“In the pit, Riccardo Minasi led a full-throttled reading of the score, full of vim and verve.”

“Riccardo Minasi and Ensemble Resonanz’s eagerly awaited BBC Proms debut did not disappoint. In an all-Mozart programme, they brought energy and life to the music […] Le nozze di Figaro’s overture set the tone, with immediate energy, bright tone and tight ensemble, Minasi shaping the surging lines, and a pulsing build to the climax […] A rollercoaster conclusion to a great debut Prom performance.”

(On his recent album Pergolesi — Stabat Mater) ​“Nourished by their work of ​“resonating” old and contemporary repertoires, Riccardo Minasi and the Hamburg musicians bring an astonishingly modern light to these moving scenes. A very beautiful, very theatrical version by the gesture of the orchestra, but also thanks to the singers who dramatically embody the pain of the mother. Sometimes it feels like an opera.”

“Ensemble Resonazn play as freshly and surprisingly as if Mozart were a composer today. This music shakes the audience existentially. Minasi is sometimes a tamer, sometimes a dancer — neither the orchestra nor the audience can escape his energy. The small chamber orchestra has made a name for itself with this concert and new CD of Mozart’s last three symphonies.”

“Of course, the great players of the Mozarteum Orchestra seized every opportunity to bring their own flair to Stravinsky’s ​“Le Sacré du Printemps” in a magnificent and impressive manner. Starting with the thoughtfully performed entry of the solo bassoon on the sonorous viola quartet in front of the podium of the Great Festspielhaus, to the shattering eight horns, or the formidably dissonant rubbing trumpets and trombones. Minasi understood the score in detail and duly fuelled the dynamically startling dramatic accents. Fascinating, simply inspiring!”

“Finally the ​“Haffner” Symphony KV 385 was on the plan. It was an absolute triumph: Riccardo Minasi’s instructive conducting made the opening allegro explode […][…] eventually Minasi, typically Italian, prancing and fencing with the baton as if it was a rapier, drove the Mozarteumorchester, which was in top form, through the concluding presto. ​“As fast as possible” is what the composer wanted – it became a complete Mozart bliss.”

“The music sparkles in this quick-witted and imaginatively embellished performance from Il pomo d’oro, conducted by Riccardo Minasi.”

“The symphonies continually ambush the ear, bristling with startling leaps of the imagination that resonate powerfully with Riccardo Minasi’s visceral direction. The B minor Symphony’s Presto is so incendiary that asbestos gloves might be in order…[but] playing it safe in these rollercoaster symphonies is never an option.”