“Friday night heard the East Coast premiere of the complete Italian-language version of George Frideric Handel’s cantata, Aci, Galatea & Polifemo. Tempesta di Mare, with an 18-member period instrument orchestra and three vocal soloists, glittered with baroque ornamentation, shimmered with imaginative scoring, sparkled with vocal pyrotechnics, bristled with pulsating rhythmic vitality, and throbbed with heightened emotional expressivity. The orchestra played with technical polish and theatrical intensity, taking on a directly-involved role in the drama by sonically setting the stage and propelling the narrative through highly colored tones and lusciously phrased melodies. Soprano Clara Rottsolk was a romantic yet defiant Aci, faithful in his love for Galatea. In a role originally cast for a high castrato, Rottsolk sang with both fierce determination and eloquent lyricism. Mezzo Lorie Gratis was a forceful Galatea, unswerving in both her love for Aci and rejection of the monster Polifemo. Her voice resonated with secure projection and glowed with a lustrous warmth of tone. Baritone David Newman sang the role of the malevolent Polifemo with passion.” Chestnut Hill Local, May 2009.
