Kansas City Symphony European Tour Highlights

"Pintscher and his new orchestra were surprisingly well attuned to each other: The sudden changes in mood and the abrupt ending of the second movement in particular provided the first goosebump moments." "But the best was yet to come. Nonchalantly referred to by Pintscher as a 'party crasher,' Joyce DiDonato first performed Oh Shenandoah in a wonderful mood and had the audience hanging on her every word from the very first notes. Her completely relaxed, bittersweet performance was a moment for the ages. The orchestra accompanied her as if on her own two feet. With Harold Arlen's Over the Rainbow, the surprise superstar bid farewell to Amsterdam far too early but also more than brilliantly. You would have wanted to listen to her for hours." - Bachtrack

"Such challenges are familiar territory for Pintscher. He steers the orchestra through all the rapids of the score with his energetic, clear sign language. The string sound is astonishingly dark, the interplay across the distances impeccable..." "The majority of people probably came because of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." Just 100 years old, the piece was unheard of at its premiere. A jazz piano concerto - there had never been anything like it before. And what are the conductor, soloist and orchestra doing in 2024? Playing it as if it were brand new. The clarinetist bends the famous glissando at the beginning into a lightning bow with audible pleasure." "The trumpet and trombone savor the passages with the wah-wah mute with such relish that the audience giggles. Soloist Conrad Tao, on the other hand, is a native speaker of "Rhapsody". He has a sense of timing in his little finger, makes the brilliant passages sparkle, but also hammers vertically into the keyboard. And he uses his forearms in the cadenza. Gershwin would have had fun." - Hamburger Abendblatt | Photo by Daniel Dittus