stunning album is a cast-iron certainty to be one of my Records of the Year”

MusicWeb International (Michael Cookson)

Anna Calvi (Meltdown Festival) 
a cappella choir conducted by Jules Buckley

August, 2015

(Sing to Me) “On the recording Calvi provided the spectral backing vocals. Tonight the choir take on that role brilliantly and all thirteen voices dovetail around each other, coiled in a beauteous web.”

(The Bridge) “The breath-taking choir build a mood of beautiful intensity and finally Calvi joins them. The song fades out into a filigree of hushed singing and they depart to another standing ovation.”

www.thelineofbestfit.com

Steve Reich  Music for 18 Musicians
Colin Currie Group

May, 2015

“Synergy’s scat-like vocals were entrancing.  I highly recommend anyone and everyone to take any opportunity they might have to witness Reich live, as well as Synergy Vocals and the Colin Currie Group”

Bachtrack

John Adams  Grand Pianola Music
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra / John Adams

January, 2015

“a trio of plush-textured women’s voices (Micaela Haslam and Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, sopranos; Heather Cairncross, alto) brought a broad palette of colors and crisp rhythmic vitality”

Seen and Heard International

“the fine ensemble Synergy Vocals”

San Francisco Chronicle

“the performance was superb… the sirens Micaela Haslam, Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, and Heather Cairncross singing to utter perfection”

Civic Center, San Francisco

“Synergy Vocals…wonderfully ethereal, the three singers make for haunting sirens ”

The Opera Tattler

Steve Reich  Music for 18 Musicians
Steve Reich & Musicians

September 2014

“The first evening’s triumph was undoubtedly Music For 18 Musicians (1976) – a near perfect rendering of Reich’s breakout piece.”

The Guardian

“a monumental performance of Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians…calm, assured, and stunningly musical. There was an ineffable maturity—a tempo that was relaxed and ideal, a sense of phrasing that is not usually prevalent in minimalist music, and an eloquence equal to that of the greatest orchestral playing.”

New York Classical Review

“When played with the authority and beauty of this performance, the piece engages your musical intellect as you focus on wondrous musical details, while at the same time inviting you to turn off the part of your brain that wants to understand music that way. The ovation was enormous.”

The New York Times

“(The musicians’) love of the score was palpable. That sense of familial embrace was hugely present in this joyous performance — and that pleasure radiated back to the musicians when the piece concluded. For the first time all night, the audience broke into raucous cheers and an extended standing ovation.”

NPR

Steve Mackey  Dreamhouse
with The New York Philharmonic, Catch and Rinde Eckert conducted by Jayce Ogren

May 2014

“ a fine quartet of singers from Synergy Vocals”

The New York Times

These New Puritans  Field of Reeds
with The Heritage Orchestra conducted by Edwin Outwater

April 2014

“The Synergy Vocal Ensemble is particularly thrilling, as they sometime pick up on Jack Barnett’s phrase endings and bring them to another level entirely. The whole thing sounds powerful and effortless.”

In Between the Tracks

“Synergy Vocals added an alluring if never merely cosmetic sheen”

Classical Source

Steve Reich  Music for 18 Musicians
with The Colin Currie Group coached by Micaela Haslam

November 2013

“As for this performance – it’s hard to imagine any better. The sound setup by Sound Intermedia was exemplary, and the ensemble played with focus and ease. This was apparently Currie’s first time performing the piece, but you wouldn’t have guessed, and his ensemble were brilliantly drilled and bursting with enthusiasm. Synergy Vocals has the best CV for this repertoire, and their contribution was unsurprisingly excellent as well. During the performance, I was caught between gazing in amazement at the focus of the players and the complexity of their task, and shutting my eyes and basking in the sound they made”

Bachtrack

The concert culminated “in a magnificent account of Music for 18 Musicians”

The Independent

“The performance of Music for 18 Musicians (1974-76) after the interval that saw the Colin Currie Group team up with Synergy Vocals was as fine a rendition of this work as you could hope for. Conductorless and fluid, it is a work where all must play their part, covering backs, swapping places, listening out for correct entries and exits. The ensemble were as attentive as I have ever seen a group of musicians.  Synergy Vocals were especially outstanding in delivering those tricky rhythmic calls, but everyone played their part.”

theartsdesk.com

“The performance was technically impeccable and musically overwhelming; richly deserving of the lengthy standing ovation.”

The Guardian

Steve Reich The Desert Music
with Lucerne Academy Orchestra conducted by David Robertson

August 2013

“a high-precision account of Steve Reich’s 45-minute “Desert Music”….. it was a revelation when words came through like a beacon”

The New York Times