Reviews
"Music director Mary Beekman and her 26 skilled singers are a splendid ensemble, true in pitch in a cappella music, nicely blended and impressively accurate..."
May 2010
Praise for "Mary's Playlist"
"Never having heard this jaw-droppingly good chorus before, I was astonished by the sheer beauty of their voices..." — Susan Miron, The Boston Music Intelligencer
"I think it's clear from these selections that Ms. Beekman has superb taste, but it's also an eclectic taste in formal terms, and so the concert ran the gamut from Elgar to Mäntyjärvi." — Thomas Garvey, The Hub Review
March and April 2010
Praise for "The Spirit is Still Speaking"
"The chorus's full involvement truly made this moment like 'the trumpet call on the day of resurrection, waking the dead from the earth."
"Musica Sacra, as directed by Mary Beekman, demonstrates a host of musical virtues: minimal vibrato, allowing fine blend and clear harmonies; excellent intonation; superb dynamic control; precise rhythm; complete mastery of music and words, permitting singers to be in very frequent eye-contact with the conductor which in turn allows her considerable flexibility; and full awareness of the text and effective communication of it to the audience. ...It's not every concert that I leave hoping to hear every piece on the program again." - Geoffrey Wieting, The Boston Musical Intelligencer
"Now in completing its fiftieth year, it's this type of programming that is educational both to audience member and musician alike—a challenging program to perform, certainly, conductor Mary Beekman's musical choices also pushed the limits of the audience's imagination and conception of what contemporary choral music is and can be." — Sudeep Agarwala, The Tech (MIT)
June 2009
Boston Globe Reviews Musica Sacra's performance, "In Music is Such Art: Choral Music with Texts from Shakespeare."
"Music director Mary Beekman and her 26 skilled singers are a splendid ensemble, true in pitch in a cappella music, nicely blended and impressively accurate in difficult passages and subtle dissonances. The sopranos (all women) make as beautiful a boy-soprano sound as can be heard this side of King's College, Cambridge." — David Perkins
June 2007
Boston Globe Reviews Musica Sacra's performance, "Lord, What Fools These Mortals Be: Renaissance Madrigals Celebrating Love."
"The chorus's pure timbre was built on quiet, focused vowels that bloomed into full resonance, echoing artistic director Mary Beekman's conducting style—she often seemed to be pulling notes from the singers like taffy. The result was a wonderful balance, each chord shaped with sure intonation.... [T]he Italian repertoire ... packed its drama into the harmony; Biagio Tomasi's "Tirsi morir volea," with near-Wagnerian waves of sound, was particularly beautiful."
December 2004
Boston Globe Reviews Musica Sacra's performance, "Christmas Music for Chorus and Brass," featuring the Boston première of Gregg Smith's A Mary Trilogy
"Musica Sacra has achieved an elevated musical standard over a wide range of repertory from the Renaissance to the present... [The Smith was] confident and expressive. Beekman had trained the singers well: the tonal quality was pure and balanced; ensemble discipline was precise; intonation was exact; diction, clear. The technical challenges of the Smith work and of Gabrieli's "Magnificat" were resolutely met. And the aural halo that surrounded the performances was appropriate to the music and to the season." (December 2004)
September 2003
Love, Lust, and Laudations recording is reviewed by online merchant CDBaby.com
"With crystalline-clear tone, this exceptional a cappella chorus recreates the most beautiful masterpieces of the Flemish renaissance period. Like wafts of smoke floating and drifing through still air, their lines weave beautiful, circular shapes of closed and open harmony. A ghostly and angelic album."
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October 2002
Boston Globe Reviews Musica Sacra's Performance of Mozart's Requiem
"Musica Sacra breathes freshness, fire into Requiem." (October 2002)
Cambridge Chronicle Reviews Mozart Requiem Performance
"Musica Sacra pays homage to Mozart's Requiem." (October 2002)
