Acclaim for In A Grove at Prototype Festival

Photo credit Maria Baranova

The New York Times, Sequenza 21, Broadway World, and more review our production of In A Grove at Prototype Festival in January 2025.

The New York Times, Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim:

“The highlight of the festival was Christopher Cerrone’s “In a Grove,” a haunting psychological thriller with a libretto by Stephanie Fleischmann… The music (performed by the Metropolis Ensemble) grows out of this white noise. Over the course of the opera, as characters deliver their testimonies, the tensely tonal music behaves like a single mass that billows and drifts, ponders and pounces, but never falls silent… Stylized yet sensual, the vocal lines glide along the surface of this instrumental texture.” Read more

Broadway World, Richard Sasanow:

“Gorgeous… big impact in small package in Birnbaum’s lucid production at La Mama… Cerrone’s tonal music has a hypnotic, fluid quality to it that varies from scene to scene, from one role to another, matched superbly by the storytelling of Fleischmann… The instrumental work of the Metropolis Ensemble under conductor Luke Poeppel couldn’t have been better.” Read more

Sequenza 21, Gail Wein:

“Christopher Cerrone’s melodic material was memorable without being trite… Cerrone’s vocal score was accompanied by ten instrumentalists of the Metropolis Ensemble, led by Luke Poeppel (standing in for music director Raquel Acevedo Klein on the day I attended). The orchestration included some appropriately eerie effects, such as drawing a violin bow across the edge of a xylophone. I was very much captivated by this powerful drama and its excellent performance.” Read more

Financial Times, George Grella:

“★★★★ With a foundation of ambient sound and vocal writing that underlines the most important moments with plangent harmonies, this is often mesmerising. The variations grow more meaningful and tragic as they pass, and the effect grows hypnotic.” Read more

Parterre Box, Dan Johnson:

“For this production, the outstanding Metropolis Ensemble was tucked away not in an orchestra pit but in a loft above the entrance to the hall. Subtle amplification of band and singers alike allowed the sound of the musicians to surround the audience, while live digital processing subtly transformed it, adding echoes, reverb, and distortion to suit the drama. (Music director Raquel Acevedo Klein, hidden along with the band, conducted the singers via a live video feed to monitors at each corner of the stage.) There was an almost cinematic quality to the dramatically pointed timbral effects of the orchestration, and each of them hit its mark.” Read more

Observer, Annie Levin:

“Cerrone’s score is full of slow, pulsing phrases, rhythmic tugs in and out of recitative and spare and dramatic instrumentation. The minimalist use of vocal manipulation, subtly complex reverb, looping and the like creates a sound that mimics the atmospheric smoke effects on stage… You could not have asked for better performers… In a Grove is a triumph and among the finest works at this year’s festival.” Read more

Night After Night, Steve Smith:

“This was a hypnotic ritual awash in beauty and tension… with amplification and electronic vocal processing serving as potent mood-altering tools… Singers Paul Appleby, Mikaela Bennett, John Brancy, and Chuanyuan Liu were sensational; so, too, was the Metropolis Ensemble, effectively and excitingly led by Raquel Acevedo Klein.” Read more