The fly-past of an American air Force B52 bomber from the Chicago Air show at 7:27pm could have been planned as a fitting precursor to Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem. The irony was not lost on Grant park Festival’s artistic director, Jim Palermo, who on a daily basis deals with the hazards of open-air programming in the heart of downtown Chicago.

Police helicopters and sirens made for other distractions during the two evening performances, and especially during baritone Nathan Gunn’s beautiful and moving rendition of Wilfred Owen’s poem Strange Meeting.

Britten’s juxtaposition of the Requiem Mass with Owen’s andti-war poetry is intense and Grant Park principal conductor Karlos Kalmar’s interpretation was incisive, meaningful and demanding of all the performers. Soprano Erin Maria Wall soared over the combined chorus sounds of Grant Park Festival Chorus and the NYCoS, both on excellent form. Gunn and tenor Anthony Dean Griffey ere beautifully balanced in the duets.

The two-week stay by the 84 young singers of NYCoS has included mass audience events in the Gehry-designed Pritsker Pavilion in Grant Park and more intimate performances as part of the festival outreach programme. They also sang live and a capella for Chicago WFMT Radio as part of the Myra Hesse programme for young performers in Chicago’s stunning Tiffany glass-domed Cultural Centre. Thomson’s Alleluia and Lauriston’s O Magnum Mysterium were highlights.

On its first visit to the US, NYCoS has sung to more than 40,000 people live and their radio performance was heard by many thousands more. For some of them, this tour will be their last.. NYCoS is 10 years old in 2006, but perhaps the beginning of its coming of age has been witnessed in Chicago.

The Herald, August 2004 
Judith Robertson