Press Excerpts - The Academy of Ancient Music & Richard Egarr

“The Academy of Ancient Music is in world-beating form once more with this magnificent Handel disc. Egarr and the musicians play with dynamism and warmth which suggests that Egarr's tenure with this band is going to be a rewarding one. Long may it last."
--Gramophone, April 2007

“With Richard Egarr's brilliance as its music director, this orchestra is playing better than ever. For several years now, proof has been coming in the form of fantastic recordings, and it was certainly confirmed with a live performance Saturday night.”
--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Exciting…superb…terrific…Egarr and the Ancient Academy musicians let us hear the work [Bach] as a chamber concerto…Enchanting.”
--Los Angeles Times

“The Academy of Ancient Music is still very much at the vanguard of the period-style movement it launched in concerts and recordings 30 years ago.”

“The London-based group founded by Christopher Hogwood has taken on new leadership, new blood, and a renewed vitality.”

“Nothing was taken for granted. Every turn of phrase was treated as if the ink were still wet on the page…Egarr was a marvel throughout.”
--Chicago Tribune

“Egarr and his merry band of period instrument players established a new, vibrant standard for performance of baroque repertoire.”
--Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

“The concert had a rhythmic bounce and vitality. Airy and lithe, the [works] sounded as if they were being improvised on the spot….The players listened to each other intently and responded with the trigger-sharp instincts of a top string quartet.”
--Chicago Sun-Times

"A triumph from every point of view."
--The Times (London). Rating: Five Stars *****

“[Egarr] dances delicately around the beats and plays with great feeling...the freshness and sense of discovery in these performances are irresistible.”
--Sterophile

 

Further quotes about The Academy of Ancient Music:

“A scintillating sense of virtuosity.”
-- USA Today

“Delightfully fresh and vital.”
-- Gramophone

“A major achievement, one of those recordings that has about it a sense of occasion, a feeling that the artists are creating the music afresh”
--Gramophone

“The performance was a delight: memorable for the freshness, the balance, and the beauty of the sounds.”
--The New Yorker

 

About Richard Egarr:

“Thrilling and revealing, this is Bach playing of real stature.”
--Gramophone

“Scintillating.”
--New York Times

“This is why nothing can replace live concerts…[Egarr] completely reinvents the music”
--Seattle Times

“Egarr is one of those fellows who can't keep his enjoyment to himself. A well-known name in the international early music community, the English keyboard player and conductor beamed his delight in every note.”

“He did what few conductors seem able to do, or even try. He breached the wall between audience and performer. His delight became our delight. His fancies took our fancy.”
-- The Oregonian (Portland, OR)