Reviews

The critically-acclaimed American Spiritual Ensemble has delighted audiences world-wide.
"I hope you all enjoyed the American Spiritual Ensemble this last Saturday. Although most have never heard of this group before, I promised they would be fantastic. In my opinion and many others, it may have been one of the finest concerts we have ever hosted at the NPAC. I was also pleased they were able to offer a master class to benefit the Lincolnview High School Choir."
- Paul Hoverman, Van Wert Times Bulletin
"The American Spiritual Ensemble gave us the best night since our opening. It wasn't that every soloist was better than the one before, it was just that each new soloist, whether contralto or coloratura, bass or tenor seemed to be the ultimate voice God could fashion. The audiences was erupting with bravos, standing ovations, whistles throughout the evening. The music was breathtakingly, heartbreakingly beautiful. They performed on Martin Luther King's very birthday. How perfect. Four of the Ensemble, Hope Kohler, Alfonse Anderson, John Wesley Wright, and even Dr. McCorvey himself, gave a master class for our students. At times all four of them were on stage working with a student; one would lift his chin, another would straighten his back, another would keep a hand on the diaphragm, one would stand before him willing the note into just the right placement. Here were these extraordinarily gifted and experienced performers/teachers making the student feel as if nothing in the world was as important as taking that student's talent to the highest possible level. It was a beautiful thing to see such generosity and concern."
- Robert Hutchens, Clayton Center for the Arts
"There we were, sitting in our seats for the 6 p.m. performance. The house lights dimmed, the back doors flew open, and from the lobby of the theater, the most heavenly, divine sound of voices soared around us with a spirit, velocity and blend unlike anything - and I mean anything - I'd ever heard." Read Full Review
- June LeBell, YourObserver.com
"The ensemble, made up of operatic voices from around the country, produces a sound of such sumptuous power, energy and commitment that one is hard put to find words worthy of the effect they make on an audience. On this occasion, honoring the work of Susan Danis as executive director of Sarasota Opera during the past 11 years, the singers, under the direction of Everett McCorvey and accompanied at the piano by Tedrin Blair Lindsay, presented a varied and demanding program of music that frequently left this listener and most of the audience in happy tears." Read Full Review
- Richard Storm, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
"...the American Spiritual Ensemble led by Dr. Everett McCorvey sang one of the greatest concerts I have ever heard. McCorvey's mission for the fifteen years since he founded this group is to perform the music of the great African-American spirituals both in this country and abroad, and to teach people about this music with hopes that this rich, broad, and culturally important repertoire will feature more prominently on our concert programs and in our schools." Read Full Review
- Paul Carey, Composer
"For me, I wouldn't mind if every year's city festival should debut with the American Spiritual Ensemble in the Reina Sofia Park. The concert on Tuesday was an authentic feast of the multicolored voices and the very rich music of the American Spirituals. It is truly an authentic joy to see how a group, so multiethnic and with so much vocal richness is capable of melding together and unite in something so universal like music and transmit that feeling of internal happiness and community to an audience so heterogeneous like the one of the other day."
- José Manuel Piña, Diario de Ibiza, Spain
"The prodigious voices of the North American group the American Spiritual Ensemble made the audience tremble with emotions this past Sunday at the plaza of Santa Maria la Real, of Najera... The forcefulness and sheer power of the voices and the impressive timbre and sounds were almost too much to imagine. They created a warm ambiance and the audience surrendered with applause."
- La Rioja - Logroño, Spain
Review of Angela M. Brown's "Mosaic" CD
"Angela M. Brown caused a sensation at her recent Met debut, and I suppose it's only a matter of time until some major label signs her up, or so we can hope. Until then, we have this unexpected treat from Albany, one of the most inspiring, intense, heartfelt collections of Spirituals to come along in many a year..."
- David Hurwitz, Classic Today