“…on-the-edge speed and unshakable security”
“The performance standard was extremely high. Hearing this group supported by excellent repertoire not only brought back memories of its best concerts, but at times surpassed them. Co‑founder Gwyn Roberts, on baroque flute and recorder, was particularly scintillating in the Telemann suite. On a fine, double-manual harpsichord with a nice, fat-free sound, Adam Pearl played the Stanley concerto with particular clarity of intent. Overall, concertmaster Emlyn Ngai led crisp performances with on-the-edge speed and unshakable security and, in the Leclair concerto, projected both structure and expressive content in ways that let listeners get beyond the superficial charm factor.” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 2012.
“…poetically nuanced performance”
“Tempesta di Mare is celebrating the end of a full decade of Baroque music-making with a ploy worthy of the Baroque functionaries who planned court entertainments built around clever fancies: Tempesta is conducting a three-concert, two-weekend festival in which all the pieces have a ten in their pedigrees. The first two concerts, presented Saturday night and Sunday afternoon in Center City, focused on chamber music and solo sonatas. Overall, the two programs demonstrated that the Baroque repertoire is so rich and varied that you can put together two meaty, entertaining concerts even when you limit your selections with a gimmicky rule invented for a special occasion. Ngai presented a Vivaldi sonata that included two movements packed with the showiness that has roused violin audiences for three centuries. Fox soloed with an unaccompanied Fantasia that she described as one of Telemann’s attempts to create polyphony with a single-line instrument. Whatever the theory, Fox breathed spirit into the exercise. Tempesta’s co-director, Richard Stone, contributed a sonata by a Baroque lute master, Leopold Weiss. Stone’s precise, poetically nuanced performance was a good example of the work that has earned him a reputation as one of today’s leading lutenists.” Broad Street Review, May 2012
“…Pearl’s fingers created a bright stream that rippled between the mountains of sound created by the orchestra”
“Tempesta di Mare completed its three-concert celebration of its tenth season with a program devoted to suites and concertos for a full-sized Baroque orchestra. The Tempesta program didn’t include any old friends, but the six selections were all winners. Concertmaster Emlyn Ngai once again starred in Saturday’s showstopper. The previous Sunday, Ngai ended the first half with a Vivaldi sonata that earned him an enthusiastic standing ovation. This time he ended the first half with a concerto by Jean-Marie Leclair that evoked a similarly enthusiastic response. When Stanley wrote his Opus 10, No. 2 harpsichord concerto, he knew better than to waste time writing passages in which the harpsichord plays with the orchestra, which would have drowned it out. Instead he alternated harpsichord solos with orchestral passages. Adam Pearl’s fingers created a bright stream that rippled between the mountains of sound created by the orchestra. The evening ended, fittingly, with Gwyn Roberts playing the soprano recorder in a Telemann suite. Roberts concluded her tenth season as Tempesta’s co-director with a performance marked by flowing melodies with every note in perfect balance.” Broad Street Review, May 2012