allison mondel

The Anti-Glam Gala

Music Review: Washington Early Music Festival Fundraising Gala
by Stephen Brookes, Washington Post | July 10, 2011

"The most stunning moments came from two singers, one a stalwart of the Washington scene and the other a relative newcomer. Soprano Rosa Lamoreaux has a voice like honey with little silver bells in it (there’s just no other way to describe it) and sang a 17th-century motet from Isabella Leonarda with such ear-melting beauty that you wanted to follow her around forever. But the most affecting performance may have come from young soprano Allison Mondel, who brought a kind of spare, otherworldly radiance to the medieval works she sang — a performance from across the centuries, full of distant and irresistible beauties."

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Armonia Nova's arresting concert of early music at St. Mark's, Capitol Hill

Review of Armonia Nova "When Love was Art," Washington, DC
by Joe Banno, Washington Post | June 28, 2010

"An ample audience turnout Friday might have been due to the guest artist -- the pearl-toned soprano Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek, a member of the popular early-music quartet Anonymous 4. The vocalists of the D.C.-based Armonia Nova, however, sounded fully up to Horner-Kwiatek's level. Allison Mondel's ethereal soprano, Marjorie Bunday's warm and pure-toned mezzo, and Jay White's alternation of supple tenor and focused countertenor (shifting registers as individual pieces required), blended beautifully in a recital of songs from roughly 1200 through the late 1400s."

"In an anonymous duet, "Dites, seignor," White and Horner-Kwiatek created an operatic level of engagement (in a piece written 300 years before opera was invented), as did Mondel in a rendition of another score of unknown origin, "S'on me regarde," that exuded erotic longing and fear of discovery."

Armonia Nova's Elegant Hildegard

Review of Armonia Nova "A World Lit by Fire," Washington, DC
by Ronni Reich, Washington Post | June 23, 2008

"Armonia Nova's program was fresh, impassioned and elegantly presented. Each member of the vocal quartet displayed a different strength. Soprano Allison Mondel's range and interpretation were impressive..."

Williamstown Early Music Gods, Goddesses and Handel

Review of Williamstown Early Music "Handel Gala," Williamstown, MA
by Andrew L. Pincus, Berkshire Eagle | May 1, 2007

"In Chapin Hall, excerpts from Acis and Galatea, Saul, Semele, Giulio Cesare, Rinaldo and L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato provided the evening's morsels. Williamstown Early Music co-director Richard Giarusso knowingly conducted a smart 14-piece orchestra, which played modern instruments with period-instrument snap, lightness, pictorial effect and tenderness of feeling."

"Four more unlike soloists in voice and style would have been hard to find. Soprano Allison Mondel, Giarusso's co-director, was fairest of the fair."

"... the purity and velvet [of her] voice, plus Mondel's ability to enter into a role both musically and dramatically, made her a consistently touching Galatea, Semele and Almirena. If she lacked the regal power of a Cleopatra, it was a gentler pleasure to hear her shoot her arrows of love at Caesar."

Superb performance of Heinrich Schütz's choral masterpiece

Review of Aoede Consort performance, Williamstown, MA
by Michael Miller found on www.berkshirefinearts.com | February 21, 2007

"Mr. Giarusso and the Aoede Consort offered a remarkably polished fully realized performance... The singers of the Aoede ensemble are superb, both as a group and as soloists. I especially enjoyed the beautiful production and phrasing of sopranos Katherine Dain and Allison Mondel and contralto Mary Abba-Gleason, not to slight the fine singing of the male soloists."

"Williamstown Early Music has shown once again what an asset it is to the Northern Berkshires."

Williamstown Early Music Presents Seven Times Salt

Review of Seven Times Salt performance, Williamstown, MA
by Michael Miller found on www.berkshirefinearts.com | December 23, 2006

"As harmonious as she appeared to be with her collaborators, she enriched the evening by adding an additional individuality of particular authority and charm. Her voice is flexible and attractive in all registers, and she projected a thorough command of the music and texts, whether they were pastoral, devotional, humorous, or simply full of jolly spirits."

Yule concert a holiday haven

Review of Seven Times Salt performance, Williamstown, MA
by Andrew L. Pincus, Berkshire Eagle | December 19, 2006

"While all four of the group's members could carry a tune in the ensemble numbers, Mondel, a co-director (along with Richard Giarusso) of Williamstown Early Music, sang with a voice of angelic lightness, tenderness and purity. It was almost a surprise, given the silken tones, to discover in her biography that she also sings opera (mostly baroque)."

"Founded by Mondel and Giarusso, Williamstown Early Music is in its second season. If this concert was typical in its blend of scholarship and musicianship, the organization has earned a place in the community."

To Hell and back

Review of Harvard Early Music Society, Cambridge, MA
by Richard Buell, Boston Phoenix | November 26, 2004

"The entire performance came across with honesty and integrity... Allison Mondel had a powerful turn as Silvia, the maiden who gets the thankless task of telling Orpheus that Euridice has died."