Press
“the crystal clear tones of the Soprano soloist Sarah Dacey floated above the rich instrumental textures with a fluent lyricism”
Poulenc Gloria/Thames Philharmonic Choir/Kevin Jones
“Sarah Dacey sang with bright, well-projected tone”
Messiah/Derby Choral Union/MV Daily
“She revealed herself to have a strong, perky soprano, eminently capable of rasping in German as well as seeping nasally in French….the sheer sensuous loveliness of the same composer's “The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs” was a delight and a credit to her. She was equally convincing in five songs by Laurence Crane and the “4 Colonizations” by Fokkens. The second song from the latter, a Blake setting, ‘Enough', was colourful, challenging and witty. It brought the house down. There's a talent there for the irreverent.”
Pulse Gig/Classical Source
“the soloists acquitted themselves excellently”
The Armed Man/Leicester Philharmonic Choir/Leicester Mercury
Juice Vocal Trio
“As stimulating as new year's resolutions - and, one fears, as quickly forgotten after a fortnight - the Park Lane Group's January concerts pack more than 30 young musicians playing mostly contemporary music into a week. No doubt about the first night's stars. A female vocal trio called juice (trendy lower-case name, naturally) proved as tangy as their moniker. They have light, folky voices and a delightful manner: big smiles; music memorised so that they communicate directly. But there's nothing casual about their technical skills. They breezed through the brilliant, Berio-like vocal effects of a piece called luna-cy by one of their members, Kerry Andrew, then deftly sang two exquisite carols by Nicola LeFanu. Later they displayed their theatre skills in six surreal melodramas from Roger Marsh's Pierrot Lunaire - with another composer, Robert Fokkens, matching them histrionic for histrionic as a highly-wrought narrator. The latter's own wittily minimalist Words, James Lindsay's rap-inspired Sanbiki no Kashikoi Saru, and two well-crafted songs by Piers Hellawell completed the contribution of a group that could have a big future in cabaret.”
The Times, 9 Jan 2008
“in everything they sang, especially the tricky Luna-cy (by the group's alto, Kerry Andrew), their virtuosity (juice) was never for a second in doubt.”
The Guardian, 9 Jan 2008
“The three singers of Juice are each versatile and have stage-presence in abundance; collectively they are formidable. Singing most of their programme from memory – itself an achievement, the singers' range of sounds, pitches (and the techniques required to produce them) were in themselves compelling. Musically, there was a tendency to ingenuity over substance, although Kerry Andrew's own luna-cy included a range of vocal gyrations that made later such actions – from Robert Fokkens and James Lindsay – seem ‘already heard', although there was pleasure to be had from Fokkens's phonetic virtuosity in a selection from “Words”, of which ‘Sheepdip' was a premiere, and Lindsay's “Sanbiki no Kashikoi Saru” (2003). Fokkens had earlier taken part as narrator – more an acting role and taken with aplomb – in a selection from Roger Marsh's “Pierrot Lunaire”, in which stagecraft and mouth-popping added to this already-surreal take on Giraud's poetry. As a contrast, the limpid invention of Piers Hellawell (from “The Hilliard Songbook”) and two settings – of gracious counterpoint – of medieval sacred texts by Nicola LeFanu proved spellbinding, as music and in these flawless performances”
Classical Source
“They perform… with complete commitment and communication - and are utterly captivating.”
Musical Pointers, January 2008
“a fantastic vocal group…just superb”
Tim Winter and Joshua Meggit, ‘Dead or Alive' on Resonance FM, December 2007
‘The singing is excellent throughout, with … Juice more than matching the more established Hilliards and Red Byrd.'
Stephen Chase, spnm, on Roger Marsh's ‘Pierrot Lunaire', NMC
‘The most original group in the competition'
Aamulehti (Finnish national newspaper), June 2007, on juice's second prize at the Tampere Vocal Festival
‘****'
The Guardian, May 2007, on Roger Marsh's ‘Pierrot Lunaire'
juice finished things in fine style… in an enjoyable and inventive set.'
Tim Rutherford-Jones, spnm, on juice at Gobsmack at The Spitz, March 2007
“This group already has an impressive track-record of contemporary music performances, and it was obvious why. A command of blend, tone and tuning gripped the attention — the trio's handling of the rather Delius-like harmonies in the third movement was particularly striking.”
Mike Wheeler, Music and Vision, Dec 2006
‘No more than three voices in a programme of unaccompanied singing, but Juice easily transported their audience to the wildest realms of vocal delight. Their selection of music ranged from their own arrangements of early liturgical pieces, some in Old French, to Macedonian Folk Songs or the music of avant-garde pop diva Björk. The three delightful performers, Kerry Andrew, Sarah Dacey and Anna Molyneux were equally at home with Negro and Native American Lullabies or the adventurous vocal experimentation of Meredith Monk. Their opening piece, Susanne Rosenberg's ‘Vallåtar från Gammelboning' … had them hallooing to one another from different parts of the Chapel. These clean penetrating calls established the power and expertise of the three singers (gave) a taste of the adventurous and often exotic sound worlds that were to follow.'