Sydney Symphony

“The orchestra makes a good, robust but wisely proportionate sound when necessary, but there is also a great deal of delicacy and a notably close rapport and unity of expressive purpose with the soloist.” (The Telegraph, January 2012)

 “The playing was expansive and luscious.” (Financial Times, August 2010)

“With the dramatically expressive Vladimir Ashkenazy on the podium, the orchestra brought precision coupled with enthusiastic freshness to everything they played.” (The Scotsman, September 2010)

“A powerful orchestra rarely sounds so complex, delicate and balanced.” (Alsfelder Allgemeine, Aug 2010)

“The concert marked a new era in the Sydney Symphony’s history, and the orchestra rose magnificently to the occasion…concentrated attention to detail, judicious balance, excellent rhythmic definition and, above all, a thorough immersion in the immediacy of musical performance.” (Sydney Morning Herald, November 2007)

“[The] Sydney Symphony…has the talent to attract one of the world’s most respected musicians. Reactions to the appointment have been uniformly positive.” (Gramophone, April 2007)

“Ashkenazy established a strong rapport with the Sydney Symphony in the 2004 Sibelius Festival and cemented the relationship with a superlative all-Rachmaninov concert at the end of last year. After the success of this year’s Rachmaninov Festival, his appointment as the orchestra’s principle conductor from 2009 now appears to be truly inspired.” (The Australian, November 2007)

“There is something about Ashkenazy’s leadership that brings the best out of the Sydney Symphony: there is unforced musical concentration, careful balance and a sense that everything is geared towards creating that sense of flow when movement is unfettered by rational intervention and geared only to the needs of the expressive moment.” (Sydney Morning Herald, November 2007)