Reviews
Soundscapes
Polished Young Choristers Evoking Eternal Mysteries (Music Review) "The Brooklyn Youth Chorus is regularly heard alongside prestigious ensembles in major works at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In March it helped Elton John celebrate his 60th birthday at Madison Square Garden; other collaborators have included Andrea Bocelli and Lou Reed. It can sometimes be hard to think of this group, founded by Dianne Berkun in 1992, as anything but a polished ensemble of miniature professionals." -- Steve Smith, The New York Times, 6/26/07 Read Full Review in NYTimes Archives
Weinberg's Symphony No. 6 with American Symphony Orchestra
"... the three [movements] that employ a children's chorus are particularly moving. On hand were the members of the Brooklyn Youth Chorus Academy, expertly trained by Dianne Berkun to navigate some very difficult passages, and in Russian to boot." -- Fred Kirschnit, The New York Sun, 6/5/07
"The clear young voices of the Brooklyn Youth Chorus in Mr. Weinberg’s work were in striking contrast to the thundering basses of the Concert Chorale of New York"--
Vivien Schweitzer, The New York Times, 6/5/07
Elton John's 60th Birthday Concert at Madison Square Garden
Elton John Celebrates 60, Lavishly, in His Garden
"And the Brooklyn Youth Chorus managed to bring a sense of uplift, along with some raw power. -- Nate Chinen, The New York Times, 3/27/07
Berlioz’s Damnation of Faust with James Levine and the Boston Symphony Orchestra
"...the Brooklyn Youth Chorus (Dianne Berkun, director) added an angelic touch to the celestial music of the final scene of this Berlioz masterpiece."
-- Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, 2/14/07
Lou Reed's Berlin
"In 'The Bed,' which recalls Caroline's suicide, the pure voices of a children's choir float to join the singer as he muses, 'Oh, oh, oh, what a feeling,' and linger after he's done in ghostly, wordless swoops of dissonance that met a stunned silence at St. Ann's."
-- Jon Pareles, The New York Times, 12/16/06
"The brilliance of Reed's writing for Berlin was the irony of combinations... [including] the blinding melancholy of 'Sad Song,' especially when the Brooklyn Youth Chorus went into a breathtaking loop of the title chorus, soaring and diving in defiantly bright grandeur." -- David Fricke, Rolling Stone, 12/15/06
"The choir added numerous ethereal touches, including spooky vocal swirls on the suicide-themed number "The Bed." -- Frank Scheck, Reuters, 12/19/06
Maurice Ravel's L'enfant et les sortileges with Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic
"The Brooklyn Youth Chorus was also wonderful, singing the animated voices of furniture and numbers from the arithmetic book." -- Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, 10/07/06
"If I could cite one moment in particular: Mr. Maazel urged on the kids of the Brooklyn chorus with dazzling ferocity. This was in the "math" section of "L'Enfant." (The kids are numbers.) No doubt they were thrilled, as were we, in the audience." --
Jay Nordlinger, The New York Sun, 10/9/06
Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 3
"The Juilliard Choral Union and Brooklyn Youth Chorus sang the lively text in the fifth movement with brightness and vibrancy." – Allan Kozinn, The New York Times, 12/14/05
Lorin Maazel's The Empty Pot
"Tunes and refrains...were ardently sung by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus...The enthusiastic voices of the Brooklyn Youth Chorus added more emotional depth to the plot." – Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times
Benjamin Britten's War Requiem
“The Brooklyn Youth Chorus rounded out the performance from a balcony with a piping yet warm and rich sound. And it nailed those difficult tritones at the end.” – James R. Oestreich, The New York Times, 11/13/04
Elton John at Radio City Music Hall
"…[the] Gospel-tinged "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" thrilled the crowd, with the choir shining…" - Bradley Bambarger, Star-Ledger
"…John was joined by his rock band and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus for a towering rendition of "Border Song." - The Associated Press
"…singing a furious, choir-enhanced version of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," there was nothing to be done but sit there and admire the spectacle." - Kelefa Sanneh, The New York Times
"…when they [the choir] did sing, they sent chills down your spine…" - Dan Aquilante, New York Post
"The soaring voices of the choir infused "Burn Down the Mission" with an even greater urgency." -- Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall - Opening Festival - Family Concert
"...the hall's inauguaral events: a family concert featuring the impressive Brooklyn Youth Chorus, directed by Dianne Berkun...the bright voices [of BYC] in a sweet program that mixed the contemplative with the funky..." — Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, 9/15/03
John Adams’ On the Transmigration of Souls
"The New York Philharmonic...and the wonderful Brooklyn Youth Chorus presented [John Adams’ On the Transmigration of Souls] with great care and concern." — Mark Swed, The Los Angeles Times, 9/21/02
"…Adams delivered music of great dignity and restrained power... While the strings arrange themselves into frieze-like chords, two choruses — one of children, the other of adults, both mightily impressive — intone simple words of loss…" — Justin Davidson, Newsday, 9/21/02
"On limited rehearsal time, Maazel, the orchestra, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and the New York Choral Artists gave [John Adams’ On the Transmigration of Souls] a luminous performance." — Richard Dwyer, The Boston Globe, 9/21/02
"At the climax, the massed voices--including the marvelous Brooklyn Youth Chorus, under the direction of Dianne Berkun--sing the words ‘Light! Sky! Day!... Then it all vanishes…" − Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 10/7/02
"The orchestra was admirably responsive, the New York Choral Artists and Brooklyn Youth Chorus, exceptional." — Tim Smith, Baltimore Sun
"The children's chorus, so often used as disembodied angels' voices, is here woven directly into the texture of the larger choir, and is perhaps Adams' single most effective writing here. The Brooklyn Youth Chorus was terrific in shaping this halo of sound... — Willa J. Conrad, Star-Ledger, 9/21/02
John Adams’ El Niño
"…the Brooklyn Youth Chorus performed with impressive clarity" — Willa J. Conrad, Star-Ledger
"…the Brooklyn Youth Chorus…looked as angelic as they sounded…magically captured in Mr. Adams’s subdued music." — Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, 3/22/03
Leonard Bernstein's Mass
"Still, it was wonderful to see the singers from the multiracial Brooklyn Youth Chorus snapping their fingers to Bernstein's jazzy riffs one moment, enraptured by his serence choral writing the next." — Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, 11/25/02
"The performers at hand - the Collegiate Chorale, the Broklyn Youth Chorus, the Orhcestra of St. Luke's,... all conducted by Robert Bass - outdid themselves, behaving as if in the presence of a masterpiece." — Justin Davidson, Newsday, 11/22/02
Benjamin Britten's War Requiem
"...the brass playing and the sharp choral articulation in the opening section of the Dies Irae, ...and the visceral impact of the Libera Me were among the most transcendent moments of the performance. The Brooklyn Youth Chorus (girls as well as boys) provided others from its perch one of the balconies." — Allan Kozinn, The New York Times, 4/15/03
Philip Glass’ Symphony No. 5
"The 80-member Dessoff Choirs and the 50-member Brooklyn Youth Chorus were robust and thrilling." — Philip Anson, Musical America.com
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