Pick of the Year 2007
Ivan Hewitt

"Composer Orlando Gough cuts through complication by returning music-theatre to its simplest elements: folk-song, vocal games, and the contrast between the lone voice and the crowd. He had a leading role as composer in the Almeida Opera production Critical Mass, a biting satire on the inanities of international summits, and in Fingerprint, a "choral opera" premièred by his group The Shout at the Royal Opera House's Linbury Theatre."

The best music of 2007
Richard Morrison

"To be truly beautiful, you must suffer". That was certainly evident in...Critical Mass, a collaboration by a quirky choir called The Shout and Streetwise Opera, which works with homeless people. Funny, wry, sad and startling, it was as powerful and timely a plea for the tolerance of loners and outsiders as I have encountered on the stage."