Nicholas Mulroy, who constructed the programme as well as singing it, brought these pieces to life with great affection, his warm tenor imbuing the music with humanity.
I’ve never heard him sound as honeyed as when he sang Love in her Eyes
*****
He has sung the Evangelist in Bach’s masterpiece [St Matthew Passion] many times but here, for the first time, he directed the performance too… Directing the piece has deepened Mulroy’s interpretation. The sheer expressivity of his singing was a thing of wonder here. Every phrase, every word was turned over carefully so as to heighten the storytelling. I’ve rarely heard an Evangelist that’s so well acted. At times this felt more like a prayer than a concert, which is perhaps the highest compliment you can pay this piece.
*****
Mulroy sang with consistently fine tone, phrasing and colour, not to mention exemplary clarity of diction… he balanced a precise, silvery serenity with flashes of drama. It took us all the way from Baroque Europe to modern Latin America… you come away with ears refreshed and mind revived.
*****
An exception evening of music, deeply thoughtful, compassionate and nourishing
*****
[Messiah – December 2016] The solo quartet was exceptionally strong. The outstanding solo contributions… came from countertenor and tenor, James Laing and Nicholas Mulroy… Mulroy, his voice blazing with conviction, was extraordinarily moving both as harbinger of peace in Comfort Ye and in the ferocious way he delivered Thy Rebuke Hath Broken His Heart. Diction, so often slipshod nowadays, was exemplary throughout.
Tim Ashley
[Diary of One who Vanished – February 2011] The protagonist was superbly sung by Nicholas Mulroy…Dramatic conviction and vivid contrasts of mood kept the work gripping, and it was vocally thrilling, Mulroy especially powerful in the high luminescent register.
Malcolm Miller, Musical Opinon
Nicholas Mulroy is now an Evangelist of choice, dramatic yet never over-involved, engaged reporter rather than partisan witness.
Fiona Maddocks
However, it is Mordecai who has the plum solo with the young Handel at his most unexpected and sublime (it is beautifully sung here by Nicholas Mulroy)
Hugh Canning, International Record Review
The Prince Consort / Britten Canticles Wigmore Hall (November 2013)
With his contributions to the Britten works, tenor Nicholas Mulroy focused his acute interpretative gaze with particularly cogent results on the setting of Edith Sitwell’s Still Falls the Rain.
George Hall, The Guardian
Nicholas Mulroy, singing the role of Evangelist and tenor arias, triumphed rather spectacularly. From the beginning, there was never any sense that the Evangelist’s part was bloodless recitative; this was a truly alive narrative. He was never afraid to make a dramatic statement whether it be through urgent declamation or through the achingly drawn-out phrases as Jesus dies on the cross, and these different moods were vocally coloured in a most involving fashion. Mulroy was also consistently fresh-toned in the high tessitura and able to fine his tone down to the most gorgeously projected ghostly pianissimo.
Simon Holden, bachtrack.com
It would be unfair to single out a soloist (though Nicholas Mulroy was magnificent as the Evangelist)…
Alistair Noble, The Australian
Christmas Oratorio Australian Chamber Orchestra (December 2013)
He is ‘the most sought-after evangelist of his generation’. It is a big call, but to hear him sing there is no doubt. He is a cogent story-teller, with a radiant sound that just gets more ravishing as it gets higher. It is hard to imagine anyone singing it better.
Harriet Cunningham, The Sydney Morning Herald
Piazzolla – María de Buenos Aires (McFalls/Villena/Montoya Martínez/López Vidal)
Best of all, perhaps, is Nicholas Mulroy – in territory far removed from the Baroque works in which we usually hear him – singing milongas like one born to it. Exhilaratingly done, and a fine achievement.
Tim Ashley – Gramophone
