For Chicago music lovers, one of the most valuable gifts from the William Ferris Chorale over the past 30 years has been its annual concert focusing on contemporary composers.
The chorale’s customary warm, big sound filled the church … soprano Michelle Areyzaga in Menotti’s ecstatic Muero Porque No Muero cut through the space with laser-like power. Areyzaga has just the right voice to soar ahead of the sensitively blended choir, trumpet, percussion, organs and piano in Menotti’s Muero. Passionate and bright as a flame, it served as a focal point for Menotti’s faintly Spanish rhythms and melodies that rose and fell like waves in a heavy sea.
—Wynne Delacoma, Classical Music Critic – The Sun-Times – Feb 26, 2001