As someone who uses words to describe music, I find myself at something of a loss how adequately to respond to Ian Hobson’s superb Schumann recital last night.
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All Schumann, all sonatas in Hobson’s energetic recital

December 17, 2022, New York Classical Review
For more than 50 years, the Da Capo Chamber Players have stood for excellence in performance, commissioning, Playing with insight and a digital prowess equal to the blizzards of notes Schumann flung across the page...
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Da Capo Chamber Players presents “Juxtapositions” in Review

December 14, 2022, New York Concert Review
For more than 50 years, the Da Capo Chamber Players have stood for excellence in performance, commissioning, and dissemination of contemporary chamber music. They show no signs of stopping any time soon.
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Da Capo Chamber Players mix it up with composers past and present

December 12, 2022, New York Classical Review
Renowned for penetrating and polished performances, Da Capo has been crucial in creating a body of contemporary American chamber music by commissioning over 100 new works. Through their performances, they have introduced this repertoire to audiences around the world.
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Spanish pianist displays impressive artistry at Zankel Hall

Ocotober 13, 2022 New York Classical Review
Martín García García is an astonishing pianist of great musicality and indomitable technique.
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Piano Cleveland presents Martín García García in Review

Ocotober 12, 2022 New York Concert Review
This young man already has so much, and he has time to gather his musical philosophies into a coherent whole, for it is clear he possesses them.
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The 25-year-old musician makes his debut at the great New York concert hall, where he has lived for three years, after winning important international competitions. Expressive, energetic and very physical before the keyboard, during the talk the guaje García is a whirlwind of smiles and ideas.
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Martín García García, from Gijón, makes his debut today at L'Auditori with the OBC and next week at Carnegie Hall
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Cassatt in the Basin returns

Ocotober 7, 2022 Odessa American
The musical education program is also known as Cassatt in the Basin which has brought the quartet to West Texas biannually for almost 20 years.
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A successful opening to the Sinfonia's season

October 2, 2022 News Gazette
The Sinfonia da Camera, conducted by Ian Hobson, played its first concert of the fall season on Sept. 17 in Foellinger Great Hall.
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Da Capo Chamber Ensemble’s 50th Season

August 22, 2022 Relevant Tones
Host Austin Williams talks with flutist Patricia Spencer and composer Bruce Adolphe about their incredible run and the featured music in their 50th season.
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“University of Illinois piano professor emeritus Ian Hobson, director of the Summer Piano Institute and Sinfonia da Camera, discussed both the institute and the concerts in the following interview” – Jim Meadows
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“One heard a real understanding of the idiom, and there were some very special moments …This is a pianist I would like to hear again!” – Donald Isler
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“Titled Youth Involvement in Classical Music, Da Capo's founding member flutist  Patricia Spencer spoke eloquently about the ensemble's ongoing effort to support young composers over the past five decades.”
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“Paul Jacobs, one of the finest organists and teachers of our day.” – Zachary Woolfe
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The two string-orchestra movements show considerably greater maturity of expression, being serious, dignified and mournful, if not quite tragic – Moszkowski wrote the music after the death of his mother, and it serves as an altogether fitting tribute to her. The majority of the material on this disc, though, falls squarely into the “lighter side” musical realm… There is certainly a case to be made for lighter music of this sort, and Hobson and this orchestra make it very well indeed...
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The Cassatt String Quartet has performed all over. The quartet has been invited to share its program at Texas A&M University and the Hot Springs Music Festival in Arkansas....
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Cassatt in the Basin is a music educational program that brings the Cassatt String Quartet to West Texas bi-annually to inspire and work intensively with students (from elementary to college) and help expand their horizons as well as develop people through music....
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This fantastic experience of musical beauty and stamina of grand magnitude took robust, able-bodied teamwork and fearless musicianship. It really proved that, yes, the Da Capo Chamber Players have fifty years of experience under their belts. And, clearly, they haven’t wasted a minute of it....
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The guitarist brings refinement to every turn of phrase, whether the music is marching, dancing or crying. Generations of guitarists will thank Starobin for bringing Matiegka’s pieces to light. This recording is a swansong to savour....
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We hope to see you in New York on Tuesday, June 7 at St. Mary the Virgin in Times Square for Part II of Franck's Organ Works, featuring his Six Pieces. Franz Liszt stated of these extraordinarily rich compositions: "These pieces have their place alongside the masterpieces of Bach." Secure your tickets here:
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Da Capo gave a terrific performance...as a whole the ensemble sounded expert in how they listened and worked with space....
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Da Capo Chamber Players 50th Anniversary: Bridging Cultures

April 5, 2022 New York Concert Review
Those who came were to be rewarded with excellent performances by first-rate musicians. I also commend Da Capo for providing detailed program notes and lyrics, along with biographical materials about the composers....
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David Starobin’s New Matiegka Guitar Sonatas CD In Review

April 5, 2022 Classical Music Sentinel
There is a self-effacing quality to his playing, whereby the music itself takes center stage. A character trait unfortunately in very short supply these day....
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First violinist Muneko Otani and second violinist Jennifer Leshnower have welcomed the arrival of violist Rosemary Nelis and cellist Gwen Krosnick to The Cassatt String Quartet....
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These are superb pieces that one rarely hears in concert to begin with, and even less frequently with this kind of clarity—the sense that the musician understands them and enables them to speak with such eloquence... [these were] deeply musical and satisfying performances....
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Hobson brought the whirl of personalities to energetic life....
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The most admirable thing about Mr. Hobson’s overall take on these works is the headlong plunge he takes, seems very Schumann-esque to me, though Schumann was also a hyper-refined poetic sensibility. Dear Mr. Hobson, please return soon and often, and show us these treasures in whatever venue is available.…
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Titan of the contemporary keyboard, Ursula Oppens is a rarity among artists living today. She is the stalwart bearer of a mid-century musical torch that apparently burns eternal. How fortunate we are to have such musicians as Oppens still making music with fortitude, passion and tireless faith…
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Cassatt Quartet at Music Mountain

September 6, 2021 The Millbrook Independent
This quintet is clearly in the footsteps of Johannes Brahms: its moody chromatic melody, often abrupt lyrical contrasts, quick key changes and, above all, cloyingly lush texture...
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Female composers highlighted Sunday at Music Mountain

September 1, 2021 Republican American
Female composers will be the focus of a concert by pianist Ursula Oppens and the Cassatt String Quartet at Music Mountain on Sunday....
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“Ursula Oppens is one of the great pianists of our age…she has left an indelible mark on contemporary piano music”…
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“Oppens is a well-known advocate of modern music…her playing is unprecedentedly rich and nuanced; she is the ideal interpreter for every composer.” ...
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“ An exciting, compelling release.” – Andy Hamilton …
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Sunday’s performance of Béla Bartók’s 1938 “Contrasts,” written for jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman, was a joy from beginning to end. Acclaimed clarinetist Charles Neidich, violinist Robyn Bollinger and pianist Ariel Lanyi coalesced as well as any jazz combo in this jazz and klezmer tinged piece, though Bartók’s harmonies go further than most jazz. The performance was not only expert, it was inspired...
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“Hobson performs all the works with dedication and engagement, never trying to make them out to be more than they are but never minimizing or trivializing them, either.”…
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“I am grateful for this first disc in a much-needed series, one which will give ‘delight, hours and hours of it, glittering like the Carnival at Nice and yet as innocent as a baby’s birthday’ (Priestley)”…
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Da Capo Chamber Players 50th Anniversary Celebration

August 6, 2021 New York Concert Review
A Conversation with Patricia Spencer…
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United Arts Studies presents a multi-disciplinary web series

July 26, 2021 New York Concert Review
“An innovative and intriguing synthesis of two art forms…” – Frank Daykin
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“ a perfect trifecta of work, performance and recording” – Anthony Kershaw
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"Ursula Oppens is a renowned champion of contemporary music, who worked with all the greats of the 20th and 21st centuries.” – Thea Derks
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Meet Moszkowski

July 14, 2021 The New Criterion
“Ian Hobson—our pianist, our Moszkowski advocate—plays the repertoire at hand with skill and affection. This is just what you need. Hobson is a conductor, too, and has recorded the orchestral music of Moszkowski, with the Sinfonia Varsovia.” – Jay Nordlinger
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Paul Jacobs recipient of AGO 2021 International Performer of the Year Award

July 13, 2021 The New York City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists
The American Guild of Organists has announced GRAMMY award-winning organist Paul Jacobs as recipient of the 2021 International Performer of the Year Award. The award is considered by many to be the highest honor given to organists by a professional musicians' guild in the United States.
The International Performer of the Year Award was created in 1978 to recognize excellence in organ performance and to increase public awareness of the organ and its performers. Robert Noehren was the first recipient of the award, which has continued for most but not all years thereafter. Past recipients include Marie-Claire Alain, Jean Guillou, and Dame Gillian Weir. 
“I am deeply honored to receive this award from the American Guild of Organists,” says Mr. Jacobs. “It remains my unwavering commitment to advance the contemporary, versatile, and marvelously exciting art of organ playing, which traverses a full range of human passion and experience.”
The prize includes a sponsored recital, which is planned for 2022 in New York City, details t.b.a.
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"Interview with Alan Walker and Daniel Vnukowski” a classical music podcast
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Toccata Classics has announced the May 7, 2021 release of Moritz Moszkowski: Complete Music for Solo Piano, Volume One with pianist Ian Hobson. The disc features the composer’s early works, many of which have never been recorded before.
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The way Paul Jacobs differentiated colors to suit the changing character of Poulenc’s Organ Concerto comes across clearly enough. There’s both a somber sweetness and a touch of humor in the piece, scored for organ, strings and timpani, and Jacobs knows just where to be austere, subtle, or bold.
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This performance premieres this evening (Thursday, April 29) at 8:00 PM EDT and is available for on-demand streaming until May 6 at 11:00 PM EDT
Ticket link: https://www.philorch.org/farrenc-symphony-2 

“Please enjoy reading my article for the Wall Street Journal about modern and contemporary organ music, including exploring the links in the article--some of them are wild!" –Organist Paul Jacobs
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Jacobs decided to deliver what beauty he could. Rather than play modern works that might express sorrow, anger and frustration, Jacobs went the route of sonic salve from the 18th century, music akin to a warm, comforting embrace...
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Sounds from Sinfonia As Sweet As Ever

April 4, 2021 The News-Gazette
Ian Hobson and the other players are to be strongly commended in their effort to bring this beautiful music to us in these trying times...
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A Language Lives in Song

February 2, 2021 BroadStreetReview.com
Gail Obenreder of Broad Street Review had wonderful things to say about Visca L'Amor: Catalan Art Songs of the 20th and 21st Centuries, featuring tenor Isaí Jess Muñoz and pianist Oksana Glouchko...
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During the pandemic, the Cassatt String Quartet's local not-for-profit program Cassatt in the Basin (West Texas) is celebrating its mission with a heartfelt online recital entitled Missing You, meant to reach its loyal audiences in the Basin and beyond. A YouTube Premiere of this striking video will go live on Thursday evening, January 28th, 7:00 PM CST (8:00 PM EST.) 
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Throughout 2021, Thomas Nickell will be recording and releasing Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel's Das Jahr, a twelve-part piano suite based on the months of the year. Each movement of Das Jahr will be released in its respective month in 2021. January, "Ein Traum", is released on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, paired with Erinnerung, Op. 24 by Dora Pejačević.
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Love and Passion from Catalunya

January 11, 2021 San Francisco Classical Voice
Jason Victor Serinus from The San Francisco Classical Voice, found wonderful things to say about Visca L'Amor: Catalan Art Songs of the 20th and 21st Centuries, featuring tenor Isaí Jess Muñoz and pianist Oksana Glouchko...
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The new recording of Visca L’Amor: Catalan Art Songs of the 20th and 21st Centuries, featuring tenor Isaí Jess Muñoz and pianist Oksana Glouchko is now available on all platforms. This recording of  20th and 21st century Catalan composers showcases six song cycles by Frederico Mompou, the only well-known figure among them, as well as rarely heard works by Eduard Toldrá, Joan Comellas, Ricard LaMotte de Grignon, Narcís Bonet, and a world premiere recording of a new commission by living Catalonian composer, Elisenda Fábregas...
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Gramophone has chosen to highlight ten recordings from Alfred Brendel's extraordinary career to celebrate the occasion. Since the pandemic began, Mr. Brendel has challenged himself to re-visit Goethe. A condensed version of a lecture on the great poet, novelist, playwright, essayist, and all-round humanist appeared in the Frankfurter Allgemeine. Not one to let confinement dampen his spirits, Mr. Brendel has examined Goethe's profound connection to music, to humor, and to irony. Mr. Brendel will be lecturing on Goethe both in English and German in the coming months...
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Since March of last year, distinguished clarinetist Charles Neidich has gone live on his Facebook Page each Friday to discuss philosophical, ethical, political, and artistic questions during our quarantined days. This invaluable and highly insightful series continues for the foreseeable future. View the 2021 New Year's Concert.
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Jeremy Nicholas of Gramophone recently reviewed the Toccata Classics release of Moritz Moszkowski: Orchestral Music Volume Two, which features renowned pianist/conductor Ian Hobson at the helm of the Sinfonia Varsovia in the first-ever recording of Moszkowski's Orchestral Suite No.2 and the first recording of Orchestral Suite No. 3 in modern times...
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Albulescu bring vitality and balance to familiar Beethoven

December 09, 2020 New York Classical Review
George Grella, writing for The New York Classical Review and The Classical Review, found wonderful things to say about the new AMP recording Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 5, featuring Eugene Albulescu as piano soloist conducting his ensemble from the keyboard...
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Grammy Award Winning Organist Paul Jacobs appeared as a soloist in the chamber version of Mahler's Fourth Symphony rearranged by Erwin Stein. Seasoned critic David Patrick Stearns was on hand to review the event for the Philadelphia Inquirer...
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Renowned clarinetist Charles Neidich and fellow artists Stephen Powell, Attacca Quartet, William Bolcom, Ricky Ian Gordon, Lori Laitman, John Musto, and Jason Vieaux, earned a Grammy Nomination for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album for American Composers at Play...
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Yaroslav Senyshyn, noted Canadian pianist, author, and professor of philosophy and music esthetics, was recently featured in the October 30th edition of International Piano. The article focuses on his new album of Chopin Piano Concerto No. 2 and Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2, with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductor Oliver von Dohnányi...
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The brilliant pianist/conductor Eugene Albulescu is featured on a new AMP Recordings release October 16, 2020: Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 5., with Mr. Albulescu as piano soloist conducting his ensemble from the keyboard. It has already been aired nationally on 20 radio stations.
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On behalf of Maestro Ian Hobson and Sinfonia da Camera, we are pleased to announce a chamber music series at the Allerton Music Barn! In appreciation of your continued support, we would like to offer you, and one other guest, freetickets to a performance within this concert series...
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Last week, Mr. Nickell and percussionist Fiona Stocks-Lyons live-streamed their playing all original music, celebrating that it has been a year since the release of their Two Ballets album.
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Join Clarinetist Mr. Neidich’s livestream on his Facebook Page on Friday August 21, 2020, at 10AM EST, this time continuing his discussion of music as psychology and more. 
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Increasingly devoting his time to composition and to collaborative efforts, inventive young composer Thomas Nickell has created numerous works collaborating with people such as soprano Denise Young and choreographer Christopher D’Ariano. Learn more about Mr. Nickell and his works here.
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Join Clarinetist Mr. Neidich's livestream on his Facebook Page tomorrow, Friday August 14, 2020, at 10AM EST, this time focusing on the the exploration of music a psychological study, as well as pursuing Carl Nielsen’s fascinating clarinet concerto.
Watch...

We are delighted to announce that the Cleveland Orchestra A New Century was named "Recoding of the Month” by BBC Music Magazine (September). The third volume of this set, of which Paul Jacobs is the soloist, features Deutsch’s organ concerto, Okeanos. It was awarded five stars for Performance and five stars for Recording.
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Join Clarinetist Mr. Neidich's livestream on his Facebook Page, this time focusing on the topic of Leonard Ratner’s topics, and more importantly, to uncover (at least a little) the universal nature of musical expression.
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Pianist Ursula Oppens has joined as Faculty and Jury for the 2020 Philadelphia Young Pianists’ Academy, which will all happen online through zoom masterclasses, lectures, and concerts. Join this Saturday, August 1, 2020, for the first masterclass with Ms. Oppens and PYPA Piano Festival Artistic Director Ching-Yun Hu.
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"Today, July 28, 2020, marks precisely the 20-year anniversary of my 18-hour Bach marathon in Pittsburgh. I began at 6 AM and ended the following morning at 12:18 AM, eating nothing but a single cup of chocolate pudding and occasional gulps of water. Thank you, Brad Hundt, for writing this article.” -Paul Jacobs
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The versatile and highly admired pianist and conductor Ian Hobson, whose playing has been described by Gramophone as “intensely alive to expressive nuance, textural clarity and elastic shaping,” streamed a carefully thought out program from his home in Florida on Wednesday, July 22, 2020, taking us through a journey of masterpieces from the young innocent Mendelssohn’s Andante and Rondo capriccioso, to the beautiful gems Liebesleid (Love’s Sorrow) and Liebesfreud (Love’s Joy) by Kreisler, arranged by Rachmaninoff. Listen on SubCulture NYC’s Vimeo now. 
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The Staying Inside Guide: Pulling Out All the Stops

July 6, 2020 The Wall Street Journal
Internationally heralded organist Paul Jacobs has written a lively and informative article on George Frideric Handel and his timeless organ concertos for the July 7, 2020 edition of the Wall Street Journal. It is a subject close to Paul’s heart, and he is hoping to give a live performance of the master’s complete Op. 4, a set of six concertos published in 1738, in the near future...
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Musicians Foundation Receives 25K NEA Grant

June 29, 2020 Musicians Foundation

“Jacobs is a remarkable organist, whose technical skill is wedded to profound musical understanding, whose comprehension of Bach is as impressive as his commitment to and elucidation of the works of contemporary composers.”
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Organist Paul Jacobs received review from Pizzicato on his recent CD release with The Cleveland Orchestra performing Bermd Richard Deutsch’s Okéanos.
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We are honored to announce that this month, the Toccata Classics recording of Joan of Arc, a symphonic poem in four movements, Op. 19, by Moritz Moszkowski, featuring the masterly conducting of Ian Hobson leading the Sinfonia Varsovia, has received the Diapason d’Or Découverte (French for “Golden Tuning Fork”) Discovery Award for 2020. The Diapason d’or is considered to be one of the highest critical honors, awarded by the French classical music magazine Diapason only to the most outstanding recordings of our time.
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Grammy-award winning American organist Paul Jacobs appears as the only soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra under the baton of Music Director Franz Welser-Möst on the three-volume album "The Cleveland Orchestra: A New Century." This marks the exciting launch of the Cleveland Orchestra's return to the recording arena. Mr. Jacobs is pleased to be heard in the world premiere recording of the Austrian composer Bernd Richard Deutsch's Okeanos for organ and orchestra on the ensemble's brand new in-house recording label. The release includes live recordings of six performances featuring works by Beethoven, Varèse, Staud, Strauss, Deutsch, and Prokofiev. Mr. Jacobs is featured on Volume III of this set...
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Organist Paul Jacobs is featured as only soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra on the ensemble’s new in-house record label’s first release, “the Cleveland Orchestra: A New Century”.
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Organist Paul Jacobs is featured as only soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra on the ensemble’s new in-house record label’s first release, “the Cleveland Orchestra: A New Century”.
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Shortly, David will bringing his two worlds together, combining the venerable Bach Choir, London, which he has directed for 21 years, with the elite forces of Yale Schola Cantorum and the Yale Philharmonia, in a five-city concert tour of the East Coast, marking Yale School of Music’s 125th anniversary and celebrating the deep connections between the US institution and English music...
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Step aside, Hugh Jackman. If anyone deserves to be called the greatest showman, it’s organ virtuoso Paul Jacobs, who returned to the Philadelphia Orchestra this past weekend for the local premiere of a witty, memorable work written specifically for him...
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Edward Gardner impresses in Philadelphia debut

February 29, 2020 Bachtracck.com
No stranger to Philadelphia audiences, Jacobs performed with the orchestra on the mighty Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ, and one could not imagine a more colorful, thrilling and artistically nuanced presentation. Jacobs is a showman in the best possible sense, exploring and exploiting all the possibilities of this king of instruments, but always in the service of the composer’s intentc...
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Once Upon a Castle takes its inspiration from William Randolph Hearst. This means big. Paul Jacobs was at the organ console on stage, weaving inventive threads of color through a travelogue that moves through San Simeon, its Neptune Pool, Rosebud, and onto Xanadu...
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SubCulture presents Ian Hobson: The Robert Schumann Cycle in Review

February 22, 2020 New York Concert Review Inc.
Ian Hobson is a heroic completist. I admire the intellectual curiosity and physical stamina it takes to produce such investigations, for they allow us to perceive the larger context of a composer’s work, what I like to call the genetic resemblance among the works, what amounts to the personal fingerprint or style of that artist, possessed by no other. Mr. Hobson kicked off his epic series exploring the complete solo piano music and piano-based chamber music of Robert Schumann on February 19th with an evening of ‘fantasy’ titled pieces...
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David Wright of New York Classical Review wrote about Ian Hobson’s recital launching his Schumann Cycle

February 20, 2020 New York Classical Review
In the program’s closing piece, the great Fantasia in C major, Op. 17…one felt Hobson fully inhabiting the music, driving it with surging emotion and pulling back to reflect…the fervent first movement had sing in the dialogue between the hands and a soulful hush in the pianissimo…one sensed Hobson’s understanding of the ebb and flow of this exquisite music, as he played with freedom and sensitive timing.  The thought crossed one’s mind that this gentle masterwork would have made a superb epilogue to the entire Schumann series.  And might still, if the pianist cares to encore it two and half years from now...

Kobrin’s Russian origins show in the brilliance and consistency of his tone and his rootedness in pianism. His musicianship is impeccable, but he is first and foremost a pianist, not a “musician who plays the the piano” in the German tradition. On the other hand, the most important impression this recital made on me consisted of some remarkable musical insights...
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Charles Neidich: The WA Concerts, held at the Tenri Center in Greenwich Village, are to my mind the most rewarding musical series in New York City. The programs are planned in advance, as with others, but each concert feels like an impromptu exploration of uncharted territory, even if some of the works one hears are familiar. The playing is as personal and interactive as Hausmusik, but played by consummate professionals in a public space, albeit an intimate ones...
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The Bach Choir of Bethlehem: The Christmas season in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania is more robust and energetic than in most other places. Advent and Christmas sit at the center of the belief and practice of the Moravian Protestants who founded the city on Christmas Eve, 1741. The ascendence of hope in their belief is symbolized by the Star of Bethlehem, which permeates much of the city, not only in December, and it is expressed in cheerful, even jolly, celebrations both in church, at home, and in public establishments...
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Wa Concerts Series presents “Beyond Space and Time” in Review

January 6, 2020 New York Concert Review Inc.
It takes an artist of rare commitment, curiosity, and imagination to adapt three large French works for violin and piano, including both of Gabriel Fauré’s sonatas, to rendition by the clarinet. Such an artist is Charles Neidich, as anyone who regularly attends the fine Wa concerts series will already know...
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