“In nearly 2½ decades of listening to the National Symphony Orchestra, seldom have I heard the ensemble play as well for any conductor as it did Thursday night for James Conlon. One of America’s foremost conductors, Conlon has a long history of guest appearances with the orchestra. Mutual familiarity and respect translated into compelling musicmaking of great intensity and beauty.”

Read the full review here.

Conlon will conduct Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 and Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly and tenor Stephen Gould in three concerts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra March 30-April 1. For further information and tickets visit cso.org.

“One of the main reasons for attending Salome at Los Angeles Opera is James Conlon’s conducting. He brought out the composer’s leitmotifs and his symbolic use of musical color while engulfing listeners in the score’s unusual modulations, chromaticism, extended tonality, and tonal ambiguity. Best of all, Conlon did it without ever covering any of the principal singers.”—Opera Today

“...the crowd was on its collective feet cheering. [Patricia Racette’s] cohort in this kind of triumph was a sympathetic conductor, James Conlon, who assertively balanced Strauss’ domineering orchestra against a lone soprano.”—Los Angeles Times

“I left for last mentioning how much this performance owed to the instrumentalists in the pit. Arguably, the orchestra is the main character in Strauss’ opera and that is exactly what the ensemble, [led] by James Conlon, proved to be…James Conlon proved again a wonderfully versatile artist.” –- Bachtrack

“James Conlon and the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra are, once again, worth the price of admission.”—Inside So Cal

“Under the direction of James Conlon, the LAO Orchestra delivered the quavering restlessness, threatening dissonances and soaring lines of the score while allowing the voices on stage to be heard.”—Seen and Heard International

For more information on Salome, visit LAOpera.org.