American Art Songs

Le passage des reves, Op. 15

Randall Scarlata, baritone
Laura Ward, piano

Lenoriana

Lenoriana,
Op. 4

Elem Eley, baritone
J.J. Penna, piano

Christmas Daybreak

Three Carols for Wintertide,
Op. 13,18, 22

The Crossing Choir
Donald Nally, conductor

Odyssey

Sonata-Cantilena,
Op. 21

Mimi Stillman, flute
Charles Abramovic, piano

"Mr. Boyle's writing is rich in color and undeniably appealing."
ALLAN KOZINN – The New York Times

"Benjamin Boyle was the pianist for his own Sonata-Fantasy with violinist Tim Fain, who earns special praise for committing the complex 18-minute work to memory. Boyle's lush, romantic style, redolent of Franck and Ravel was instantly enjoyable."
ROBERT BATTEY – The Washington Post

"I was perhaps most surprised by Benjamin C.S. Boyle’s Sonata-Cantilena, a work composed just two years ago that sounds like it could be part of the standard repertoire for flutists for years to come. That it is unrepentantly tonal—its role models are Barber and Poulenc—is nothing to be apologetic for in the 21st century when all aesthetic positions are equally valid and when all continue to yield captivating music."
FRANK J. OTERI – New Music Box

"a beautiful commissioned work by a young, American composer.... a jeweler-worthy setting of the medieval carol "The Holly and the Ivy" by Philadelphia's Benjamin C.S. Boyle."
ANDREW PATNER – The Chicago Sun-Times

"Benjamin C.S. Boyle's Sonata-Fantasy. Scored for violin and piano, this passionately romantic three-part work joins modern passions to 19th-century expression and piquant pinch of "Der Rosenkavalier" tossed in. It was enthusiastically executed by violinist Tim Fain with the composer at the piano."
T.L. PONICK – The Washington Times

"A young American composer, Benjamin C.S. Boyle, created his Sonata for Cello and Piano especially for [Efe] Baltacigil. This proved a succinct, attractive work in three movements, conventional in utterance, deftly crafted for the two instruments and rather Shostakovichian in its harmonic language. … This is modest, likable music from a promising composer, and there's nothing wrong with that."
TIM PAGE – The Washington Post

"Lo, How a rose e'er blooming, by Benjamin Boyle ,was commissioned for the Crossing, its words adapted from a 15th-century German carol extolling the beauty of nature in winter - and kept aloft with harmonies that skirted strong major/minor-key affiliations and the emotional implications that go with them. So the music inhabited an emotion-free zone, not cold or cerebral, but warmly detached from day-to-day humanity. When it ended, you felt like you'd been on vacation."
DAVID PATRICK STEARNS – The Philadelphia Inquirer

The evening’s most emotional musical moment came during the performance of Benjamin C. S. Boyle’s “Paean,” composed on commission by The Crossing in memoriam for Jeff Dinsmore. It was a fitting tribute to a young man whose short life was an expression of generosity to everyone who knew him.
MICHAEL CARUSO - Chestnut Hill Local