Review: "Guest Conductor Good for Mariinsky"

A review of my recent performance with the Mariinsky Orchestra on tour at Princeton University.

“Solzhenitsyn’s best qualities were much in evidence on Tuesday, not competing with Gergiev on his own terms, but acting as a temperamentally cooler counterbalance.

The Rachmaninoff piece told its story more clearly than usual, aided by the orchestra’s excellent, dark brass section, and did so with masterfully escalating tension, giving the piece a solid air of inevitability.

Solzhenitsyn laid solid metrical groundwork in Shostakovich’s first movement, exerting subtle influence on how the music moves and building any given movement with a meticulousness that, if anything, put the expressive content into higher relief.

The orchestra seemed unfazed by the touring, playing with great commitment for Solzhenitsyn, who could be healthy for this orchestra if he becomes a frequent-enough guest.”

— David Patrick Stearns, Philadelphia Inquirer

Review: "Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra: A Welcome Invitation"

A review of my recent performance with the Mariinsky Orchestra on tour at Cornell University. 

“Guest conductor Ignat Solzhenitsyn held the podium like a controlled tempest, injecting just the sort of energy expected of the all-Russian program. The palette at his disposal was accordingly rich with contrast. Smooth yet sometimes-rustic strings meshed with a superb wind section (the true litmus test of any such orchestra), while clarion brass mediated between the two with equal shares of rough and smooth.”

— Tyran Grillo, Cornell Daily Sun

Review: "Anne-Sophie Mutter radiant in CSO debut"

A review of Anne-Sophie Mutter and myself in "double début" with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra at their season-opening gala.

“Solzhenitsyn is an elegant conductor, who led with fluid gestures throughout the evening. He opened with a rare performance of English Baroque composer Henry Purcell’s Chacony in G Minor. It was a refreshing choice, and the conductor elicited wonderful dark sound in the strings.”

— Janelle Gelfand, Cincinnati Inquirer