Rustioni's Eroica performance draws packed audience
When a concert is billed as 'Rustioni Conducts Eroica' it is bound to attract a capacity audience, as happened in the Ulster Hall on Friday. There was a buzz of excitement as the orchestra's new chief conductor Daniele Rustioni steered the players through an exciting performance of the Richard Strauss showpiece Don Juan.
The second piece - Alban Berg's Violin Concerto - was a stark contrast with its many dark moments, capturing the sad theme of the piece, and yet also with its glimmers of light.
The performance by soloist Tamas Kocsis, the orchestra's talented leader, was a tour de force, and there was indeed some "gorgeous music" as Kocsis predicted in his pre-concert talk. Beethoven's Third Symphony, The Eroica is a major landmark in the evolution of the classical symphony, and under the inspired direction of the young Italian maestro Rustioni the Ulster Orchestra gave a memorable performance.
Alf McCreary, The Belfast Telegraph