Critical Reviews From the Press
Africaine, Avery Fisher Hall
“Big institutions like the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic anchor New York’s cultural life. But what makes the city a city – a scene, a place where music lives – is what groups like Eve Queler’s Opera Orchestra of New York provide: texture, variety, depth. Ms. Queler’s is the kind of company that makes the difference between a place you’d want to visit and a place you’d want to live.”
— Zachary Woolfe, The New York Times 3/3/11
Opera News
“Queler caressed the score’s contours with smoothness, zip and stylistic assurance, bringing out its melodious flow and piquant colors.”
—John Freeman, Opera News, 2002
Guillaume Tell, Carnegie Hall
“The shining light of the evening was, as usual, Ms. Queler herself. New York is so fortunate to have a major conductor who tirelessly unearths great gems that are hardly ever performed any longer. Maestro Queler has been excelling at this musical archaeology for so long that some of her discoveries have entered the standard repertoire.”
—Fred Kirshnit, The New York Sun 11/15/05
Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Quebec City
The New Yorkaise Eve Queler directs the Quebec Symphony with confident gestures, impressive from the start. Music bursts from the pit, very round, very full. Thus inspired and stimulated, the orchestra’s energy is boundless. The power of the music, its color and timbre, together with the authority of the conducting, attracts our attention many times throughout the performance.
—Le Soleil, Quebec
Fidelio - Bonn Opera in Las Palmas
The Beethovenhalle Orchestra sounded impeccable, this time under the intelligent baton of Eve Queler; it was able to produce from this splendid music an infinity of colours, now dramatic, now lyric, highlighting what was happening on the stage. Stylistically, the result was irreproachable.
—M.R.Sanchez
Elisabetta Regina d’Inghilterra, Teatro Colon - Buenos Aires
The conducting of Eve Queler making her debut here, was excellent, her experience in this repertoire being revealed in the precision of the ensembles and the clarity of instrumental detail. Jennifer Larmore, an expert Rossinian, sang Elisabetta with an even and beautiful voice from bottom to top.
—Eduardo Arnosi, Opera, February 2005
La Fanciulla del West, Carnegie Hall
Queler and the orchestra realized the color and emotion in Puccini’s score fluently, limning the Wild West landscape, the snow, the romance, the adventure and anger effectively.
—Bruce-Michael, Gelbert Theater Scene.net
Tancredi with Frankfurt Opera
Eve Queler’s tempi were perfect…she has a feeling for instrumental details and precisely drawn ensembles. The audience applauded after each number with wild enthusiasm.
—Frankfurter Neue Presse, May 1997
I Puritani in Aarhus, Denmark
Conductor Eve Queler demonstrated from the beginning that she has control of the musical sequence of events. With friendly precision and without many frills, she produced a beautiful orchestra and choir sound, and her accompaniment of the singers was meticulous, vigilant and considerate.
—Aarhus Stiftstidende, 8/30/97
Der Fliegende Hollander in Kassel Germany
Eve Queler, the esteemed conductor from New York, directed the closing performance of The Flying Dutchman… The end result was extraordinary! This was a Dutchman sparkling with full swinging lyrical passages. Nothing was ever forced. The orchestra performed with homogenous and colorful string and brass sounds… Queler’s Dutchman was without strain but not without excitement, and was a very engaging experience.
—Hessische/Niedersachsische Allgemeine, 7/1/96
Fidelio, Guest performance of Opera Bonn
Eve Queler’s excellent internal rhythm resulted in an intelligent game of tension and release which helped the work of the singers and created the atmosphere required by the composer. Exemplary was her demonstration of dramatic force in the beautiful first act quartet and Florestan’s jail scene
Jenufa in Bonn Germany
American conductor Eve Queler’s long operatic experience and thorough knowledge of Jenufa (which includes a recent CD) ensured her success and a sensational debut in Bonn. Under Queler’s direction, the ensemble literally blossomed. She has an energetic grasp, stretching Janacek’s intricate and small themes onto a large frame; the tranquility to fully explore the delicate, tender episodes; and the insight to bring out fully the crescendos. In a word she is a blessing.
—General Anzeiger (Bonn Germany), 10/17/94
La Sonnambula
Conductor Eve Queler’s work in Bellini’s La Sonnambula as presented by her Opera Orchestra is anything but somnolent. The orchestra played crisply with great attention to legato line. Queler here was able to maintain a sense of time stood still at the same time it kept marching onward; she kept the beat firmly in the palm of her hand at the same time keeping the point of the baton in constant, fluid motion. Her tempos were unhurried yet not dragging, and she often paused to let a particular chord or soloists note linger until it fattened to full tone before moving on.
—Willa J. Conrad, The Newark Star-Ledger
Ms Queler conducted sensitively, often letting long spans of Bellini’s undulant accompaniments just be, admirable resisting the temptation to inflate this refined score.
—Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times
La Juive
Ms. Queler conducted the orchestra and the excellent Dallas Symphony Chorus in a surely paced and spacious performance of this over, three hour score. Once again she has rendered opera a service by championing an overlooked work. Her legacy will be large.
—Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times
I Masnadieri
Eve Queler’s Opera Orchestra of New York produced a lusty performance… The evening was thoroughly enjoyable.
—Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times
Breathtakingly presented by Eve Queler’s Opera Orchestra of New York and a band of super singers. The orchestra and chorus were nicely prepared and the packed house went wild often. What would real New York opera lovers do without Eve Queler?
—Robert Levine, epulse
Ernani Carnegie Hall
The conducting, above all, was excellent: an Eve Queler in top form impressed with powerful tempos, confidence, and without confusing excitement with reckless speed. The vitality of Queler’s conducting did not jeopardize the purity of the instrumental sound of the orchestration, which evolved clearly and smoothly.
—L’Opera (Italy)
Tristan und Isolde, Carnegie Hall
The heart of Tristan is in the orchestra, and Ms. Queler led hers well. The level of players was high and they were well, rehearsed. Ms. Queler does the famous prelude slowly, with sensual pleasures slowly tasted. The wonderful woodwind colors were nicely balanced; the strings sounded lovely.
—Bernard Holland, The New York Times
Eve Queler’s concert performance was a victory… The orchestra gave the Metropolitan Opera’s fabled band a run for its money. Queler led a performance full of gallant vigor.
—Justin Davidson, Newsday
Armida, Carnegie Hall
Eve Queler’s rich and expert feel for brio and phrasing gave a sense of urgency and tension beginning in the overture. Her special familiarity and affinity for bel canto gave this performance a particularly dramatic flair as all the participants were swept along by its emotional fervor. The orchestra, with its gorgeous display of violins in the ballet, brought out the fullness of the delicate nuances, rhythm, verve and drive, the basis for a truly electric evening in New York’s musical life, Yet another brilliant testimonial for Eve Queler.
—Bernd Hoppe, Orpheus
Poliuto, Carnegie Hall
Eve Queler often has proved her skill marshalling the forces for a grande machine, and here she shaped the music with graceful flexibility as well.Queler’s forces captured the narrative movement and made an exciting musical evening.
—John Freeman, Opera News
Jerusalem, Carnegie Hall
Eve Queler once again pulled together a fine night. She has the ability to make her orchestra approach the level of the Met, a daunting task for any conductor.
—Ronald Blum, Associated Press
La Cenerentola, Carnegie Hall
Eve Queler gave one of her best performances. Rarely has one had the opportunity to enjoy such a vibrating and vivid Cenerentola, so oozing with rhythm and life.
—L’Opera (Italy)