Lawrence Foster

"Under Lawrence Foster's leadership, the Opern- und Museumsorchester proved themselves to be a nuanced, carefully balanced medium for expressing the cumbersome, and anything but catchy, tonal language [of Khovanshchina]." (Ulrich Boller, Frankfurter Neue Presse, October 2012)

 "With the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester, Lawrence Foster conjured a sound from the orchestra pit worthy of the multi-faceted music of Mussorgsky in all its diversity." (Thomas Molke, omm.de, October 2012)

 "Under the superior guidance of the experienced conductor Lawrence Foster the performance quickly gained a characteristic timbre, which the orchestra also contributed to sensitively." (Gerhard Schroth, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, October 2012)

"…Lawrence Foster conducted with a youthful spirit...Listening was a pleasure and the orchestra were obviously having fun, not just in their playing but also in the rhythmical clapping and loud Olés they had to shout out. Viva España." (Weser Kurier, November 2010)

"The strong but never pompous the style of this exceptional conductor allowed Volodos to master Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto and play so magically that it took our breath away" (Die Welt, October 2010)

"Guest conductor Lawrence Foster easily gained the large audience’s approval with his no-nonsense approach, as he had also done just the previous evening, when he easily led the phenomenal pianist Garrick Ohlsson and the orchestra through a sublime performance of Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto." (The Saratogian, August 2010)

'Foster clicked with the musicians of the Residentie Orkest. Having warmed up with  ‘Le chasseur maudit’…Foster knew how to unite the musicians in one heartbeat. The performances of Fauré’s ‘Pelléas et Mélisande’ and Debussy’s ‘La mer’ proved that the rich tradition of the Residentie Orkest still is very much alive.' (Volkskrant, October 2010)

“La soirée n’aurait pas été totalement réussie sans des cheours et un orchestre montpellierains proprements enivrants au son chaud, aux details soignés, sous la baguette incandescante de Lawrence Foster. Un très, très grand moment de musique.” (Opera Magazine, March 2010)

“Foster ist ein ungemein präzise agierender Dirigent, der gestenreich bis hin zur Pantomime seinem Orchester die Feinheiten und die Grobschlächtigkeiten der Partitur vorzeichnet.” (Frankfurter Rundschau, April 2009)

“Die auβerordentliche Aufführungsqualität aber, mit der die stets hohe Erwartungen weckende Junge Deutsche Philharmonie bei ihrem Frühjahrskonzert in der Alten Oper Frankfurt brillierte, hing auch mit der überaus glücklichen Wahl des Dirigenten zusammen: Allein optisch war zu verfolgen, mit welch ausgeprägtem Engagement, ökonomischer Zeichengebung und Geschmeidigkeit der Linienführung Lawrence Foster durch das Dickicht und Gestrüpp der Linienführung in Richard Strauss’ Eine Alpensinfonie führte, die so einen moderneren Anstrich als üblich erhielt.” (Frankfurter Allgemeine, April 2009)

“It was, however, a real pleasure to hear the score so lovingly conducted by Lawrence Foster, who drew warm French colors from the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. It was in the pit, rather than on the stage, that the magic of Roussel’s work was best realised.” (Opera News USA, June 2008)