GREGORY SULLIVAN ISAACS SELECTED REVIEW SUMMARIES
“Gregory Sullivan Isaacs conducts a spirited performance (Cosi Fan Tutte with The Living Opera)… It's possible to get caught up in the show and go away humming the sounds.”
DALLAS MORNING NEWS (Dallas) – Olin Chism
“The orchestra was at its best in the ambiguities of Debussy’s Nocturnes. Led by a confident Isaacs, the playing had an attractive, seamless quality to it that readily evoked the composer’s images. There was an air of mystery, of weight but no weight. Isaacs had the good sense not to push the music too much but to let it evolve with transparent textures and elegant poise…the orchestra had the requisite spirit and Isaacs the baton to keep everyone right on target.”
SEATTLE POST INTELLIGENCER (Seattle) – R. M. Campbell
“Despite the short rehearsal period for a demanding program (as guest conductor of the Olympia Symphony), one felt that this was, indeed, Mr. Isaacs’ orchestra. So confident was he in his direction, and so responsive was the ensemble, that it felt like a suitable marriage early in the program. A musician who wears many hats, including composer and performing tenor, his singer’s sense was obvious in his phrasing or a program steeped in romanticism. …his dramatic reading of the work (Rachmaninoff’s Symphony #2) inspired the ensemble to its best performance this season.”
THE OLYMPIAN NEWSPAPER (Olympia, WA) – Drew Franklin
The stunning new CD (American Romantics) does not feature any household names, but its quality is so outstanding, that it comes to us as the "sleeper" of a summer's adventures in good music…an absolutely sumptuous performance of Samuel Barber's gorgeous Violin Concerto… Isaacs has a special affinity for big, romantic scores, and each of the pieces is handsomely played and recorded. What makes them special however, are the conductor's impassioned insights and directorial skills. What sets off the soloist's artistry is the remarkable accompaniment by Gregory Isaacs' Cascade Symphony. Never - in years of special affection for Barber's lush beauty - has any orchestra found so much depth and power in the lovely first two movements, and made the finale sound like real music, and not just an after thought, as it usually emerges in even the finest recordings. "American Romantics" is filled with wonderful music, and the thrill of discovering wonderful, deservingly great talents.
NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE (Syndicated nationally) – BYRON BELT
“Floodlights lit the night sky in Edmonds Monday night as the Cascade Symphony Orchestra launched its 34th season. Adding to the gala premiere ambiance was an enthusiastic crowd that filled the auditorium with a sense of great expectations as they awaited the debut of the orchestra's new musical director, Gregory Sullivan Isaacs. Isaacs did not let them down. The nationally renowned conductor, composer, and performer guided the orchestra through a program of works by Samuel Jones, Samuel Barber, and Rimsky-Korsakov with dynamic intensity, and if you listened closely, you could even hear the sound made by Isaacs' baton and tuxedo-clad arms as they sliced decisively and majestically through the air.”
THE HERALD - Everett, Washington
“The Cascade Symphony, of which Gregory Sullivan Isaacs is the gifted Music Director, is issuing an unusual “Cascade Evening” that musically reflects a golden twilight in the magical waters and islands; of the great Cascades, near Seattle. A hauntingly lovely “Song Without. Words for English Horn an Orchestra” by Isaacs features Glen Danielson as the superb soloist, as he is in the familiar “Swan of Tuonela” of Sibelius. The orchestra sounds marvelous in these treasures, and in an exquisite reading of the Intermezzo from Samuel Barber‘s touching “Vanessa “ the “Blumine” movement Mahler removed from his First Symphony, and in shorter works of equal twilight beauty.
NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE (Syndicated nationally) – BYRON BELT
“The Brahms Requiem was superb... (the performers) were rehearsed to the point of perfection that they reached during this concert. The voices were woven together as one perfect tone of shimmering lights. The hushed beginning of
An equally well-balanced orchestra...was so beautiful we were mesmerized. The dynamics of Conductor Isaacs' empathetic directing made the words so meaningful, as did the careful enunciation of the singers. This Brahms was magnificent ... I think it is the consensus of the audience, as well as this reviewer, that Maestro Isaacs had a very auspicious debut, and we are all eagerly looking forward to his next appearance.”
THE DOWNERS GROVE REPORTER - Greater Chicago area
“Isaacs is an energetic conductor with a strong symphonic, choral, and operatic background...who has done much more than fine tune the organization…”
THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE - Chicago
“Italian Opera magnificently conducted...with power and thrust. Isaacs moved many in the audience to tears with the Intermezzo in Cavalleria; Mention must be made of the level of excellence achieved by the chorus. They provided superb underpinning ... the string playing was a joy throughout and achieved real poignancy. Isaacs shows the wisdom of far more seasoned conductors.”
THE DESERT SUN - Palm Springs, California
SOME SELECTED HENRY FAUST REVIEWS …
“You can add Henry Faust to that short list of successful single-singer operas (Schoenberg’s Ewartung and Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine) ... it proved to be a moving experience. Isaacs’ music, cast in traditional forms, such as fugue, passacaglia, rondo and variation, is always accessible... often strikingly beautiful, as in the Ländler that closes act two. Isaacs sang without apparent strain, alternating between a controlled mezzo-voce and a robust forceful sound. His vocal characterization never flagged, his diction was clear, and he acted with intensity…”
THE DETROIT FREE PRESS (John Guinn) - Detroit
“Written in what Isaacs calls ‘refreshed tonality,’ this lush, supplely intense music serves the drama well ... from the despairing agitato of Faust's opening agonies to the lyrical frenzy of his first glimpse of Gretchen to a hushed declaration of love as tender as we could wish... Isaacs' tour de force certainly has a future.”
THE CHICAGO READER (Larry Bommer) - Chicago
“...the first (full evening) operatic monodrama ever promises to give Goethe's thrice-told tale a fresh contemporary slant… a theater piece that uses opera as its language... a prototype of a new kind of small theater piece, eminently practical at a time of reduced opera company budgets... (Isaacs) brings solid professional credits ... an experienced conductor as well as composer/performer.”
THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE (John von Rhein) – Chicago
“There are so many things that are to your credit here. Your music is often very effective. I am much drawn to the final ending, where the passacaglia figure, with its slowly-slipping triads, rolls over and over again, supporting the lament of the actor. This is truly lovely, inspired and effective. Agitated sections, where things really barrel along, are also powerful and striking. You also present the essential craziness of Faust (anyone would be crazy to enter into such a bargain). This craziness is aided by the bare set, the missing characters (missing in physical form), the grubbiness of Faust (unshaven, raving away in his pajamas, etc). The very tender and tragic conclusion is especially moving. Bravo!”
Dr. Leslie Bassett – (personal letter to the composer) Bassett is a Pulitzer Prize winner and University of Michigan’s Albert A. Stanley Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Music – teacher of Mr. Isaacs
