Philadelphia Inquirer
“Vivaldi’s Four Seasons is a great piece, but when you can hear it anywhere from public radio pledge drives to train stations, how do you make it interesting? By taking it apart and showing how it’s put together. That’s what Tempesta di Mare is doing for its 15th anniversary season, which opened Saturday evening at the American Philosophical Society. “
“When it came to playing the concerto through, Tempesta gave an ebullient reading with a rustic buzz to the string tone. Violinist Emlyn Ngai’s command of timing and rhetoric was excellent.“
Chestnut Hill Local
“Tempesta is currently offering the finest renditions of the baroque repertoire available to local music lovers.”
“They produced a sumptuous overall orchestral sound in which phrases were lyrically shaped, dynamics were stunningly terraced between soft and loud, balances between the full tutti and the smaller concertino were immaculately maintained, and Ngai proffered dazzling pyrotechnical solo playing that evoked an autumnal festival in the countryside.”
“Roberts and Degrugillier switched to recorders as the soloists in Francesco Maria Veracini’s ‘Overture VI in G minor.’ Both soloists projected high, shimmering tones that stunningly stood out against the backdrop of dramatic swells of dynamics…”
Broad Street Review
“If the other programs on the schedule are as good as the first one, Tempesta’s audience can look forward to an enjoyable season. Tempesta’s Baroque instruments captured all the rustic hunting-and-harvestfest quality of the Vivaldi.”
“Krull and the Tempesta di Mare musicians produced an unbroken intensity that turned Medea’s rage into a non-stop 18th-century ride of the Valkyries.”
