New York Times / Sep 2009
The program's real center of gravity was "The North Wind Was a Woman," a song cycle by David Bruce... Mr. Bruce's vocal lines... are invitingly melodic and deceptively simple. Ms. Upshaw...sang four of the settings with the lustrous, melancholy timbre they demanded... Mr. Bruce's instrumental writing is just as striking.
Chamber Music Society Blog / Sep 2009
With highly-skilled instrumental writing to support Dawn [Upshaw]'s magical singing...the piece was one of the most smashing successes for a new work I have seen in a long time. A prolonged ovation brought musicians and composer to the stage time and again before the intermission.
New York Times / May 2009
"The last work showcased was by far the best... The music, rich with imagined folk tunes, undulant accompaniment patterns and vibrant choral writing, is delicate, tartly tonal and lucidly orchestrated. The characters are enchanting, and the vocal writing mostly effective... [The opera is] skillfully written and imaginative..."
New Music Box / May 2009
"the orchestral sea of bird calls that ends A Bird in Your Ear, David Bruce and Alastair Middleton's recreation of a Russian fairytale about a boy who learns to communicate with birds, was a surreal and yet extraordinarily moving way to end this year's offerings [at NYCO VOX festival].
Scene 4 Magazine / May 2009
"lyrically satisfying...Bruce's and Middleton's opera appealed to me at some primary level."
