Leonhardskirche Basel, 20 December 2016
“The baroque orchestra La Cetra Basel and Andrea Marcon inspire with a hypothetical Christmas vespers by Monteverdi. … Its festive trumpet and trombone sounds from the overture open the concert in the Leonhardskirche. A strong, almost dramatic start, in which choir and orchestra convince with an enormous presence and rich, full sound. … The church is filled to capacity, and some enthusiasts even put up with standing room during the almost two-hour concert. … It is the members of the 16-strong La Cetra vocal ensemble Basel themselves who take on the solo parts. … Especially the passages for small ensembles … succeed in glorious unison as if from one throat. The characters of the individual pieces are contrastingly and thrillingly worked out by Marcon, who conducts with impetus but never exaggeratedly.” – bz, 22 December 2016, Anja Wernicke
– bz, 22. Dezember 2016, Anja Wernicke
“The concert was sold out, the audience was visibly enthusiastic during the final applause. … The success of “Vespro di Natale” depends to a large extent on the performances of the numerous soloists in the choir and orchestra: it is they who give the music a personal touch with interludes, make the audience understand with a wink that not everything is always meant seriously, or demonstrate the greatness of the musical capital of Venice with sheer technical mastery. … Vespers is admittedly still a child compared to Bach’s and Handel’s classics. But together with La Cetra and its musical director Andrea Marcon, it gains stature.”
– Basler Zeitung, 22 December 2016, Simon Bordier
– Basler Zeitung, 22. Dezember 2016, Simon Bordier
“For the third time now, the baroque virtuosos from Basel perform “Il Vespro di Natale” in the Leonhardskirche. Both times the audience was thrilled by Monteverdi’s unique music, performed by La Cetra in all its fullness – built up by the strong bass. So we await with anticipation the third.”
– Programmzeitung December 2016, Christian Fluri