Rave reviews for Gemma New with BBCNOW from The London Times and Guardian

Photo Credit: Yusef Bastawy

The Times of London writes:

“it is bursting with memorable ideas, is attractively accessible in style and gives the impression that a series of long-suppressed emotions, from elation to anguish, are constantly erupting. No doubt many of us felt something similar towards the end of lockdown. But it takes a fine composer to craft them so persuasively into a symphonic structure, reminiscent of Sibelius in its pulsating accelerandos and craggy brass refrains, but with very 21st-century harmonic twists. It was passionately played here under the impeccably organised New Zealand conductor Gemma New.”

Read the full article here.

The Guardian writes:

“New conducted with grace and discipline, and it was the underlying driving momentum, present throughout, that finally propelled the symphony towards what Watkins had felt as a necessary “upward rush of optimism”. It certainly lifted the spirits.”

Read the full article here.