Christopher Dylan Herbert

“The many varied ensembles—a polyphonic streetscape, a protest chant— made for a consistently energetic atmosphere, and the seven supporting singers, all playing multiple roles, were excellent... Christopher Herbert was a splendidly self-important Moses mouthpiece at a public hearing;”

“Herbert’s direction shows his experience as a baritone and regular collaborator with these vocalists. Tempos and phrasing always respect the music’s intimacy and sense of reverence, and the quartet’s blend and sense of balance impress even when the lines take some quirky turns. A 16-minute, multi-sectional motet offers greater melodic variety and some solo monody, which is also a chance to hear the individual voices.... From a strictly musical perspective, these works may seem overly uniform or static. Yet they were above all a vehicle of worship for deeply pious amateurs. This music represents a discrete style from a distinctive time in America’s youth. Herbert’s extensive research and engaged vocal direction alongside his colleagues’ artistry make a real experience out of this historical discovery.”

“The final track, “Formier, Mein Töpffer,” is both emotional and direct. Written by Sister Föben (Christianna Lassle) the chord voicings are placed in the exact sweet spot for each register, creating a shining jewel of vocal music, and a celebration of early female composers/vocalists, as well as their creative vision, which is more than timely.”

“...this enchanting disc collects 11 a capella hymns, some of them written by the earliest known female composers in America. The source of these pieces, the Ephrata Codex, can be inspected on the Library of Congress website. Do take a look – it’s exquisite. That these performances were recorded in the room for which they were written adds an extra frisson, with four singers, led by musicologist and director Christopher Dylan Herbert, bringing the past to vivid life. The language is accessible, the harmonies unfussy, the hymns sung with a wide-eyed enthusiasm and attention to detail that’s deeply moving. Voices in the Wilderness is a delight, a quietly revelatory act of musical archaeology. Buy the CD instead of the download: it’s beautifully designed and packaged, with full texts and translations.”

“At the distant other end of the telescope is music by the first known women composers in America, from the Ephrata Cloister Meetinghouse near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They’re heard in the upcoming Voices in the Wilderness on the Bright Shiny Things label, having been excavated from the 1746 Ephrata Codex in the Library of Congress by baritone / musicologist Christopher Dylan Herbert (best known as a member of New York Polyphony). No longer are recordings just about exposure. Time and again, current composers talk about how the cognitive understanding of their music seems to burgeon once a recording is out there in the ethers.”

“Chris Herbert was in a hurry. The vocalist and musicologist was studying the Ephrata Codex — an 18th century music manuscript — in the Library of Congress, which meant he was on the clock. Herbert was working on digitizing the Codex... he saw names written in small font beside the musical compositions. Three of those names belonged to women: Sister Föben, Sister Katura and Sister Hanna.... He deduced that these names indicated authorship. After continuing his research, Herbert could not find any evidence of compositions that predate the ones composed by the sisters listed in the Ephrata Codex, making them the first known female composers in America.”

“Der Bariton von Herbert ist dafür die ideale Besetzung. Er besitzt eine in allen Lagen frei strömende Stimme, mit der er aufwallende Emotionen ebenso souverän gestaltet wie ein leise schwebendes Schwingen des Klangs.”

”The baritone of Herbert is the ideal casting for this. He possesses a free-flowing voice in all situations, with which he shapes emotions as well as a quiet, hovering sound.”

“Christopher Dylan Herbert was the standout of the evening, with an incandescent lyric baritone that injected life into Lash’s score. Herbert proved very adept at shaping Lash’s phrases, endowing them with emotion and intention. Where his fellow singers seemed unsure of how to navigate the opera’s more idiosyncratic lines, Herbert brought a kind of down-to-earth clarity, aided by acute articulation and a pure, bright sound.”

“Christopher Dylan Herbert filled his sweet voice with a surging sense of bewilderment and discomfort.”

“Baritone Christopher Dylan Herbert sounded mellifluous and personified a solid, stolid Man 2 (the lover)”

“Mr. Herbert’s baritone properly conveyed Man 2’s aggression (he’s clearly threatened by the Woman’s artistic independence)...”

“Baritone soloist Christopher Dylan Herbert shouldered the largest musical load of any of the soloists, and did so with grace and accuracy. His “Estuans interius” was particularly noteworthy, his passionate high range not buckling under the emotional weight of the movement. ”

“...baritone Christopher Dylan Herbert sang the original Schubert with ultimate clarity and intimacy.”

“...baritone Christopher Dylan Herbert was the best of them. I have to say his face, voice, and name were a little familiar - - it turns out I had been to a recital he did at Juilliard in September 2017. He’s a wonderful singer.”

“The cast for “Trouble In Tahiti”—Alexandra Silber, soprano; Nathan Gunn, baritone; Ellie Fishman, soprano; William Ferguson, tenor; and Christopher Dylan Herbert, baritone—was top notch and the acting well above par.”

“...Herbert was quite moving in ‘A Simple Song’ from Mass.”

“American songs and spirituals came to the fore with baritone Christopher Dylan Herbert taking on offerings from Copland and Bernstein, accompanied by pianist Gilbert Kalish... Herbert caught the feeling in each of them and although there was no written program, his diction was clear enough to hear every word. Kalish, with decades of experience behind him, is an example to anyone accompanying a singer. He was both support to and exactly together with Herbert in terms of dynamics, expression and each note.”

“...Mr. Herbert’s sonorous voice made for pretty listening...”

“...bass Christopher Dylan Herbert leaped into tenor territory for a wonderfully unhinged ‘Thou shalt break them.’”

“But as the second half closed in on Don Quixote’s death, New York Polyphony baritone Christopher Dylan Herbert sang an anonymous romance with elegant mastery.”

“All five men in her life were played by baritone Christopher Herbert. He showed a kaleidoscope of different vocal colors as he switched between five different roles... (The Whole Truth)
...Although he was reduced to playing only one character in this show, Mr. Herbert proved his strength as a dramatic baritone. He was at turns eerily calm and raving as the murderous Montresor. (The Cask of Amontillado)”

“Notable among the vocal soloists were the soprano Sarah Brailey, the alto Luthien Brackett and the basses Christopher Herbert, Jonathan Woody and Dashon Burton.”

“Mr. Herbert is a very special artist, bringing to the work some rather intense scholarship and a deep understanding of the text. He has a reserved stage presence, economic of gesture but generous with vocal shadings. His German is excellent with no consonant slurred over, yet without overly punctilious pronunciation. His musicianship and phrasing leave nothing to be desired. His lyric baritone is warm and pleasing to the ear.”

“The compelling baritone Christopher Dylan Herbert shone as the prince Pelléas...”

“The vocal music stood out. Herbert sang the Pilgrim’s Song, with string quartet, and Horner-Kwiatek sang Es sang vor langen Jahren and My Heart’s in the Highlands. Both singers projected easily into the hall, and their clear, direct and shining voices were perfect for the music’s aesthetics.”

“Rich-voiced baritone Christopher Dylan Herbert as the Pharisee seemed born to sing in Italian. ”

“Christopher Herbert (the Pharisee) is a fine Baroque singer who brought subtlety and nuance to his role.”

“Christopher Dylan Herbert’s king — jealous and touchy from the get-go and starkly raving soon enough — evoked Sergei Eisenstein’s cinematic Ivan the Terrible, Nikolai Cherkassov, in both the affecting-but-almost-over-the-top-suffering and the youthful, vigorous good looks”

“Christopher Dylan Herbert, a baritone and a doctoral fellow at Juilliard, heard recently as the title character in a splendid staging of Handel’s Saul, gave a sterling performance, which seemed all the more expressive for its intense restraint.”

“Christopher Dylan Herbert, a baritone as Saul, was also everywhere eloquent and convincing.”

“...Christopher Dylan Herbert, an actor of imposing utterance and commanding brow, stalking about the stage in agonized and murderous silence during ritornellos. It was not easy to take your eyes off him, and we were all startled (especially if we knew the Bible or the libretto, in which no such event occurs) when, on Jonathan’s defying his command to murder David, he slowly strangled his son before our eyes then, clutching the body, wept, silently... Herbert’s voice is pleasant and well trained.”

“Baritone Christopher Herbert provided dramatic singing in both the cantatas and Magnificat, with his interpretation of Herod in Part VI of the Oratorio laden with a bit of sarcasm, and the “Quia Fecit” aria of the Magnificat sufficiently regal.”

“Avec cet irrésistible mélange de décontraction et de professionnalisme « made in USA » que l’on retrouve avec joie chez maints artistes américains, Christopher Dylan Herbert s’est adressé à l’auditoire dans un français délicieux, pour introduire les bis de rigueur.

Après avoir assuré que ses camarades et lui-même aimaient « bien beaucoup » chanter en France – c’était à Saint-Père leur deuxième prestation hexagonale –, le baryton à la prestance de star de cinéma a signalé avec humour et naturel la présence d’un stand, sur le parvis de l’église, proposant les CD de New York Polyphony, sans oublier d’annoncer la sortie toute proche de leur nouvel enregistrement, un florilège de chants de Noël…”

”With an irresistible combination of informality and “Made in the USA” professionalism, Christopher Dylan Herbert addressed the audience in delicious French to introduce the encores.

After having assured us that he and his fellow performers greatly enjoyed singing in France (this was their second appearance in France), the baritone, with the natural stage presence of a movie star humorously discussed New York Polyphony’s CDs without forgetting to announce their latest release, an anthology of Christmas carols...”

“Christopher Dylan Herbert climbed well into the higher register of the duet.”

“Handsome, slender Christopher Herbert is physically all wrong for the ugly giant Polypheme. Fortunately, he’s a terrific actor and an exemplary singer, and his resonant baritone is perfect for ‘O ruddier than the cherry.’ He made the villain funny and scary at the same time, as he should be.”

“In ‘The War Reporter,’ Christopher Herbert (baritone) plays Paul Watson, the real-life Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, who is haunted by the ghost of the dead American soldier whose photo he snaps as it is dragged indifferently through the streets of Mogadishu. Herbert gives a charged performance (most convincing in his dashing tinted Ray-Ban’s) that travels between moods of strict personal severity to those of extreme vulnerability, fishing into a lake of guilt that endlessly drags him down. The audience, I’m sure, held onto every syllable in the distressing aria he offers to his therapist (Hughes) about his own father’s experience as a soldier—both an acknowledgement of Herbert’s talent but also the librettist’s succinctly simple, yet jarring, story-within-a-story verse.”

“Strong performances also came from baritone Christopher Herbert, who offered a full and resonant tone in dual roles as the Christian kings Pendragon and Uterpendragon.”

“Baritone Christopher Dylan Herbert owned the role of Watson, singing in beautiful defiance of the capacity of a single human breath. Herbert sang through ends of phrases with seemingly infinite decrescendos, setting the listener adrift in the fog of his character’s mind. When a single instrument continues this thread of sound, it feels... as if time stands still.”

“The protagonist, Paul, was sung by the vibrant baritone Christopher Dylan Herbert... the psychological drama of Paul’s traumatized conscience locked in a stifling embrace with the ghost of Sergeant Cleveland.”

“Baritone Christopher Dylan Herbert brought nuance to the complex character of Paul. Herbert shone during exchanges with other singers, particularly during Paul’s heart-wrenching phone conversation with Cleveland’s brother (sung marvelously by bass Craig Phillips). Their ears glued to telephone receivers, bereft of eye contact and physical interaction, the two gave a performance that crackled with tension.”

“Only lack of snow kept it from being the ideal scene for the baritone Christopher Dylan Herbert’s brave and, in all senses, chilling outdoor performance of Schubert’s “Winterreise”...he gave an elegantly lean performance that would have been impressive in any context but was remarkable under these conditions...The static of the radios, like surface noise from an old LP, added to the melancholy, as did the juxtaposition of their scratchy faintness and Mr. Herbert’s hearty yet poignantly isolated presence. Near the end of the cycle, in front of a still fountain, he flung out the final word of “Der Wegweiser” with a quiet disgust that was startling, given the performance’s intimacy. You have not truly experienced “Winterreise” until you have stood three or four feet from the singer, his breath visible in the cold.”

“Although singing in the cold, Mr. Herbert proved to have a rich, theatrical baritone that had no difficulty being heard in this outdoor setting. He projected the emotions behind this descent into madness, capturing the irony of the cycle’s more fantastical moments and the self-flagellating character of Schubert’s protagonist. From the steady tramp of “Gute Nacht” through the manic determination of later songs like Mut, this was a consistent, and sometimes harrowing performance. He managed the wide spectrum of sounds, even floating a lovely “head voice” in the more difficult passages of Die Nebensonnen and the haunting despair of Der Leiermann.”

“Christopher Dylan Herbert gave us a lovely set by Korngold and made vocal gold out of Roussel’s “Le Jardin Mouille”, Auric’s “Le Gloxinia”, and Faure’s setting of a Victor Hugo poem “Puisqu’ici-bas toute ame”. Maestro Bagwell himself was the piano partner and played with his customary sensitivity and delicacy, always supporting the singer; indeed they seemed to breathe together.”

“Once again [Christopher Herbert] delivers a performance of incredible depth and beauty of tone.”

“Christopher Dylan Herbert communicated every nuance of nine songs selected from Schubert’s “Die Winterreise”. His youthful and plangent baritone brought out every color—irony, sadness, bitterness, anger, despair and confusion. His German diction was so clear that I understood every word. Translations not necessary! I just want to hear Mr. Herbert sing the entire cycle. I am THERE! I have heard it said that this cycle needs to be performed by someone older and more experienced but I beg to differ. Only a youngster would experience such intense experience from what seems to be the loss of a first love. And Mr. Herbert’s voice has that youthful bloom, especially when he uses his head voice in the beginning pianissimo. As the winter voyage continues, his voice deepens a bit as anger and despair take over. It seemed as if Mr. Herbert were telling his own story; now that’s performing!”

“In that role [Henrik], baritone Christopher Dylan Herbert sang exceptionally well, and his repressed, edgy characterization was just right.”

“Christopher Dylan Herbert was a splendidly neurotic twit as Henrik Egerman…”

“Although dashing Christopher Herbert as the young son Henrik is a baritone, he negotiated the high flying tenorial phrases very winningly, and found a sweet core of heartsickness to temper his outward insufferability.”

“Christopher Herbert, as Albert’s buddy Sid, took top marks for clarity of text. The baritone also produced a consistently warm sound, phrased colorfully and used his natural theatrical skills to great advantage.”

“…the operatic training was abundantly clear, the poise complete…Christopher Herbert was easy on the ears with a solid, honest sound.”

“Samuel Barber’s setting of Mathew Arnold’s ‘Dover Beach,’ was presented with the proper melancholic stateliness by baritone Christopher Herbert, backed by a string quartet.”

“Christopher Herbert’s Pluto came closest to the mark with his smooth baritone and colorful styling.”

“Put a star next to the promising voice of Christopher Herbert’s Pluto.”

“Baritone Christopher Herbert performed heroically with Orff’s cruelly high tessitura and sang with impeccable diction.”

“Talent-rich Christopher Herbert gives the operetta a crazy buoyancy”

“The combination of vocal and interpretive skills in the work of several was outstanding. Baritone Christopher Herbert proved versatile, moving from gusto in a comic dialogue to the restrained dignity of ‘Elegy for JFK’.”

“The Tanglewood fellow Christopher Herbert more than held [his] own vocally and delivered [his] material with a freshness, spontaneity, and charm.”