Sakari Oramo

"The Sibelius symphony that ended the programme was the Third, presented by Oramo in brisk, bold paragraphs that worked to a wonderfully definitive climax" (The Guardian, October 2011)

"Oramo galvanised the BBCSO to an extraordinary degree” (Classical Source, October 2011)

“This first concert in the orchestra’s Sibelius symphony cycle marked Oramo’s first appearance with a London orchestra. Many others should follow...Strings deserve the top prize for subtleties of tone and attack, but each instrumental section excelled — something only possible when a conductor and the BBC players click...Oramo and the orchestra also fitted like hand and glove in Arnold Bax’s Tintagel” (The Times, October 2011)

“The performance of the Third Symphony which followed sounded new-minted, as if Oramo had re-thought every bar. The middle movement is often rendered as an innocuous serenade, but here the music unfolded with meditative slowness, as if it were discovering its own richness….The whole thing revealed Oramo’s masterly hand” (5* - The Telegraph, October 2011)

“The Finnish conductor held the Sibelian sea swell and magical orchestral perspectives perfectly in balance with the film-fanfare-ish yet impeccably crafted themes. Nothing too brash or noisy here; one only wished that Bax had decided to end with the time-suspending hushed calm that was the most impressive feature of Oramo's layered interpretation” (The Arts Desk, October 2011)

“The great virtue of Sakari Oramo's performance - his first as the orchestra's principal guest conductor - was to make [Elgar’s First Symphony] speak so directly in the present: forceful, but also embracing moments of hushed intimacy and vulnerability without contradiction. Oramo's passionate advocacy of Elgar was never more audible than in the CBSO's glorious string playing, underlining just what a worthy recipient he is of the Elgar Society medal.” (The Guardian, December 2008)

"The attention to detail was often heart-stopping.....At the end of a stunning final part, Oramo was quick to hail his musicians, but the feeling was mutual.” (The Guardian, April 2008)

“His gestures were consistently clear and detailed.  In Sibelius's Sixth Symphony, Mr. Oramo drew on the Philharmonic's finely polished string tone and its sharply articulated woodwinds, offering an expansive, sumptuous and at times driven reading.  More telling was his account of Tapiola…This is an object lesson in creating vast, dramatic panoramas in sound, and Mr. Oramo and the Philharmonic made Sibelius's wintry pictures seem three-dimensional and vivid.  Particularly effective was the howling, icy wind evoked by the briskly bowed strings near the end of the score.” (The New York Times, April 2007)