What Are They Saying?
“Quince’s sound, though, was appropriately the true star.”
“Extraordinary.”
“DeBoer Bartlett, her fellow sopranos Liz Pearse and Carrie Henneman Shaw, and mezzo-soprano Kayleigh Butcher are all fearless champions of contemporary music, with the pipes to back it up. The four women exhibit a natural teamwork and achieve a beautiful blend, so much so that their voices sometimes seemed to emerge from the hall itself.”
- Stephanie Manning, Cleveland Classical
“Quince Ensemble breaks the bounds of what choral music can do.”
"The Quince vocalists—collectively and individually—were simply amazing in pitch, blend, enunciation and expressive conviction"
"Quince intones the promise from 1 Corinthians that “we will all be changed” with such ardency that one can’t help but believe it"
- Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune
"beautiful, beguiling"
- Steve Smith, Night After Night
Quince Ensemble’s performance adds minimalist instrumentation and is equally profound, bringing wonderful shape and motion to the simpler pieces and musical clarity to the most dense.
Together these five recordings offer a rare and uplifting musical repast in this time of great consternation and stress.
-Raul de Gama, The Whole Note
"The subject matter of interconnectedness, communication, compassion, faith and love are mirrored in Quince’s experience of bringing love fail to life. Quince Ensemble's 'love fail' transcends romantic love"
- Anna Heflin, Classical Post
"Judging by the evidence here, Quince Ensemble is the Anonymous 4 of new music. They have a clear mission (in this case, commissioning, performing, and advocating new and experimental work), superb blend, great versatility, and a general fearlessness of approach. It’s hard to imagine that the fresh, daring, often forbiddingly difficult works on this disc could be performed any better."
- Joshua Rosenblum, Opera News
“Prisoner of Conscience” was moving and soulful and was a fitting conclusion to a concert that ventured into the horizon of possibilities for vocal ensemble music, often making subtle remarks about society along the way. Quince received a standing ovation, a sure indication that the rest of the audience also appreciated the outstanding singing of each member as well as the fascinating and meaningful new music that they shared."
-Jay MacKenzie, The Lawrentian
"The group brings a harrowing precision and emotional rawness to HUSHERS"
-Peter Margasak, BandCamp
"I love the Quince ensemble’s pure and compelling vocal sound."
-Deborah Steinglass, New Music Box
"[Quince] weaves strangely beautiful webs of song out of their incomparably pliable vocal cords. Their intricate chamber-group interplay sounds at once ancient and avant-garde, and it abounds with surprising dynamics. QCVE could conceivably appeal to fans of 20th-century radical singers like Joan La Barbara and Urszula Dudziak."
- Dave Segal, The Stranger
"Over the years, the ensemble's rapport has grown to almost telepathic levels."
- Peter Margasak, Chamber Music America, Summer 2017
"The formidable individual talents of the quartet’s singers belie their strength and blend as a chamber ensemble. Yet each musician retains her unique vocal qualities, making Realign the Time a very personable and intimate recording."
- Jason Charney, i care if you listen
"Realign the Time is a strong debut from a group sure to play a big role in reconceiving vocal composition in twenty-first-century music."
- Jeremiah Cawley, The Box is Empty
"The music that Quince performs asks us to hear differently than we usually do. The singers blend is perfect."
-Rob Cline, Cedar Rapids Gazette
WERKplaats with Ensemble Dal Niente"The mellifluous harmonies of the female quartet, Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, provided commentary and vocal interest."
- Gerald Fisher, Chicago Classical Review
“Make no mistake, this is not your average vocal quartet. They specialize in contemporary vocal techniques and continually offer expert performance of some of the most challenging, varied, and fascinating repertoire ever created for the human voice. It’s all but guaranteed that their seemingly limitless voices will shock you, impress you, please you, and entertain you”
- Jeremiah Cawley, The Box is Empty
"What's thought of as a boundless, continuous expanse..." for five sopranos and 15-channel, 1-bit electronics...the piece blew me away...Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble [was] wonderful. I've never heard anything like this..."
" [Quince's] flawless rhythm and nuanced articulations drew attention to musical characteristics that can be ignored when expression is valued over the physicality of a musica practica"
"When a performance of new music is as thoughtful and joyful as that by the Quince and Color Field Ensembles, it’s easier to focus on the relationship between a composition and its realization, to hear interpretation as a kind of listening."
- David McCarthy, McCarthyisms for Your Work Week
"Ohio-based Quince, comprising founder and soprano Amanda DeBoer Bartlett, soprano Liz Pearse and mezzo-sopranos Kayleigh Butcher and Aubrey Von Almen, with guest artist Delea Shand, sang a breathtaking program"
"It was clear that Quince had arrived as a new force of vocal excellence and innovation."
"As the evening progressed and Quince sang wonder after wonder, the audience awaited each of them with Pavlovian anticipation."
- David St.-Lascaux, The Brooklyn Rail