BPYO MEDIA COVERAGE

2017-2018 Season

• The Arts Fuse: Concert Review: Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra at Symphony Hall
  "Their name is somewhat misleading...there’s nothing youthful (in the derogatory sense, anyway) about the BPYO. Quite the opposite, really. They’re as responsive, confident, technically skilled, and emotionally expressive an orchestra as they come. The BPYO’s Sunday afternoon concert at Symphony Hall, led by founder and conductor Benjamin Zander, reinforced those latter qualities while also reminding that not all professional-level orchestras are manned by, well, professionals." -Jonathan Blumhofer

2016-2017 season

• Chicago Tribune: 10 classical recordings that made 2017 a very good listening year

  "Mahler: Symphony No. 6; Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, Benjamin Zander (Battle Media): This is the third recording the American conductor Benjamin Zander has made of Mahler’s tragic masterpiece, and one of the most successful entries in his almost-complete Mahler symphony cycle. Recorded in April in the warm acoustics of Symphony Hall, Boston, this performance may lack the powerhouse brilliance of the best of its recorded rivals but, on its own terms, conveys considerable visceral impact and energy." -John von Rhein
  
  
• The Boston Globe: Jeremy Eichler’s picks for 2017’s best classical albums
  "MAHLER: SYMPHONY NO. 6 Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra; Benjamin Zander, conductor From the level of accomplishment, it’s hard to believe this orchestra is made up of young musicians, ages 12 to 21, many of them no doubt playing this formidable masterwork for the first time. But the joy of discovery is palpable in every nook and cranny of this exciting performance under the insightful direction of Benjamin Zander, recorded live at Symphony Hall last spring." -Jeremy Eichler
  
  
• Performing Arts Review: Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra - Mahler Symphony No. 6
  "This beautifully packaged 2 CD set is without doubt, the most exhilarating recording of Gustav Mahler's deeply moving Symphony No. 6 (Tragic) I have ever heard - on several levels." -Daniel Kepl

2015-2016 season

• Boston Globe: Benjamin Zander, Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra do Symphony Hall Proud

  "Andante cantabile featured a heartfelt French horn solo from Megan Shusta. And though the playing overall was not as polished as you’d expect from the BSO, these performances, inspired as well as free, would have been worth hearing at BSO prices." -Jeffrey Gantz

• Boston Musical Intelligencer: BPYO Brilliantly Showcased

  "Symphony No. 5 in E Minor of Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky found a rigorously informed orchestra. Romantic affections blossomed. Themes, including the well‐known horn solo in the Andante Cantabile played by Megan Shusta , came shaped and sure, lovely, fierce, and triumphant." -David Patterson
  
  
• Boston Musical Intelligencer: Zander and BPYO in Revolutionary Mode

  "The great discovery in this performance came in the fourth movement. The rapid tempo (the movement clocked in at less than 10 minutes) gave it a wild vitality and urgency, confronting us with a future that is already present, to be seized like a tide of possibilities. The variations flowed together coherently, as though driven by a transcendent logic of cause and consequence that includes chaos and the unpredictable. Holding steady the tempo leading into the brilliant Hungarian dance made it celebratory. Toward the end, the Poco Andante showed marvelous subtlety; brilliant flute playing from Carlos Aguilar implied gratitude as a new sublimation of the spirit of conquest and adventure, leading to a wonderfully alive and energetic finish." -Leon Golub

• Boston Globe: Benjamin Zander leads the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra at Symphony Hall
  "it had fire, it was up to tempo, and it didn’t clot. The symphony was, in fact, well played; the French horns in the Trio of the Scherzo were especially ravishing. And the Finale, so often a playful afterthought, was not just ferocious but heroic." -Jeffrey Gantz

2014-2015 season

• CBS Centro: The Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra TV Interview with Benjamin Zander and BPYO member Elmer Churampi
  
  
  
  
  
• Boston Musical Intelligencer: Yet Another BPYO Triumph
  "It was clear from the orchestral opening that sounds sumptuous and articulate would emanate from the very large opera orchestra on the extended stage instead of in a pit. What was also proved quite early was that, through Wagner’s orchestrational genius and the players’ disciplined efforts, the singers’ every utterance could be understood. And this was not simply because of the plus-sized voices. The singers were also able to convey the tremendous nuance of characterization because this orchestra listened to them." -Lee Eisman
  
  
• The Boston Globe: BPYO scales the mountain of Wagner's 'Seigfried'
  Given the notorious difficulty of this music, it’s a good thing that BPYO musicians, like the opera’s title character, seem to know no fear. Under Zander’s sensitively paced direction, they played with fierce commitment, technical accomplishment, and a sense of mission on Sunday, with impressive results. The prelude came tumbling off the stage, and this performance’s intensity and focus did not relent for the next 80 minutes of music. There were plenty of honorable string, wind, and brass contributions, but it was first and foremost the players’ palpable sense of excitement that lifted this concert and made it an event." -Jeremy Eichler
  
  
• Boston Musical Intelligencer: A Youth Orchestra Like Ivory Snow
  "These instrumentalists will be tomorrow’s respected and even renowned professionals, and that tomorrow isn’t far away...they are already much more accomplished than all but one or two students I knew half a century ago in a very fine college. They are all players in the three‐year‐old Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, which founder/director Benjamin Zander has brought to a degree of precision and collective sound that approaches the best that our national orchestras can offer." -Mark DeVoto
  
  
• The Boston Globe: Navigating Dvorak with a seasoned guide
  "Before the Dvorak, Zander and the impressive young musicians uncorked a sparkling, ebullient reading of Shostakovich’s Festive Overture. They closed out the afternoon with an account of Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra full of playing whose force of commitment and technical maturity spoke for themselves. The group is only in its third season but has big plans..." -Jeremy Eichler

2012-2013 season

• Two Five-Star Reviews from the Netherlands
  

  there they were Tuesday night in the Doelen in Rotterdam, the 120 young and fabulous musicians – ranging from 13 to 21 years old- motivated to the core, after this impressive horn call, to make something extraordinary out of the approaching ‘Auferstehung’ And boy o boy did they do that astonishingly well! It was impressive to see how thorough these young people make their music, how well they understand the underlying meaning of this piece and Mahler’s intentions." -Peter van der Lint 

• The New York Times: Here, the Sound of Triumph Takes on a Different Tone
  "Mr. Zander, also an admired pedagogue and motivational speaker, is renowned for coaxing professional quality work from amateurs and for wringing fresh insights from even the most familiar works. Both characteristics surfaced during the New York debut of this ensemble, established last year as an offshoot of Mr. Zander’s admired Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. The members of the youth orchestra ages 12 to 21, play with a maturity and cohesion well beyond their years, a point made in numerous audio and video clips on the ensemble’s web page." -Steve Smith