Reviews

World Premiere of Karlsson's Melancholia in Stockholm
Stockholm, Royal Swedish Opera, October 21, 2023
 
"The Royal Swedish Orchestra … is conducted steadily by the conductor Andrea Molino through the soundscapes with fine solo efforts, not least from the woodwinds and percussionists." (Edward Klingspor, Svenska Dagbladet - SvD, 22.10.2023)
 
"The conductor Andrea Molino dispatches the score with efficiency, leaning into every accent and dynamic marking with ardor and occasional lyricism." (Veronica Maldonado, The New Criterion, 8.11.2023)
 
"Melancholia is the coolest opera in a very long time... visually rich, beautiful, and musically exciting. … Tightly packed hours under the direction of Andrea Molino. Sometimes it's a wistful lone clarinet, sometimes a rhythmic tutti with extra surround sound. Sometimes vibrant Verdi strings, sometimes showy dances and abysmal, swirling notes created with midi instruments." (Gunilla Brodrej (Expressen, 22.10.2023)
 
 
 
 

Premiere of Daniel Bjarnason's Opera Brothers
Copenhagen Festival, August, 11
 
"Malmö's well-playing opera orchestra is conducted by the experienced Italian Andrea Molino, who brilliantly combines the singing of the stage with the sound of the "grave"." (Lars Ole Bonde, Ascolta operamagasinet, 13.8.2023)
 
"The conductor, Andrea Molino, did a great job of bringing the orchestra, soloists and choir together. The balance between the singers and the instruments was very good." (Kristinaa Mcclelland Jacobsen, Ungt teaterblod, 13.8.2023)
 
 
 
 
 
 

Debut with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Marrch 17, 2023
 
"Have you ever listened to Bernstein conduct Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue by any chance? This night, at the Sydney Opera House, with conductor Andrea Molino, guest pianist Simon Tedeschi, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra wins - in my humble opinion - hands down. Even over the Composer Maestro Bernstein himself. … Five Stars: Andrea Molino's poetic and animated conducting style was a performance of beauty in itself." (Rebecca Varidel, Sydney Scoop, 27.3.2023)

"As an advocate for modern music Molino was the perfect choice for this program .…he is clearly well ahead of many other conductors. Let’s hope we see a lot more of him with the larger orchestras and opera companies around Australia. A superb curation. Bravo!" (Annabelle Drumm, Sydney Arts Guide, 24.3.2023)
 
"The iconic “wail” (as Gershwin himself described it) of the opening clarinet glissando sent a chill down the collar of every witness. From that moment, the critical play between the piano and the rest of the ensemble, captained by a muscular, masterful performance from guest conductor Andrea Molino, was a slick pairing. … (Hugo Mathers, Limelight Magazine, 20.3.2023)
 
 

Sydney Opera, January 27, 2022
Molino conducts Le nozze di Figaro – Reviews
 
"Italian conductor Andrea Molino’s reading of the score honored the timeless humor of Mozart’s conception right from the very opening. With cutting staccato cadential figures and a comedy of exaggerated sforzato accents, the interpretation was a perfect homage. There was a wonderful briskness to Molino’s reading of the score overall. One had barely a chance to catch one’s breath before being launched into the next number. [...] Molino’s interpretation was a wonderful musical reflection of the ‘madcap day,’ to quote the principal English title of Beaumarchais’ play on which Lorenzo da Ponte based his libretto."

Gordon Williams, Opera Wire, 11.2.2022
 

"Andrea Molino conducted the Opera Australia Orchestra with a refreshingly brisk and vibrant tempo, demonstrating a masterfully controlled balance not only within the orchestra itself, but also between the pit and stage. An energetic, invigorating performance. Mozart’s Figaro, with its sublime music and masterful characterisation, deserves no less."

Chantal Nguyen, Bachtrack, 30.1.2022

 

"Opera Australia pulls off its finest Mozart production in decades. Under conductor Andrea Molino, the Opera Australia Orchestra set a breathlessly bracing pace in the Overture. The sound had unforced lightness, clarity and precision, the winds adding colour to bring a level of intimacy, depth and transparency."

Peter McCallum, The Sydney Morning Herald / The Age, 30.1.2022

 

"Opera Australia marked Mozart’s 266th birthday with the opening night of The Marriage of Figaro, and it would be hard to imagine a better celebration of the composer’s genius. Mozart’s orchestration sparkled thanks to a brilliant performance by the Opera Australia Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Andrea Molino, who admirably held the entire company on a knife’s edge during the opera’s challenging sextets."

Jansson Antmann, Limelight Magazine, 28.1.2022

 

"The resounding audience applause at the conclusion of what is a very long piece confirmed this writer’s enthusiastic view. Much loved Italian conductor Andrea Molino led the always excellent Opera Australia."

Victor Grynberg, J-Wire, 31.1.2022

 

"This is a big juicy opera with spectacular music that grabs you by the throat from the overture, under the fine baton of Andrea Molino, boasting a first class cast and production."

David Spicer, Stage Whispers

 
 

World Premiere of Maderna's Requiem conducted by Molino
Reviews on the release of the Stradivarius-CD
 
"I was at the concert and it was one of the most astounding and relevant I have ever attended," writes Marco Mazzoleni in his review on the cd. "The premiere performance … was one of the most important cultural operations in the recent history of music. So is this recording. It is an historical document that makes this masterpiece of the twentieth century available to everyone."
 
Paolo Carradori Il Giornale della Musica joins Mazzoleni in this opinion: "Andrea Molino's conducting succeeds in the difficult task of guaranteeing, in the face of a complex score, coherence and constant emotional tension. The orchestra, soloists and chorus are always convincing and involved; together they sign a true masterpiece. Strong and moving moments follow one another … the tensions between soloists and choir in the splendid Dies Irae; the enthralling ostinato of the beginning of Domine Jesu where the rhythmic colours of the pianos can be perceived; the poetic setting, the poignant melody of the Agnus Dei; the abstract interweaving, the chasing after each other of the chorus, the soloists and the instrumental parts in a final, epic and stunning Libera me, that fades into a suspended and disquieting silence."
 
 

Sydney, March 1, 2021: Bartok's Duke Bluebeard's Castle
Molino conducts Bartók at the Sydney Opera House
 
"Dissonance jangles the nerve-endings at moments of almost unbearable tension and lush pillows of sound sit alongside shivers and obsessive undercurrents. [...] It’s a tremendously absorbing score that earned conductor Andrea Molino and the Opera Australia Orchestra a mighty and sustained ovation from the opening night audience."
Deborah Jones, Limelight Magazine, 2.3.2021
 
"A stark and dark Opera Australia production, directed by Andy Morton and led superbly by Italian conductor Andrea Molino. […] It’s a bravura performance, and Sumegi is matched by Rumanian mezzosoprano Carmen Topciu as Judith. The third, equally impressive, star of this gripping one-hour show is Opera Australia Orchestra under concertmaster Jun Yi Ma, for it is Bartok’s score with its Debussy-like ebb and flow that directs the action."
Steve Moffatt, Daily Telegraph, 8.3.2021
 
"The opening night audience at Sydney Opera House greeted the cast of “Bluebeard’s Castle” with more rounds of applause than any within my living memory. [...] A treat to the connoisseur. Handled adroitly by conductor Andrea Molino, evidently sympathetic to the sinister music, which dominated by insinuating woodwinds and brass, balanced with the harmonious sounds elicited from the OA string players at their finest."
Helen Musa, Canberra City News, 4.3.2021
 
“Both Carmen Topciu and Daniel Sumegi are superb in their roles. Conductor Andrea Molino takes the audience through the huge range of Bartok’s emotions – significantly shifting with the opening of each door – incrementally building tension, and at time sorrow and melancholy.”
Gina Farley, ArtsHub, 4.3.2021
 
“The Premiere at the Opera House last night was met with a rapturous response by a thrilled audience. Much acclaimed conductor Andrea Molino led an excellent Opera Australia Orchestra to play the very demanding score.”
Victor Grynberg, J-Wire, 2.3.2021
 
“Under Molino, the Opera Australia Orchestra found fine moments of balance such as in the gleaming chords on the opening of the treasury, beautifully variegated effulgence for the garden, and the strangest, saddest sound in the world for the lake of tears behind the sixth door. In avoiding lavishness, this production says more through plainness, dramatic power and imaginative musicality, and is a rare chance to hear a 20th century masterpiece.”
Peter McCallum, The Sydney Morning Herald, 2.3.2021
 
“Interestingly, maestro Andrea Molino is credited as orchestra arranger as well as conductor. The Italian, who seems to be brought in for the OA's more outré work (The Nose, Wozzeck and King Roger, for example), has reduced the score to cater for the company's diminished pit orchestra. But there was little lost in its impact on the repeated “blood” motif from the strings, the big C major “reveal” as Bluebeard's kingdom is unveiled, the loneliest sound for the lake of tears behind the sixth door, and did I spot a love motif repeated with a strident pang for Judith's insistent responses?”
Jeremy Eccles, Bachtrack, 2.3.2021
 
 

Stockholm, March 16, 2019: Kròl Roger at Stockholm's Royal Opera
Andrea Molino conducts Swedish First Performance
 
"Conductor Andrea Molino leads the Royal Swedish Orchestra in a fantastic excursion between breathless and overwhelming, from subtle to brutal."
Lars Sjöberg, Expressen Kultur, 17.3.2019
 
"The Royal Swedish Orchestra produced a beautiful, full sound, and conductor Andrea Molino drove the action with energy and commitment. The Stockholm audience responded with great warmth, paying tribute to the performers with enthusiastic cheering."
Laura Servidei, Bachtrack, 21.3.2019
 
"Musically the production rests on a magnificently blossoming orchestra's masterful handling of the score's mix of orthodox singing, exoticism and Skrjabin-like eroticism. The Royal Swedish Orchestra performs with wonderful energy under Andrea Molino, allowing the music to flow forward and shimmer a thousand shades, just like the (absent) mosaics in Palermo's Cathedral."
Erik Wallrup, Tidskriften OPERA, 20.3.2019
 
“Andrea Molino impresses with his gift to draw a dramaturgical thread through the nuanced score, knowing how to prepare in advance the sudden revelations of the three acts. If each of them begins as a quite different soundscape from the previous one, Molino manages to continuously shift between different dynamics and musical patterns, which go from a Puccini- and Debussy-like post-romanticism to the dissonances of the 1920s, even highlighting the parodic passages as well as the sound and spatial effects from the pit.”
Andreas Wahlberg, Olyrix, 25.3.2019
 
“The Royal Swedish Orchestra has an incomparable evening under the direction of Andrea Molino.”
Bo Löfvendhal,Svenska Dagbladet, 16.3.2019
 
"There is plenty to discover in this remarkable, highly expressionist and hypersensitive score, where Strauss, Debussy, Alban Berg and orientalism are blended together into its very own szymanowskian soundscape. Conductor Andrea Molino and the Royal Swedish Orchestra lead us into a kind of freudian, multi-layered sound world that is diffuse and fragile and intensely sensual, sharp and rhythmically pregnant."
Henry Larsson, Capriccio, 23.3.2019
 
“The orchestra, under the direction of Andrea Molino, brings to light the score whose soundscape lies between Debussy and Scriabin. Despite the sometimes massive and especially in the lower range sweeping textures the orchestra always remains transparent and round. It is a real pleasure to listen to the music performed in such a solid and nuanced manner as on this opening night. The composer's outstanding orchestration skills are fully represented here.”
Martin Knust, OperaPoint, 18.3.2019
 
“The Royal Swedish Orchestra and the Chorus are led very, very tightly by Andrea Molino.”
Per Feltzin, Sverige Radio, 16.3.2019

“The big thing here is Szymanowski's powerful music, and Andrea Molino obtains the best from both Orchestra and Chorus.”
Nicholas Ringskog Ferrada-Noli, Dagens Nyheter, 18.3.2019
 
 

Andrea Molino conducts Australian Premiere of Berg's Wozzeck
January 25 – Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House


"This production is an overwhelming triumph. The conductor, Andrea Molino, understands the score so deeply that by the third scene the musical language seemed completely natural, embracing both lyricism and disjunction comfortably."

Nicholas Routley, Australian Stage Online, 26.1.2019

 

"Musically, the production is also a thrilling, if challenging ride, with the orchestra rising to the occasion under the baton of the superb Andrea Molino who unites both the disturbing dissonance and moments of lush beauty in a powerful reading of the complex, unsettling score."

Jo Litson, Limelight Magazine, 27.1.2019

 

"Conductor Andrea Molino led the Opera Australia Orchestra through a vividly realised and richly textured performance on opening night. You could sense the enthusiasm emanating from the orchestra pit as the musicians were let loose on a score so adventurous and outside their usual remit."

Ben Neutze, Time Out, 29.1.2019

 

"Conductor Andrea Molino and the Opera Australia Orchestra sustained an overarching sense of delicate coherence through the work's fragmentation, heightening individual instances and then moving on to maintain unbroken dramatic thread."

 

Peter McCallum, Sydney Morning Herald, 28.1.2019

 

"It’s a feast of extraordinary artistic stimulation of the highest level in a new, grandly signed William Kentridge production. Conductor Andrea Molino matches Kentridge’s gestures head on with Berg’s angular, atonal musical landscape as he sculpts an ever-present tension over the rises, falls and tumbles in the score."

Opera Chaser, 26.1.2019

 

"Berg's masterful score employs both tonal and atonal elements. Conductor Andrea Molino and Opera Australia Orchestra's seemlessly structured, well-balanced account realises its captivating mix of abrasive dissonance, inventive instrumentation and lyrical beauty. Kentridge's compelling vision is disturbing and confronting yet emotionally moving and aesthetically stimulating."

Murray Black, The Australian, 28.1.2019

 

"Andrea Molino conducted a superb Opera Australia orchestra, deftly expressing the myriad old and new musical devices which Berg piled into his orchestral score, from fugues to whole-tone writing, to atonality. The vivid soundscapes created, matched the action on stage, realising Berg’s innovative instrumental combinations."

Shamistha de Soysa, Sounds Like Sydney, 25.1.2019

 

"[The music] is grimsly sympathetic to the actions on stage and played with enthusiasm by the orchestra under Andrea Molino"

Tom Pillans, Wentworth Courier, 28.1.2019

 

"Conducted sharply by Andreas Molino, this Wozzeck long lingers as a glorious nightmare."

Martin Portus, Stage Whispers, 26.1.2019

 

“Andrea Molino, a regular visitor to Opera Australia, conducted the performance with clear gestures and empathy, contributing greatly to a musically tight performance. The orchestra’s sound under his baton was warm and responsive.”

Zoltán Szabó, Bachtrack, 31.1.2019

 

“Conductor Andrea Molino and the Opera Australia Orchestra obviously relish the opportunity to get stuck into music that’s so at odds with their core repertoire. The fragmented, ambiguous, atonal yet emotionally expressive score is delicately teased out by conductor and ensemble; their discipline, clarity and musical nous making a welcome case.”

Diana Simmons, Stage Noise, 31.1.2019

 

"The OA orchestra was in fine form, with their well versed Italian leader Andrea Molino at the helm."

Victor Grynberg, J-Wire, 3.2.2019

 

 





August 2018 – Andrea Molino conducts Il Turco in Italia
Reprise at the Sydney Opera House

"The orchestra, led by Andrea Molino, plays with as much joie de vivre as the performers on stage. Together they make this almost silly, yet musically stretching opera, a frivolous musical romp that lifts the spirits and makes life seem a lot brighter."
Carol Wimmers, Stage Whispers, 12.8.2018

"Chorus and orchestra are both in top form under the baton of Andrea Molino, Phillips’ vision requiring a particularly tight wedding of action and music – the assembling of beach-goers during the Overture is a highlight."
Angus McPherson, Limelight Magazine, 11.8.2018

"Making a welcome return to Opera Australia was Italian Conductor Andrea Molino who enthusiastically led the orchestra to accompany wonderfully the singers. An enthusiastic 5 Stars."
Victor Grynberg, J-Wire, 13.8.2018

“The music is certainly attractive, especially when given the sparkling performance it received on this occasion by the Opera Australia Orchestra under Andrea Molino.”
Bill Stephens, Arts Reviews, 13.8.2018

“Australian Opera Chorus and Opera Australia Orchestra were both in fine form under the clear and expressive direction of Andrea Molino.”
David Barmby, ArtsHub, 14.8.2018

“...tasteful and stylish conducting of Andrea Molino...”
Zoltán Zsabó, Bachtrack, 13.8.2018

“Notwithstanding the importance of pace, conductor Andrea Molino conducts the Opera Australia Orchestra with unhurried efficacy with witty keyboard quips from fortepianist, Siro Battaglin. Whether beach babes, gypsies, shoe-fetishisers or Elvis impersonators, the chorus are unflaggingly fabulous.”
Peter McCallum, Sydney Morning Herald, 13.8.2018

“Conductor Andrea Molino’s obvious sympathy for Rossini’s score served the production with distinction.”
Tom Pillans, The Daily Telegraph, 13.8.2018

"Phillips, in the top few really great Australian stage directors, deserves much of the credit. With its lithe, lilting score (conducted here with a lightness of touch by Andrea Molino), and 18th century romcom story, his production leans into the farce.”
Jason Whittaker, Daily Review, 14.8.2018
 

June 2018 – Andrea Molino conducts Mahler, Messiaen and Strauss
with Thomas Hampson and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

"Opening with the rich layers of shifting patterns that characterise Mahler’s Totenfeier, it was especially rewarding to see Andrea Molino conducting with a clear sense of poetry and purpose for tonight's Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert. In a riveting display that lived every nuance of the text and attaching that smooth, soothing balm-like baritone, Thomas Hampson brought a glowing patina to Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer. In the second half Messiaen’s The Resplendent Tomb, seemingly taunting with equal parts maniacal and moving, was both bold and beautiful, followed by the generous expanses and lush, soaring might of Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration."
Paul Selar, OperaChaser
 
"It was a night to remember. Maestro Andrea Molino conducted with conviction bringing out the vast colours of Mahler’s tonal palette. Thomas Hampson not only connected with the orchestra and Maestro Molino’s excellent orchestral accompaniment, but connected with the audience to great effect. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra was in superb form that demanded enormous concentration, and considerable physical, emotional and intellectual resources for a demanding program. Maestro Molino brought out the best with excellent knowledge of the scores, clear conducting, great attention to detail in dynamics and accurate phrasing."
Ron Jontof-Hutter, J-Wire
 
 

Andrea Molino conducts new production of Carmen
Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse – April 2018
 
“Andrea Molino, with the support of a consistent and convincing vocal distribution, leads the work in its original version, with the momentum and seduction it deserves. [...] Fortunately, Carmen is a conductor's opera, intended for a colourful and varied orchestra. Andrea Molino, at the head of the Orchestre Nationale du Capitole, approaches the piece with a jubilant easiness and lively and sensitive conducting, as in the incandescent luminosity of the first theme of the prelude. So much life and momentum for one of the best-known operas in the repertoire, which has yet to reveal all its mysteries!”
Charlotte Saulneron, Res Musica, 10.4.2018
 
"Andrea Molino led a reading that had unmistakable rhythmic impetus, which meant that even the slower numbers felt convincing and never dragged. The ‘habanera’ had irresistible swing, the ‘chanson bohème’ whipped up a storm. That latter number was kicked off with earthy winds that had genuine personality. (...) Today was one of those performances that made it seem as if one was hearing this extremely familiar work for the very first time. It felt so fresh, so vivid, without any sense of going through the motions or routine."
Opera Traveller, 16.4.2018
 
“At the head of an Orchestre du Théâtre du Capitole in Olympic form, the Turinese conductor Andrea Molino develops a discourse that is similar to the technique of etching. The line is firm, allusive. The contrasts are underlined with the most subtle science. Poetry is born at every moment out of his attention to the slightest nuance, the slightest word.”
Emmanuel Andrieu, Opera Online, 17.4.2018
 
L'Orchestre national du Capitole, under the direction of Andrea Molino, the Chorus of the Capitole, still unsurpassed in the French lyric repertoire, and the Children Chorus of the Capitole received a very justified ovation.
Jean-Claude Meymerit, jcmbdx, 17.4.2018'
 
The singing and the music endured primordially through an intense and carefully nuanced exchange from the stage to the pit where the conductor Andrea Molino and the Orchestre National de Toulouse managed to sink us into a continuous wonder.
Hélène Cadouin, Amalthée, 18.4.2018

 
“But isn't Carmen ultimately, in her way, a revolutionary? In this production Jean-Louis Grinda creates an environment which allows for the true embodiment of her character. (…) As does the musical direction of Andrea Molino, present at every moment.”
Michel Grialou, L'Essentiel de la Culture, 12.4.2018
 
“In the pit, the Orchestre National du Capitole performs once again brilliantly, under the nuanced direction of Andrea Molino. The choir, formidable, has nothing to envy.”
Bruno Serrou, La Croix, 13.4.2018
 
“At the head of the Orchestre du Capitole, Andrea Molino gives Bizet's music its vivacity, its light.”
A.-M. Couchan, La Dépèche, 14.4.2018
 
“The Orchestre du Capitole is scintillating under the baton of Andrea Molino...”
Paula Gaubert, Olyrix, 9.4.2018
 
 

Sydney Opera House, February 2018
Andrea Molino conducts Shostakovich's The Nose
 
"Shostakovich's score, driven with furious energy by conductor Andrea Molino, embraces the bizarre in lean, sometimes scattered textures, with fleeting references to an eclectic range of styles and popular genres, to capture in music a large Hogarthian cast."
Peter McCallum, The Sydney Morning Herald, 22.2.2018
 
"Much of the performance’s energy is propelled from the pit, governed by Andrea Molino’s vigorous and confident conducting. He holds the orchestra’s playing of virtuosic parts together with ease, maintains a good balance between instrument groups, and always has a caring eye for his singers. His empathy with this music, coupled with his no-nonsense, effective conducting style, make him an ideal proponent of this opera. Importantly, in a performance just short of two hours and performed without a break, there was not a moment of lagging concentration from him or the orchestra."
Zoltán Szabó, Australian Book Review, 23.2.2018
 
"Shostakovich’s score, brilliantly conducted by Andrea Molino, is shocking, violent and unpredictable. At one point an interlude of un-pitched percussion seems to almost crash into the space. Mixed into this are different genres including folk music and the polka."
Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore, The Guardian, 23.2.2018
 
“In The Nose, Molino is exceptional, leading the Opera Australia Orchestra in a high-octane performance that keeps the vigour and verve of the music moving throughout the two-hour piece. Particular praise goes to the trumpets and percussionists who play Shostakovich’s jagged lines with stunning effect, bringing out the brilliant colours in the music.“
Deen Hamaker, Sounds Like Sydney, 22.2.2018
 
“It’s a triumph of the highest order with an amazingly rehearsed company of more than 80 performers, and the excellent Opera Orchestra, conducted by the enthusiastic Andrea Molino.”
Victor Grynberg, J-Wire, 25.2.2018
 
"Sustaining tight-knit ensemble and textural clarity, conductor Andrea Molino and the Opera Australia Orchestra captured the music’s spiky astringent sounds, biting rhythms, predominantly acerbic character and often relentless pace."
Murray Black, The Australian, 23.2.2018
 
“Conductor Andrea Molino and his orchestra grapple heroically with the extraordinary mixture of cacophony, musical parody, magnificent brass showstoppers, and rhythmical gobbledygook created by the 20-year-old genius Shostakovich in seemingly sporadic bursts.”
Helen Musa, City News, 23.2.2018
 
“Despite its underlying classical formality, the music still sounds disturbingly radical and is frequently discordant, in keeping with the slo-mo trainwreck action. Its complexity and variety challenge both listeners and players, though ace conductor Andrea Molino and the Opera Australia Orchestra and chorus deliver it all to the highest standard.”
Jason Catlett, Time Out, 23.2.2018
 
“Shostakovich’s remarkable score was given a thrilling performance by Opera Australia Orchestra responding the inspired direction of Maestro Molino.”
Bill Stephens, Canberra Critics Circle, 25.2.2018
 
“The orchestra, under Andrea Molino, is sharp, energetic and surely galvanised by one of the most eclectic scores encountered in a long time.”
Diana Simmonds, Stage Noise, 22.2.2018
 
"Andrea Molino leads the orchestra deftly through the fiendish score – which plumbs atonality, folk music, polkas, polyphony and more – coaxing plenty of warmth from music that could easily become cold and brittle."
Angus McPherson, Limelight, 22.2.2018
 
"Expatriate Australian director Barrie Kosky and The Nose seem made for each other... the orchestral forces are led with often wild energy but always complete control by Andrea Molino."
Michael Halliwell, The Conversation, 22.2.2018
 
“Despite the light storyline, Shostakovich’s score is not your usual foot-tapper. The orchestra at times sounding haunted and at others burlesque-like, driven by a high octane energy. Conductor Andrea Molino drew both orchestra and chorus through with great expression.”
Gina Fairley, Arts Hub, 28.2.2018
 
“The swirling joyous opera tingles with delightful motifs under the baton of Andrea Molino.”
David Spicer, Stage Whispers, 22.2.2018
 
 

Sydney Opera House, January 20, 2017
Andrea Molino conducts Szymanowki's Kròl Roger

"Andrea Molino conducts from memory – yes, from memory! – and builds a most seductive edifice that washes over us with wave upon wave of luxurious orchestral tone. The second act bacchanal is a glittering highlight, but so is the spare nocturnal that opens the final scene. Strings, woodwind and brass all have their moments to shine and the standards here are very high indeed."
Clive Paget, Limelight Magazine, 21.1.2017

"Szymanowski’s score is a voluptuously beautiful, imaginatively coloured, stylistically diverse masterpiece. Conductor Andrea Molino and the orchestra’s sumptuous sounds, supple phrasing and textural clarity revealed every aspect of its multifaceted brilliance."
Murray Black, The Australian, 21.1.2017

"Szymanowski’s music is melodic and inventive, demanding massive choral and orchestral resources. Probably the only conductor in the world to conduct this opera from memory, Andrea Molino deftly moulds the Sydney Children’s Choir, the Opera Australia chorus and orchestra into an intoxicating kaleidoscope of luscious sound to compliment director, Kasper Holten, and designer Steffen Aarfing’s compelling visual concept. Though sometimes presenting a wall of sound, the music is surprisingly transparent, and Molino takes great care to ensure that the musical detail is apparent to the listener."
Bill Stephens, Canberra Critics Circle, 25.1.2017

"In addition to the radiance of the choral writing, the work relies upon subtle exoticism from the orchestra, which the players under Andrea Molino nurtured with tonal finesse and moments of iridescence. [...] Like King Roger, the audience that gave the work a standing ovation at the close were, in the end, completely seduced by its beauty."
Peter McCallum, Sydney Morning Herald, 23.1.2017

"The Opera Australia Orchestra is expertly guided by the Italian conductor Andrea Molino who amazingly conducts the work from memory. Climaxes are well shaped and the instrumental balance and blend are finely judged. All sections of the large orchestra play impressively, both at full throttle and in delicate, finely nuanced passages."
Larry Turner, SoundsLikeSydney, 21.1.2017

"A massive boost is provided by ace conductor Andrea Molino and the excellent Opera Australia Orchestra and OA Chorus. Reception on opening night was highly enthusiastic, in a production none of us is likely ever to see bettered."
Jason Catlett, TimeOut, 24.1.2017

"Conductor Andrea Molino did a magnificent job in teasing out the many threads, allowing delicate passages to find their way through the heft, and providing a solid superstructure on which to build the singers’ intimidating edifice."
Harriet Cunningham, HarryFiddler, 4.2.2017

“The scoring is lush and evocative with a colouristic sensitivity to the sounds of the impressionists. The orchestra played beautifully under the commanding direction of Andrea Molino who conducted by memory. The solo instruments throughout added moments of grace, sensuality and refinement. The audience was captivated from the opening bars with the muted sound of the gong and the haunting a cappella choirs weaving their Byzantine chorale.”
Jill Comerford, GBOpera Magazine, 25.1.2017

“Conductor Andrea Molino makes the very most of the always considerable Opera Australia Orchestra and, in this instance, the hardworking OA Chorus – augmented by boy sopranos – and all voices are tremendous, including – especially – the main players.”
Diana Simmonds, Stage Noise, 23.1.2017

“Szymanowski’s score is a marvel of inventive textures and sensuous beauties, and the OA orchestra revelled in it. Andrea Molino moulded sounds sensitively.”
David Larkin, Australian Book Review, 23.1.2017

“The score is a combination of melodies from Gregorian like chants, Eastern melodies, and dare I say it modern movie theme music. These are all beautifully harnessed by conductor Andrea Molino who does so without a musical score.”
Ben Apfelbaum, Sydney Arts Guide, 8.2.2017

“In many ways, the incredibly masterful Sydney Opera Orchestra, conducted by Andrea Molino, reflect that hectic dialogue ongoing in the head of the King.”
James Banham, The_F, 4.2.2017
 
“Conductor Andrea Molino maintained the necessary pace, adjusting to the flickering musical moods of the production with ease.”
Tom Pillans, Daily Telegraph, 22.1.2017
 
"Congratulations to Opera Australia on its courage in staging a new production of Szymanowski's King Roger. It was rewarded with a triumph. [...]
Orchestra Victoria played the challenging score beautifully, deftly led by Andrea Molino with his remarkable sensitivity to line and shape."
Barney Zwartz, The Sydney Morning Herald / The Age, May 21, 2017
 
"Exotic Middle-Eastern threads, impressionist lucidity and tearing expressionist strokes flourish from Syzmanowski’s adventuresome mind in a score of luscious beauty. Orchestra Victoria’s adroitness and conductor Andrea Molino’s resolute understanding of the music showed on opening night."
Paul Selar, Herald Sun, May 22, 2017
 
"The finest achievement in the opening night of the Szymanowski opera lay in the musical realization which came close to ideal, conductor Andrea Molino displaying admirable command of a score that juxtaposes garrulity with terseness, euphony and dissonance, seductiveness and brutality."
Clive O'Connell, O'Connell the Music, May 22, 2017
 
 

Sydney Opera House, June 16, 2016
Andrea Molino conducts Bizet's Carmen

"Andrea Molino is a dynamo in the pit, powering things forward from the vigorous overture onwards, yet unafraid to be appropriately bold with rubato when required. He brings out plenty of colour in Bizet’s extraordinary score, the intermezzos with their various delicious woodwind solos a highlight."
Clive Paget, Limelight Magazine, 17.6.2016

"The orchestra under Andrea Molino were the unsung heroes of the night, from the sparkling Prelude to the final despairing echo of José's last cry. Molino showed himself to be sensitive to the singers all night, matching their dynamics and tempo inflections well. The Entr'acte before Act III, a short idyll representing the brief off-stage happiness of the lovers, was deservedly applauded."
David Larkin, Australian Book Reviews, 20.6.2016

"Bizet’s remarkable score was superbly interpreted by the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra under the baton of Andrea Molino, with their playing of intermezzos between acts being especially satisfying."
Bill Stephens, Australian Arts Reviews, 1.7.2016

"On the podium, the regularly visiting Italian, Andrea Molino was so in the moment that his baton and Escamillo's sword seemed interchangeable in Act IV. His pace, though, was often more reflective than the norm, allowing key moments in the drama to explode all the more excitingly."
Jeremy Eccles, Bachtrack, 22.6.2016

"Conductor Andrea Molino began Bizet's festive overture without preliminaries, lights blazing up on a crimson velvet curtain as though announcing showtime to a cut-price tour.
But his tempos were in fact the opposite, taking the familiar lines with unhurried care, and allowing the shape of each phrase to come into focus.
The real benefit of this approach was the way it put the drama on slow boil, allowing each situation and mood its own time to establish, so that the conflicts, when they came, were intense and cataclysmic."
Peter McCallum, The Sydney Morning Herald, 17.6.2016

"The Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra was under the baton of Andrea Molino: the Orchestra was in fantastic form. Every subtle orchestration in Bizet’s score was absolutely audible and brought to the fore making this one of the best orchestral experiences of recent memory."
Eugene Thinks, 17.6.2016

"In the pit, conductor Andrea Molino brought out a deeply sensuous side to Bizet's score while showing great sensitivity with the stage, the tempi perfectly assisting to elevate the drama."
Peter Selar, Opera Chaser, 7.7.2016

"...while Andrea Molino’s conducting of Bizet’s melodies romping along with vigour."
Grant Jones, Daily Telegraph, 17.6.2016

"Conductor Andrea Molino and the orchestra provided swift, sparkling and stylish accompaniments."
Murray Black, The Australian, 20.6.2016

"The consistently successful part of the night is the music made by the orchestra under the baton of Conductor, Andrea Molino, and the singing."
Kevin Jackson's Theatre Diary, 24.6.2016

"Andrea Molino draws a dynamic performance from the orchestra."
Ben Neutze, Daily Review, 17.6.2016

"The conductor Andrea Molino wrings every bit of emotion from Bizet’s moving score."
Jamie Apps, Alt Media, 20.7.2016
 
 

 

Melbourne Arts Centre, State Theatre – May 3, 2016
Andrea Molino conducts Puccini's La Bohème
 

"On opening night, Puccini’s score resonated with sensitivity and vigour under conductor Andrea Molino and Orchestra Victoria played with faultless beauty."

Paul Selar, Herald Sun, 6.5.2016

 

"The Opera Australia chorus began its Melbourne season with a strong performance as did Orchestra Victoria under Italian composer and conductor Andrea Molino. Maestro Molino’s work for this company has been varied and exemplary over recent seasons."

Gregory Pritchard, ConcertoNet, 5.5.2016

 

"Particularly glorious singing elevates the return season of La Boheme... Maestro Andrea Molino maintains a gentle dynamic to Orchestra Victoria’s performance of Puccini’s evocative, romantic score, allowing key woodwind and harp phrases to provide gorgeous colour."

Simon Parris, Man In Chair, 4.5.2016

 

"Conductor Andrea Molino melds his Orchestra Victoria players perfectly with the vocal talent, of which there is plenty..."

Jason Witthaker, Daily Review, 6.5.2016

 

"Conductor Andrea Molino elicited some extremely beautiful playing from Orchestra Victoria, particularly in the orchestral passages."

Heather Levingstone, Classic Melbourne, 7.5.2016

 

"Conductor Andrea Molino, employing measured tempi throughout that allowed the music to breathe, was a sensitive accompanist and drew excellent playing from the reliably exemplary Orchestra Victoria."

Barney Zwartz, Sydney Morning Herald, 4.5.2016
 
 

 

The Kiss
Andrea Molino is the conductor for Nicole Car's debut solo album


"The standout track on this CD is the letter scene from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. Car's Tatiana is a magnificent vocal characterisation. Andrea Molino conducting the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra is with her with every line she writes, with the horns caressing Tchaikovsky's score and a solo oboe that does precisely what Stanislavski is supposed to have said it should do, write the letter!"
BBC Music Magazine, Choice of the Month
 

"The AOBO sounds particularly inspired and vibrant in this recording with the Italian Andrea Molino on the podium" (Inge Southcott, The Music Trust)
"The iridescent strings of the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, conducted by Andrea Molino, are also worth a hat-tip."
Neil Fisher, The Times

"It’s good to hear such fine playing from the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra under Andrea Molino."
Steve Moffatt, Limelight Magazine

 
 

T

Sydney Opera House January 28, 2016

Andrea Molino conducts Rossini's Barbiere

"Conductor Andrea Molino and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra’s scintillating account of the overture to Rossini’s The Barber of Seville set the right tone at the opening night performance last Thursday at the Sydney Opera House. The uniformly strong cast and stylish orchestral accompaniments generated alluring sparkle."

Murray Black, The Australian, 1.2.2016

 

"At the helm is maestro Andrea Molino, in whose hands an old warhorse emerges as a frisky young filly. Leaving nothing to routine, he shapes and invigorates each phrase and whips up all the right Rossinian storms. This magnificent revival delivers Rossini’s score with glorious musical integrity while showing just how much fun you can have into the bargain. This Barber is no cheap shave – it's tonsorial luxury with pampering and hot towels thrown in."

Clive Paget, Limelight, 29.1.2016

 

"Conductor Andrea Molino keeps the pace up and leads the orchestra through a thrilling rendition of the overture (the strings delivering a masterclass in dynamics and expression). This is a production that reminds that comedic operas were meant to be fun and unruly, and they were meant to be funny. It’s what Rossini would have wanted."

Ben Neutze, Daily Review, 29.1.2016

 

"...this enables continuous ratcheting up of the pace, propelled by conductor Andrea Molino. Despite driving speeds, the ensemble singing generally remained impressively tight, and the orchestral sound remained unforced, fluent and openly coloured."

Peter McCallum, The Sydney Morning Herald, 31.1.2016

 

"Deftly comic Barber of Seville still cuts the mustard... Andrea Molino swept the orchestra along at a brisk pace. Easily the pick of the season so far."

Tom Pillans, Daily Telegraph, 1.2.2016

 

"Conductor Andrea Molino brings the mastery of Rossini's melodious energy and allows it to penetrate and float in fabulous form. Maestro Molino mixed the tempi with enormous appeal and his soloists all obligingly shaped their vocal delivery to match. All the while, a unified Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra performed at their exquisite best."

Paul Selar, Opera Chaser, 14.2.2016

 

"Maestro Andrea Molino, conducting the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, immediately raised audience anticipation with a crisp, carefully detailed performance of Rossini’s familiar and justly famous overture."
Bill Stephens, Canberra Critics Circle, 8.2.2016

"The orchestra was in fine form, lightly and deftly led by conductor Andrea Molino from the familiar overture through an evening of fun."
Helen Musa, CityNews, 1.2.2016

"The Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra is always spectacular, and in The Barber of Seville they really have a chance to shine, as the Overture is played by the orchestra alone, before the curtain rises. This also gives the audience an opportunity to appreciate the innovative work of the Conductor, which could be a show in itself. Maestro Andrea Molino boisterously bops and bounces and boils up the storms that characterise Rossini’s music."
Alcia Tripp, The Plus Ones, 5.2.2016

"The conductor, Andrea Molino, leads the orchestra with great vigour and precision..."
Emily Richardson, Upstaged Reviews, 11.2.201
6

"Maestro Andrea Molino, conducting the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, immediately raised audience anticipation with a crisp, carefully detailed performance of Rossini’s familiar and justly famous overture...This production of The Barber of Seville is one to be savoured and judging from the continuous hearty laughter throughout, and the enthusiastic audience response during the curtain calls, the audience at this performance were doing just that."

Bill Stephens, Arts Reviews, 9.2.2016

 

"Certainly the orchestra was in fine form, lightly and deftly led by conductor Andrea Molino from the familiar overture through an evening of fun."

Helen Musa, City News, 1.2.2016




 

Berlin, Radialsystem V, November 27
Molino conducts concert project Aghet with two World Premieres
 
"The ability to ignore history's lessons is ubiquitous. That makes initiatives like this all the more important… Emphatic conducting from Andrea Molino and sensitive orchestral playing ensured an evening of scrupulous music-making."
Shirley Apthorp, Financial Times, November 11, 2015

"The interpretation by the ensemble under the baton of Italian conductor Andrea Molino was excellent, it served the beautiful score in every aspect, and left nothing to be desired on behalf of transparency and expressivity."
Olaf Brühl, kultur-extra.de, December 12, 2015

(…Andrea Molino is a) "musician with a highly physical charisma… A very strong performance, a revival should be obligatory."
Stefan Amzoll, Neues Deutschland, December 12, 2015





Sydney Opera House – December 31, 2014
Molino opens Opera Australia's summer season with La Bohème

"Romantic and lyrically, passionately performed by cast and orchestra it still feels as fresh as if it was written yesterday. Musically, the terrific Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, under the very energetic, passionate and enthusiastic baton of Andrea Molino, is superb, giving a lush, dynamic rendition of Puccini’s much loved sweeping, vibrant score."
Lynne Lancaster, Sydney Arts Guide, January 8, 2015
 
"Puccini’s glorious music had seldom sounded better than on this occasion. Seemingly pleased with what he was hearing, Maestro Andrea Molino carefully guided the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra through every lush and dramatic nuance of this marvelous score to produce a performance satisfying enough to send at least one happy camper out into the balmy Sydney night glowing with nostalgic recollections of his first encounter with “La Boheme” back in 1973."
Bill Stephens, Australian Arts Review, January 12, 2015
 
"No other composer could capture fateful self-realisation at the peak of a musical phrase better than Puccini. It is as though when Rodolfo rises to the top C to sing "la dolce speranza" in Act 1 of La Boheme, the "sweet hope" of which he sings is born, lived and dies within the moment that the phrase arches and falls.
The voices of Mexican tenor Diego Torre as Rodolfo and Latvian soprano Maija Kovalevska as Mimi seemed created and trained for such peaks of intensity; each of them cutting through the swelling orchestra and the clamorous chaos of life that Puccini orchestrates around them to deliver moments of vividness where nothing else matters and rash decisions that change lives are taken.
Conductor Andrea Molino led a romantically responsive orchestra with stylish flexibility of rhythm, allowing Torre and Kovalevska to dwell on those peak notes as though the theme of their lives had suddenly been revealed to them."
Peter McCallum, The Sydney Morning Herald, January 3, 2015
 
"Andrea Molino paces Puccini’s score with deceptive ease in a reading that cannot be faulted and lovingly brings out the numerous colours and effects. His balancing of the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra (on fine form here) is particularly noticeable."
Clive Paget, Limelight, January 5, 2015
 
"Conductor Andrea Molino and the orchestra’s sensitive, well-paced accompaniments realised the score’s combination of lively action and lyrical reflection."
Murray Black, The Australian, January 6, 2015
 
"Opera Australia opens its summer season masterfully with its tried and true production of La Bohème. A flawless orchestra led by Andrea Molino translate sthe emotional turmoil of characters, as the struggling artists fall in and out of love."
Luke Daykin, AltMedia, January 11, 2015
 
"Opera Australia presents a powerful, emotion charged re-imagining of Puccini's La Bohème. The singers and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, under conductor Andrea Molino interpret Puccini's work with the requisite emotion, giving light and shade to enable the story to be followed. It is clear that the orchestra understand that Puccini paints scenes with his music and Edward's design ensures that these aural pictures reinforce visual images from the dying fire in the garret furnace to the gentle snowfall. Bold passionate moments or tender quite interlude between characters are reflected through the music appropriately."
Jade Cops, Broadway World, January 4, 2015
 
."..the lush, loving rendition of Puccini’s score by the consistently fabulous Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, under Andrea Molino..."
Lloyd Bradford Syke, Crikey, January 5, 2015
 
"As wonderfully distracting as the aesthetic is, the true star of La Bohème is the music. [...] With Andrea Molino at its head, the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra sound clear, precise and full."
Ben Nielsen, Cut Common, January 6, 2015
 
 
 

 

Melbourne, State Theatre – November 12, 2014
Molino opens Melbourne Spring Season with Puccini's Tosca

"Returning to Opera Australia, Andrea Molino conducts Orchestra Victoria in a towering performance. They achieve wonderful variation in tone from gentle humour and playfulness in the first act to driving inevitability in the final scene. Their accompaniment of the major solo pieces was exemplary: subtle, light of touch and driving the passion of the music. This performance was greatly admired receiving rousing accolades from the capacity audience."
Gregory Pritchard, Concerto.net, November 17, 2014

"Maestro Andrea Molino draws a lush, richly coloured rendition of the score from Orchestra Victoria. Brass has an energetic oomph, especially for Scarpia’s first entrance, and percussive bells sweetly mark the significant times of the church day. Chorus preparation by Anthony Hunt is reliably excellent; this quality, in combination with the superb orchestral playing and superb lead singers, allowing the rich tapestry of the score to be appreciated in its full glory. [...] Molino conducted last night without a score. [...] His knowledge of the score must be extraordinary."
Simon Parris, Main In Chair, November 13, 2014

"Conducting a top, in-form Orchestra Victoria, Andrea Molino executed the musical landscape with immense beauty, bold colour and confident pacing, exposing their great strengths in Act III's extended orchestral opening as it supports the short aria of wafer-thin notes of the shepherd boy."
Paul Selar, Bachtrack, November 13, 2014

"The audience is swept along in a rollicking, powerful show, with some splendid individual performances, and conductor Andrea Molino drawing a broad sweep and full emotional intensity from the reliably excellent Orchestra Victoria."
Barney Zwarzt, Sydney Morning Herald / The Age, November 13, 2014

"Andrea Molino elicited some lovely playing from Orchestra Victoria and allowed the singers latitude while maintaining the sweep and energy of Puccini’s score. The standing ovation that greeted the final curtain was well deserved."
Heather Leviston, Classic Melbourne, November 15, 2014

"Orchestra Victoria played wonderfully all night, right from those arresting opening chords. Conductor Andrea Molino was admirably alert to the clues and colourings in the score."
Peter Rose, Australian Book Review, November 17, 2014

"Orchestra and singers combine perfectly to make the performance as satisfying musically as it is dramatically. Andrea Molino conducts Orchestra Victoria with calm assurance, maintaining a steady tempo that matches the relentlessness of the tragedy and always supports rather than competing with the singers."
John Henningham, Stage Diary, November 15, 2014

"Who does succeed in fortifying the depth of emotional experience rendered by Puccini’s score is Italian conductor, Andrea Molino and the wonderful Orchestra Victoria. An overwhelming round of applause was given to all cast members at the conclusion of the performance, developing no sooner into a standing ovation."
Lucy Rash/Megan Burslem, Cut Common, November 18, 2014

"The Opera Australia Chorus, Opera Australia’s Children’s Chorus and Orchestra Victoria [played] like the powerhouse musical performers they are under the skilled baton of Andrea Molino."
Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle, November 13, 2014

"Orchestra Victoria, well conducted here by Andrea Molino, modulates effectively."
Jason Whittaker, Crikey, November 13, 2014


Bologna, Teatro Comunale – 24.4.2014?
World Premiere of Molino's – there is no why here –
Andrea Molino conducts the of his multimedia music theatre

"…The performance, conducted by the composer himself, accomplished the maximum possible on a musical level, thanks to the presence of such vocal professionals as David Moss (assisted by three members of the Institute for Living Voice) and Anna Linardou, the masterful vocalist of the Greek lullaby, as well as the contribution on stage of the highly versatile group BL!NDMAN, saxophones and percussion, accompanied from the pit by the large symphony orchestra.…"
Marco Beghelli, il Resto del Carlino, 25.4.2014

"…Musically the Maestro has obtained a remarkable result thanks to the quality of the orchestra, to the extraordinary performance of the group BLINDMAN, sax and percussion, the perfect work of David Moss helped by three members of the Institute for Living Voice, and Anna Linardou, expert solo singer of the Greek lullaby…"
Magda Ruggeri Marchetti, Artzeblai, 1.5.2014

"…The performance, conducted by Andrea Molino, is precise, meticulous, the result is remarkably captivating…"
Athos Tromboni, Gli Amici della Musica, 26.4.2014


Sydney Opera House – January 22, 2014
Andrea Molino conducts Rossini's Il Turco in Italia

"It is musically superb. The Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra under the wickedly delightful and exuberant conducting of maestro Andrea Molino is in fine form…and the singing is superb. Emma Matthews as Fiorilla sings divinely, is a fantastic comic actress, and has us enthralled from her first appearance singing of the joy of love."
Lynne Lancaster, Sydney Arts Guide, 2.2.2014

"The Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra carry it all off with aplomb in the experienced and enthusiastic hands of Italian conductor Andrea Molino. A production to cherish, then, and by the end even an old Turco sceptic like me was cheering and stamping along with the rest."
Clive Paget, Limelight, 23.1.2014

"Simon Phillips promised his new production of The Turk in Italy would offer about as much fun as you can have in an opera house. The good news: he's delivered. Conductor Andrea Molino and the orchestra's brisk, rhythmically alert accompaniments complement the production's lightness of touch."
Murray Black, The Australian, 24.01.2014

"Director Simon Phillips has directed his sublime cast of principals to a place of such effortless confidence and awareness that seemingly no challenge became too great and no risk whatsoever unworthy of bold pursuit. Conductor Andrea Molino keeps the peerless Opera and Ballet orchestra completely in synch with the energy and the passion on stage. Though a seemingly unlikely candidate, this is an opera ready to delight and inspire."
David Allen, Aussie Theatre, 23.1.2014

"Andrea Molino, who conducted this as he did Masked Ball last year without a score, is a real live wire."
Stumbling on Melons, 14.02.2014

"The visual feast is underpinned by the presence of the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra conducted lovingly by the fine-fingered, balletic hands of Andrea Molino."
Lloyd Bradford Syke, Crikey, 23.1.2014

"Conductor Andrea Molino also gets the best out of the always reliable AOBO and Rossini's runaway score is bright and sharp in their hands."
Diana Simmonds, Stage Noise, 23.1.2014

"Despite all the hectic comedic business, the singing is never compromised, and conductor Andrea Molino made sure it was beautifully supported by the excellent Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra."
Bill Stephens, Canberra Critics Circle, 7.2.2014

"Conductor Andrea Molino's Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra is masterfully handled."
Grant Jones, The Telegraph, 23.1.2014



Copyright © Opera Australia
Melbourne, State Theatre – April, 12, 2013
Molino conducts Opera Australia's Un Ballo in Maschera

"This performance was an evening of superb music-making and intriguing interpretation. [...] Italian conductor Andrea Molino read an abundance of light and shade into the score. He pressured it forward, at times driving a furious pace and at others lingering over the emotional complexities of torment, love and betrayal. Orchestra Victoria produced gloriously rich and dark sounds which Molino contrasted with the flamboyance of the page Oscar. [...] A brilliant night of theatre and music."
Gregory Pritchard, ConcertoNet

"Verdi always wins. [...] Opera Australia's quirky new production of Un Ballo in Maschera [...] was well conducted by Andrea Molino, who favoured swift tempos that carried us through, with Orchestra Victoria responding with clarity and lyricism. The singers were good, and the chorus was full-blooded and excellent."
Michael Shmith, The Age, 15.4.2013

"Orchestra Victoria, under the sensitive baton of Andrea Molino, was silky smooth."
Lucy Graham, Stage Whispers


MaerzMusik, Berlin – Philharmonie (Kammermusiksaal), March 20, 2013
Hasretim – Trip to Anatolia


"The Stage of the Kammermusiksaal is filled with an impressive half circle of flashing trumpets and clarinets, high towering long-necked lutes and massive drums: they are the Hezarfen Ensemble from Istanbul and members of the Dresden Sinfoniker together with Turkish and Armenian guests, under the spirited leadership of Andrea Molino."
Isabel Herzfeld, Tagesspiegel, 23.3.2013

"The diversity of the contributors to this performance (the Istanbul Hezarfen Ensemble with Turkish and Armenian guests and the Dresdner Sinfoniker under Andrea Molino's lively conducting) reflects the diversity of the music: although much of the tonal language was unusual to our ears, originating as it does from folk music, it breaks through any inaccessibility."
Dietrich Bretz, Kieler Nachrichten, 2.4.2013
 
 
 


Copyright © Alfons Flores

Sydney Opera House – January 16, 2013
Andrea Molino conducts a new production of Verdi's Un ballo in maschera


"A visually stunning,musically first-rate and dramatically provocative pro-duction. [...] Musically this is a night to remember with stand out performances from all concerned. [...] Andrea Molino's thoroughly idiomatic reading of Verdi's score is electric, fully alert to the musical moments that prefigure later works like Don Carlo and Aida. His visceral interpretation packs a real dramatic punch yet he pulls back and supports his singers with sensitive rubato when required. [...] A magnificent start to the 2013 season for Opera Australia."
Clive Paget, Limelight, 17.1.2013
 
"Verdi understood the tensions of contemporaneity, concerned always with the conflict between the identity we create for ourselves and the identity society creates for us. Alex Ollé uses the metaphor of the mask to generalise this tension, and they are worn by all except the dead, the loved and the disempowered, while Alfons Flores's set is a modern surveillance-obsessed building of austere and sinister grandeur.
The most dehumanised moments come at the opening and disturbing close, while in between the warmth of human passion flairs beneath the masks, and conductor Andrea Molino creates grace and beauty from the shapes in the air that are Verdi's music. [...] Molino's sense of style in this music is irresistible."
Peter McCallum, Sydney Morning Herald, 18.1.2013
 
"Perhaps it's Andrea Molino's Italian birth that gives him what sounds like an extraordinary affinity with Verdi; he seems to know the vernacular of his music much as an intimate, confidante or contemporary might. However he achieves it, he achieves it: he leads the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra in a meticulous, lustrous reading, informed by a warmth, fluidity and sense of spontaneity that are inextricably characteristic of the composer's style. Better yet, there seemed to be a palpable rapport between conductor and singers, with Molino intuiting when to push forward, when to pause for an extra beat and when to pull back."
Lloyd Bradford Syke, Curtain Call, 21.2.2013
 
"For this production Maestro Andrea Molino has at his disposal the huge Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra and the Opera Australia chorus from whom he confidently coaxes a very stylish, impressive performance of one of Verdi's more luscious scores, to put the seal on a memorable, exciting and challenging night of opera."
Bill Stephens, Canberra Critics Circle, 21.1.2013
 
"Italian conductor Andrea Molino's handing of Verdi's breathtaking score makes this a spectacular operatic experience the lavish music contrasted by a stark and bleak totalitarian setting."
City Hub Sydney, 31.1.2013
 
"Maestro Molino conducts this production of „Un Ballo in Maschera" with penetrating tension, revealing the tragedy of the characters and highlighting with incisivity and delicacy the social content of the story."
Armando Tornari, La Fiamma, 31.1.2013
 
"The Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra are at their absolute best, playing with such passion and intensity under Andrea Molino's baton..."
Benjamin Neutze, Aussie Theatre, 5.2.2013
 
"Of course Verdi has already done a pretty decent job of amplifying that darkness in the music, which [...] is deftly realised by conductor Andrea Molino. The music broods and trashes about, and comes crashing at us in great hammer blows, only relieved by the glimpses of tenderness and the blythe intercessions of Oscar, Gustav's page..."
John Shand, Music & Other Spheres, 30.1.2013
 
 
 

Sydney Opera House – September 10. 2011
Andrea Molino conducts Verdi's Macbeth in a new production
 
 
"This co-production with Opera de Montreal hints at modernity in the setting but the musical realisation, under conductor Andrea Molino, is true to Verdi and shines for it. As conductor, Molino's fidelity to Verdi and instinct for pace drove to the heart of the dramatic tension within scenes."
Peter McCallum, Sydney Morning Herald, 12.9.2011
 
"The performers' talents are remarkable, Verdi's soaring music is rendered with spirit and passion under conductor Andrea Molino."
Tom Pillans, Lifestyle, 12.9.2011
 
"Musically Macbeth is fascinating with, for instance, some of the worst impulses and actions of the human race scored in lilting waltz time. It's also an opera where the chorus is given an excellent opportunity to do what a chorus is supposed to do. And under the baton of conductor Andrea Molino it does that and more, especially in the final act. In the end - and it is a bloody and terrible one - this Macbeth is a tremendous evening of theatre and music with Elizabeth Whitehouse and Peter Coleman-Wright at its forefront. Wonderful stuff."
Diana Simmons, Stage Noise, 12.9.2011
 
"Birnam Wood encases every scene; the gloomy penumbra rarely disperses. We are invited to engage simply with the singers and their music.
Most advantaged was Elizabeth Whitehouse as Lady Macbeth, aptly cast. Her sleepwalking scene was simply staged and devastating.
Daniel Sumegi's Banquo and Rosario La Spina's Macduff were noteworthy, as was Andrea Molino's sympathetic conducting."
David Giger, North Shore Times, 18.9.2011


 

Sydney Opera House – July 23, 2011
Andrea Molino makes his conducting debut at the Sydney Opera House
Australian Premiere of Carlisle Floyd's Of Mice and Men
 

"In his 1970 operatic version of Steinbeck's book, American composer Carlisle Floyd's aim was to capture the novella's tautness and "spareness" in his music. He has succeeded admirably. Astringent dissonances, arresting woodwind and brass figures and passages of haunting, sparse textures spice up his melodic inspirations to create a score that cleverly blends poignant lyricism and dramatic intensity. Conductor Andrea Molino and the orchestra's well-judged tempos, crystalline textures, polished sonorities and sinuous phrasing realised both aspects of the music.
The outpouring of applause was fully justified. Of Mice and Men is a fine opera that has been given an outstanding production."
Murray Black, The Australian, 26.7.2011

"The ovations owe much to the principals - Lennie, (Anthony Dean Griffey) and his protector George (Barry Ryan) - drifting workers in the Depression bound by an unlikely bond of love and hope. Beresford and the singers have established an endearing chemistry in this relationship, creating the conditions for a closing scene that is emotionally powerful and universal in its themes. The Opera and Ballet Orchestra under conductor Andrea Molino draws expressive colour from the score."
Peter McCallum, The Sydney Morning Herald, 26.7.2011

"Andrea Molino and my beloved AO&BO ensure the score is read in a spritely, bright way. And, while accessible, it's one that's not without it's challenges for audience and orchestra. The long and the short of it is it succeeds, admirably, on all levels: design; drama; musicality; meaning."
Lloyd Bradford Syke, Curtain Call, 1.8.2011
 
 
 

 

Claudio Ambrosini: Il Killer di Parole
Andrea Molino conducts Opera World Premiere at La Fenice
Venice, Teatro La Fenice – December 10, 2010
 

"Claudio Ambrosini's music is full of instrumental invention, it is written and orchestrated with a highly handcrafted attention to detail. Everything appears clear and transparent to the audience because the Choir and the Orchestra of the Fenice, as well as the solo singers, are prepared and conducted magnificently by Andrea Molino."
Enrico Girardi, Corriere della Sera, 12.12.2010
 
"The new Opera by Claudio Ambrosini features a breathtakingly contrapuntal orchestration, showing an admirable expressive variety. Andrea Molino's conducting is detailed and astounding."
Dino Villatico, Repubblica, 18.12.2010

"Andrea Molino confirms himself once more as the conductor with the magic wand, the magic baton of modern and contemporary music. Molino's conducting was fully convincing, it focussed on rigorous tempo choices and highly developed dynamics and colours which underlined the sound richness and the many fascinating details of Ambrosini's score."
Alessandro Cammarano, Opera Click, 10.12.2010
 
"Andrea Molino conducts with extreme clarity and attention a score which requires a maximum amount of performing precision, he underlines the beauty of its sound quality."
Ilaria Bellini, Teatro, 12.12.2010
 
"The real craftsman of the music score is Andrea Molino. The conductor from Turin - who, it must be remembered, is also composer - finds the right path for a significantly personal interpretation: his reading and vision of the score is complete from the very beginning, it couldn't have been better. His authority, as well as his comfort and familiarity with the modern language, allows him to shape the orchestral sound at his will, constantly controlling all details and perfectly recreating the musical structure."
Francesco Bertini, Gli Amici della Musica, 12.1.2011
 
"Andrea Molino is most remarkable in holding everything firmly in his hands, well followed by the Orchestra of the Fenice."
Adolfo Andrighetti, Asterisconet, 12.2010
 
"The Orchestra plays with great engagement, under Andrea Molino's iron hands."
Mario Messinis, Il Gazzettino, 12.12.2010
 
"The conductor, Andrea Molino, confirms his ability in handling the most demanding contemporary scores."
Sandro Cappelletto, La Stampa, 31.12.2010
 
"Andrea Molino was a precise and inspired conductor."
Cesare Gallo, Il Giornale di Vicenza, 12.12.10
 
"Andrea Molino's conducting turned out to be ideal, for its precision and fidelity to the score."
Massimo Contiero, Il Mattino, 12.12.2010
 
"Excellent conducting by Andrea Molino."
Maristella Tagliaferro, Leggo, 14.12.2010
 
"Persuasive conducting by Andrea Molino."
Paolo Petazzi, L'Unità, 16.12.2010
 
 

 

Dresden-Hellerau, October 9, 2010 – Festival Tonlagen
Andrea Molino conducts World Premiere of Marc Sinan's
Hasretim – Eine anatolische Reise
 
Extracts in English translation:

"The Italian conductor, Andrea Molino, offered by far the largest contribution to this creation and skillfully coordinated the audio and visuals for the performance... The Hellerau audience responded with great appreciation, sharing in the celebrations of the musicians, who, in turn, responded with an inevitable encore."
Alexander Keuk, Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten, 11.10.2010

"What the Dresdner Sinfoniker with their Turkish and Armenian guests achieved in front of their enthused audience was musically first-class and of raw authenticity."
Karsten Blüthgen, Sächsische Zeitung, 13.10.2010

"In the Hellerau Festival Hall there was complete harmony - Turkish, Armenian, German, whether a part of the orchestra or the audience, were wholly integrated for a time. A concert with a beautiful vision."
Gerhard Rohde, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 22.10.2010

 

 

 


Teatro La Fenice, Venice
Molino conducts World Premiere of Maderna's Requiem
Concert Season's Opening - November 19 and 20, 2009
  
"Andrea Molino is confirmed, or, better, consecrated as one of the most refined and sensitive interpreters of the modern and contemporary repertoire. His reading of Maderna's score is lucidly analytic and harrowingly passionate at the same time. The tempo choices are tight, the dynamics are pressing, the perfect cohesion between orchestra, choir and soloists is constant and successful. The Orchestra of the Fenice is sensational."
Alessandro Cammarano, Opera Clic, 11.2009
  
"Andrea Molino realizes the miracle of approaching with total confidence such a new and  demanding score and at the end the success is extraordinary."
Massimo Contiero, La Nuova Venezia
, 22.11.2009
 
"The Fenice's audience remains silent for a moment, at the end of the performance of Bruno Maderna's Requiem, with the Choir and Orchestra of the Teatro La Fenice conducted by Andrea Molino. Then, moved, patriotically proud, the applause begins. Some stand up in the stalls, as happens when confronted with emotions connected with feelings of identity. Because this world premiere of Maderna's score here in Venice has the meaning of a piece of history coming back home. [...] The Requiem is alive; and Andrea Molino has total control of the whole, often musically fragmented work, featuring three pianos and the brass section in the foreground."
Carla Moreni, Il Sole 24 Ore, 22.11.2009
 
"Penetrating interpretation by Andrea Molino. Splendid Soloists Carmela Remigio, Veronica Simeoni, Mario Zeffiri and Simone Alberghini. Precise and intense performance by the Orchestra and Choir of Teatro La Fenice."
Dino Villatico, Repubblica, 21.11.2009
 
"Large orchestra, double choir, four soloists and three pianos. The hushed singing of the choir (directed by Claudio Marino Moretti) pleads for peace and salvation, while accompanied by an anguished bell toll from the timpani. Orchestra and Choir of the Fenice performed at their best, conducted by a truly admirable Andrea Molino."
Sandro Cappelletto, La Stampa, 1.12.2009
 
"Energetic and well coordinated conducting by Andrea Molino, with a magisterial contribution of the Choir directed by Claudio Marino Moretti; the female voices and the bass were wonderful. An outstanding success."
Mario Messinis, Il Gazzettino, 21.11.2009
 
"The recovery of a vast symphonic and choral composition by Maderna, which was composed in 1946 and believed lost. Its profound value becomes a feast of music, on the occasion of its world premiere, comparable, for example, to the exhibition of a recovered Caravaggio. This feast happened the day before yesterday at the opening of the Fenice's concert season; a full house, a jubilant success. The young Maestro Andrea Molino took over with admirable readiness, taking advantage of the solid work of the Choirmaster Claudio Marino Moretti."
Paolo Isotta, Il Corriere della Sera, 21.11.2009
 
"Effective and incisive interpretation by the solo voices and Andrea Molino..."
Fabio Zannoni, Il Giornale della Musica, 11.2009
 
"The score, in which earthy passages alternate with suspended lyric islands and which finds in the choral parts the most precious moments, found valid interpreters in the Choir of Venice's Theatre, prepared by Claudio Marino Moretti, and in the Orchestra guided with a firm hand by Andrea Molino. An indisputable success."
Stefano Pagliantini, Musica, 12.2009

 

 

Dresden (Festspielhaus Hellerau), October 12, 2008
Closing Concert of 22nd Dresden Festival of Contemporary Music with Dresdner Sinfoniker
 
"Das Abschlusskonzert bot noch einmal einen Höhepunkt, für den die Dresdner Sinfoniker sorgten. [...]. Die Leitung hatte der 1964 geborene italiener Andrea Molino, der über umfangreiche Erfahrungen mit neuer Musik und experimentellen Projekten verfügt. Die versetzten ihn in die Lage, Louis Andriessens hoch spekulative Komposition "De Stijl" mir grosser Souveranität zu dirigieren. [...]
Den Mittelpunkt des zweiten Teils bildeten Ausschnitte aus Stanley Kubricks legendärem SF-Klassiker der Jahre 1965 bis 1968 "2001: A Space Odyssey". [...] Zu diesen Bildsequenzen boten die Sinfoniker mit Molino Improvisationen, wobei aber die Übergänge zwischen diesen und notierter Musik einerseits und dem Originalsound des Films andererseits so fließend waren, dass man kaum je sicher sagen konnte, wie hoch der jeweilige Improvisationsanteil war. [...] Unstrittig hingegen dürfte sein, dass alle Elemente - Bild, Musik, Text und Geräusch - zu einer neuen Einheit verschmolzen. Und die war weit mehr als die Summe der Einzelheiten".
Peter Zacher, Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten, 14.10.2008

 

 
Venice, Teatro La Fenice: Signor GoldoniOpera World Premiere, September 21, 2007

available on dvd

"Opera buffs expecting a traditional opera at the world premiere of Signor Goldoni were surprised with English. The opera marks the third centennial of the birth of one of Venice's favorite sons, Carlo Goldoni. The venerable Venice opera house La Fenice commissioned the work," writes Sylvia Poggioli in her radio review "All Things Considered" (September 29, 2007); click here to listen: NPR Radio."
 
"La musica di Luca Mosca, governata da un direttore meraviglioso, Andrea Molino, trapassa tutto e tutti, felice di sé stessa, con le sue migliaia di note, le sue armonie cangianti sotto l'incalzare di guizzi fra strumenti vicini lontanissimi, in una specie di contrappunto astratto come un quadro di Kandinskij, trascinandosi memorie e invenzioni, sorprese e scoperte di geniale fragranza."
Lorenzo Arruga, Il Giornale, 23.9.2007
 
"Luca Mosca's music speaks very much in the language of our own time, with its virtuoso exploration of performance techniques, angular melodies and sly reminiscences of bygone stylistic eras. He uses an enormous orchestra, including a guitar ensemble, organ and accordion, all vitally led by Andrea Molino. As with the libretto, the music has a fleet, mercurial quality, inducing the listener to maintain a heightened air of attention."
Arlo McKinnon, Opera News, 7/2009
 
"La musica di Mosca, per organico strumentale ampio, sonorità mordenti e ritmi rampanti, e parti in finto-barocco veneziano è misurata al testo in misura quasi morbosa. E investendo sulle qualità speciali della strepitosa compagnia di canto femminile le fa diventare sintassi vocale moderna, cui saldare i vividi disegni orchestrali concertati con passione da Andrea Molino."
Angelo Foletto, La Repubblica, 24.9.2007
 
"[ I cantanti ] formavano una compagnia splendida, insieme al coro (molto impegnato) e all'orchestra, guidata magnificamente da Andrea Molino."
Paolo Petazzi, l'Unità, 4.10.2007
 
"Goldoni evoca i terrazzamenti del barocco, rivisitati sull'eredità del Novecento, con estesissima orchestra, con tanto di orchestrina antica, e sonorità che vanno dal liuto al bandoneon. Alla Fenice è preparatissima l'orchestra diretta da Andrea Molino e si diverte la compagnia dove le signore sono privilegiate."
Carla Moreni, Il Sole 24 Ore, 23.9.2007
 
"Dirige con perfetto virtuosismo ritmico Andrea Molino; l'orchestra della Fenice è incisiva e insieme trasparente; inappuntabile il coro. Accoglienze particolarmente calorose per un'opera contemporanea; applausi anche a scena aperta nel second'atto per la Hannigan e la Mingardo."
Mario Messinis, Il Gazzettino, 23.9.2007
 
"La scrittura orchestrale smagliante include l'uso del bayan e di un quintetto di mandolini, chitarre e tiorba. Squarci melodici di sofisticata fattura si alternano a concertati frenetici, veri meccanismi di precisione. Andrea Molino direttore preciso ed autorevole governa con sicurezza una partitura così complessa e coro e orchestra della Fenice danno il meglio."
Massimo Contiero, La Nuova Venezia, 23.9.2007
 
"Dal podio, Andrea Molino ha esplorato con precisione la complessa partitura, sottolineandone i tesori strumentali e mantenendo sempre vivo ed efficace il rapporto tra l'orchestra e la scena."
Cesare Galla, Il Giornale di Vicenza, 23.9.2007
 
"Il giovane direttore Andrea Molino concerta la complessa partitura con mano fantasiosa e sicura, sempre attento a mantenere in equilibrio il necessario rapporto buca-palcoscenico, preciso nella scelta delle dinamiche sonore, elegante nella narrazione musicale."
Alessandro Cammarano, Opera Click, 25.9.2007
 
"Se molto bravi sono stati i cantanti, un bravissimo va riservato al maestro concertatore e direttore Andrea Molino, che ha tenuto in pugno buca e palcoscenico governando un materiale sonoro tutt'altro che semplice da controllare per la sua struttura a piccoli frammenti. E altrettanto va detto all'orchestra e al coro della Fenice."
Adolfo Andrighetti, Asterisco Informazioni, 5.10.2007

 

Venice, Inauguration evening at the The Venice Biennale's Music Festival, September 28, 2005: Heiner Goebbels: Surrogate Cities_Venice

 
"...Splendida la direzione di Andrea Molino e la resa dell'Orchestra della Fenice. ..."
Mario Messinis, Il Gazzettino, 30.9. 2005

"...Il grande spettacolo, delle città, incentrato per l'occasione su Venezia, (...) è accattivante, soprattutto per la bravura e l'intensità comunicativa di due grandi interpreti vocali come Jocelyn B. Smith e Danvid Moss. (...) Bene ha retto l'Orchestra della Fenice all'ardua prova, diretta con piglio sicuro da Andrea Molino. ..."
Dino Villatico, La Repubblica, 10.10.2005

 

 

Brisbane, Queensland Biennial Music Festival, July 19, 2005: Andrea Molino CREDO

"....The sheer scale and logistics of Andrea Molino's Credo: The Innocence of God would give any music producer an ulcer. With full, amplified symphony orchestra, more than a dozen solo musicians, vocalists and actors onstage, extensive audio-visual projections on three large screens, plus three traditional bands beamed in live by satellite from Istanbul, Belfast and Jerusalem, the capacity for the whole production to fall apart was ever-present. Extraordinarily, with the composer himself calmly conducting in the middle of it all, and a full house looking on in wonder, nothing went awry. Notch up another production triumph for Terracini, who surely now must rank as the most virtuosic of Australian festival directors. (...) Through bringing together musicians located around the world to play the same piece in real time, Credo is as convincing technically as it is musically or politically. ..."
Martin Buzacott, The Australian, 18.7.2005

 

 

 Karlsruhe, Badisches Staatstheater, Badische Staatskapelle, April 30, 2004: Andrea Molino: CREDO – World Premiere 
 
 
"...Einen Teil des kaum enden wollenden, euphorischen Schlussbeifalls der Premiere hätten sich Molino und die glänzend disponierte Staatskapelle freilich schon für den souveränen Einstieg verdient: Statt auf der vibrierenden Spannung herumzureiten, huscht der dunkellockige Turiner noch während des letzten Stimmakkords des Orchesters auf sein Podest, hebt kurz die Hände, und quasi ohne Luftholen nimmt das Ereignis mit einem donnernden Tuttischlag seinen Lauf. Und es zeigt sich: Über weite Strecken gelingt es der Koproduktion von Fabrica (Studienzentrum für Kommunikation des Konzerns Benetton) und dem Badischen Staatstheater tatsächlich, diesem enormen logistischen Kraftakt die sinnliche Wirkung eines Werkes aus einem Guss zu verleihen. ..."
Badische Neueste Nachrichten, 3.5.2004

"...Als ein Glücksfall der Uraufführung erwies sich zudem Andrea Molino, der die Badische Staatskapelle zu hoch konzentriertem, klangmächtigem Spiel ebenso anregen konnte wie er ein exzellenter Koordinator der unterschiedlichen musikalischen Abläufe war..."
Pforzheimer Zeitung, 3.5.2004

"...Andrea Molino dirigiert seine aufwendige Partitur schwungvoll vitalistisch..."
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 3.5.2004