Dresdner Neueste … 19.10.2009
Romantik pur – When Brahms, Schumann, and Mendelssohn Bartholdy find themselves together on a concert programme, then there can be no better title than the one that GMD Michele Carulli has chosen. The first season’s concert of the Saxony State Theatre was an excursion into the past that was enthusiastically received, full of longing and emotion. It is always a wonder how the orchestra and its GMD, with their engagement and knowledge, overcome the spatial limitations of Radebeul and offer performances that are great and well worth hearing. The musicians and the conductor have mutual respect and trust – as was clear not only from the words spoken by Michele Carulli at the conclusion of the concert, but also from the concert itself. With intense feeling, colour and sparkle one was immersed in the mysterious and beautiful sound of the Hebrides Overture op.26. No less pleased was one with Schumann’s only cello concerto, in which the soloist can create tonally so well out of its fullness. Olivia Jeremias, now solo cellist in Hamburg, produced a tone that was beguilingly warm, spiritual, caressing, and technically perfect. The harmony between soloist and orchestra was exact. Brahms’s 4th Symphony: Carulli demanded with grand gestures and temperament like a conjuror everything from his orchestra. And so one experienced a differentiated and energetic engagement with the work which did justice to the tart basic tone and the earnest magnitude of the symphony. The musical course was successfully depicted with tension, and the content and shape were maintained with balance. Specially to be mentioned were the winds who played with noteworthy quality. Great applause at the end.
Dresdner Neueste … 12.10.2009
The production under the baton of Generalmusikdirector Michele Carulli is succesful. The melodious music is fresh and presented with all possible contrast and comfortable tempi. The chorus (especially the men) directed by Sebastian Matthias Fischer introduces itself with distinction. The ladies among the soloists have great opportunities that they use well. Christina Elbe as Maria gives both her big arias just that lyrical format that demonstrates Lortzing’s love for Mozart. Silke Ritter as Irmentraud the teacher is a highlight in her witty swansong about the men. Haken Ergrath, maker of arms, has the rogueishness, tone, and multifacettedness to show the ambiguities and shallownesses of his part. Fred Bonitz is the Duke of Liebenau, Andreas Petzoldt is the Knappe Georg, Michael König and Kay Frenzel ar two comic characters, the refreshing ensemble parts stand out. …
Dresdner Neueste … 28.4.09
Beethoven’s Symphony Nr.5 and Tchaikovski’s Nr.4. Michele Carulli was able to please with both these heavyweights in succession because he did not regard the music’s earnestness as central, but rather transmitted effortlessly to the audience his own enjoyment of it. The resulting effect was totally unexpected. … The performanace had taut opening tempo and tight contours, sharp contrast between the driving, newly demanding thrust and the elegantly played lyrical passages. Everything was formed with intensity. The energy was effectfully concentrated in the last two movements: feelings of triumph and assuredness in the intermission. The orchestra played with a sense of unity that was most pleasing. Likewise was the relaxed way that Carulli let them play, generously allowing wide berth and free movement. … Peter Tchaikovski gave clear indications of a personal tinge to the content of the 4th Symphony, that sees the world as the space of one’s own existence and places the self in the centre. Carulli brought out vividly this conflict between solitude and the hunger for life, and the impact of the tragic moments could not have been greater. …From brilliant colouration of the soulful passages, all the way to wan fading sections of the work, wonderfully lively the pizzicato in the third movement , radiantly shimmering richness in the finale. It was a Tchaikovski that was thoughtful without descending to depression, rousing without pretence: an effective mixture that was received gratefully and with tremendous applause.
Dresdner Neueste … 16.3.09
Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No.103 in E flat major is only inadequately described by its usual identification “with the drumroll”. The conductor Michele Carulli interpreted the work not in the manner it usually is, and nevertheless the orchestra was in its usual formation. The steady change of musical character that goes through all four movements was accepted by Carulli at face value. He shaped each delicate part with musical engagement in its own expression: solemn or merry, the contrast of movement against each other followed at once by union in a single great line. Notable overall was the multidimensional dynamics. Haydn so performed was most refreshing and entertaining, because it avoided academic underlining and simply provided great pleasure.
Sächsische Zeitung, 2.1.2009
... Michele conductet Beethoven´s Ninth with emphasis. He enjoys zhe grand gesture. An absolute reflection of human existence an aspiration. He wants to communicate this as directly as possible to the audience. His conventional but thoroughly considered interpretation was successfully implemented by the Landesbühne Orchestra, Chorus, Singakademie and soloists, along with exuberant expressions and direct appeal to the listener. ... In spite of impulsive tempi and gestures, the performance remained disciplined and well-rounded. That led in a balanced way to an interpretaion that aimed at revealed development rather than contrast, at the overall concept rather than ambitious accents.
Dresder Neueste … 28.10.08
Carulli moulded with full force the interpretation, temperamentful, sensitive to sound, very precise, and thus exciting for the whole company. The Orchestra of the State Theatre performed with passion and radiant colour … The combined choruses of the State Theatre and the Singakademie of Dresden provided a most expressive and acoustically rich force, from which Carulli could demand everything. The singing was differentiated and convincing in form – from the almost unbelievably tender “Requiem aeternam” at the beginning, through the marked bass chorus in “Rex tremendae” and its involvement with the awkward “Sanctus” that Verdi treated as a double fugue, up to the delicately imploring “Libera me” at the end. …
Dresdner Neueste … 16.06.08
The Felsenbühne in Rathen is without doubt the perfect stage for Der Freischütz. No viewer can miss the absolute concordance between fiction and fact. One gets the impression that the magical, natural setting affects everything. The orchestra, under its conductor GMD Michele Carulli, achieves already with the opening measures of the overture a mood of magic and romance. … Novalis said in his time “The world must be romanticized.” He went on to make his meaning more precise: “Give the usual the aspect of an unusual; the known the respect of the unknown; the finite the mark of the infinite.” The Rathen Der Freischütz totally fulfils these measures.
Sächsische Zeitung … 14.1.08
Rusalka is the water maiden who abandons everything for love. Antonin Dvorak composed a lyrical fairy tale out of this story. The work celebrated its premiere under the baton of Michele Carulli at the Saxony State Theatre with an opulent performance. Chorus, orchestra, and soloists brought the work to vibrant life. … A conciliatory conclusion. Great and mounting applause for an exciting evening of opera of challenging conception and high musical quality.
Il Tempo, 22 November 1997
Outstanding concert by RAI Orchestra under Michele Carulli
Serenades by Strauss and Mozart in sparkling spirit
Precise and conscientious is the conducting style of the young Michele Carulli, who comes from Apulia and completed his musical studies in Milan. We can again announce with joy the brilliance of an Italian conductor, at last!
La Repubblica, 7 March 1998
RAI Orchestra and Conductor outstanding
When Michele flirts with Mozart
Michele Carulli is a gentle conductor. One of those who take the podium, and exchange a look with the orchestra - and one already knows that for him the making of music is of the highest. And indeed without prancing around, swinging arms, or gesturing dramatically. lt suffices him simply to stand quietly, to let the music flow and to lead it. Carulli has thus in this maiuier conducted the RAI National Orchestra through the silken passages of Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante KV 297b, and achieved a superb result with his charming flirtation with the score. The 70-minute long Eighth Symphony of Shostakovitch appeared to spread at first a certain unease over the audience. However, Carulli achieved a wonder: time and again could be heard remarkable approaches of interpretation which he displayed with all of the assurance of a passionate and tender lover of the music.
La Gazetta del Mezzogiorno, 11 April 1999
Oper. Maestro Carulli, the singers Longo and De Angelis
Three Apulians lct Rom Gnecco be rediscovered
Michele Carulli's conducting has transparence, fluidity, and temperament. Thus he succeeds in blending the chamber group of the Rome Opera Orchestra with an ensemble which forms a good team.
Il Messagero, Rome, 11 January 1999
Gavrilov at the piano
Russian Hour at the Opera
Has a miracle happened? The Rome Opera Orchestra appears to have learnt perfect Russian in just a few weeks! Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto, Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kije, and Stravinsky's Firebird - thanks to Michele Carulli's excellent conducting, all three works in the Russian programme received interpretations that were convincing and assured, and possessed intense orchestral colours.
T L Z Weimar, 29 November 2000
Music plumbs the depths of romantic paintings
Symphony concert of the Staatskapelle with a premiere
A person may or may not have cared for Richard Strauss's symphonic tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra. But that person would have cast all doubts overboard when she, or he, experienced the performance of this work by the Staatskapelle of Weimar conducted by Michele Carulli. Here was a performance that was steeped in radiantly glittering colours, and allowed the work to be seen as all it could also be: a rousing piece of music that was extremely well arranged dramaturgically and driven by musical vivacity. All this, and more: as Carulli perceived it, the music invited a gigantic intensification, even an exaggeration, which made a good figure throughout. The Staatskapelle grew into a flexible instrument in the hands of the conductor, reacting with spontaneity. Minor stumbling blocks were flooded over by the elemental force of maelstromlike musicianship. They reached a high point of sensuous sound with the glowingly warm Espressivo of waltzlike melody, reminiscent even of Salome and Rosenkavalier.
Wiesbadener Tagblatt, 16 January 2001
About Bartók at the Opera
The National Youth Orchestra is convincing at Sunday concert
Carulli conducted with a baton technique that was elegant, precise, stimulating. One experienced a fascinating interpretation of Bluebeard's Castle, a one-act work loaded with symbolism. This was followed by Debussy's symphonic poem La Mer, conducted by Carulli with care and attention to what was significant. The applause of the enthusiastic audience in the packed Kurhaussaal seemed not to wish to end.
Wiesbadener Kurier, 16 January 2001
Symphony in seven soulful scenes
National Youth Orchestra delights with Bartók
A concert-sensation! Michele Carulli, substituting for Heinz Holliger as conductor, led the Youth Orchestra over the hurdles in the score [of Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle] with clearly shaped, precise, and unambiguous signals from the podium. He shaped Bartok's one-act work into a symphony in seven soulful scenes. Carulli brought out these tone-paintings with unerring feeling. And he accomplished without losing his breath, so to speak, the completion of the circular form which Bartok aimed at. Indeed a great concert, which began with the seamlessly alternating crescendos and diminuendos of the first Lohengrin prelude, then the expanded filigreelike world of sound of Debussy's La Mer, and finally the deeply intense interpretation of Bluebeard's Castle.
Hamburger Abendblatt, 12 January 2001
Grail-like radiance and Kammerspiel
The National Youth Orchestra at St. Michael's
In spite of the limited time available for rehearsals, Carulli clearly was able to establish contact with his youthful musicians, and skilfully steered the orchestra around all the hurdles in the demanding programme. The preludes to the first and third acts of Richard Wagner's Lohengrin [which opened the concert] already made one sit up and take notice. lt is not every day that one hears even from a professional orchestra such grail-like radiance, such splendour of the A major key.
Der Bund, Bern, 4 January 2001
Successful Beginning to Verdi Year
Bern Symphony Orchestra
The Apulian conductor Michele Carulli, the Venetians Giuseppina Piunti (soprano) and Renzo Zulian (tenor), and the Bern Symphony Orchestra (BSO) which played with cultivation: all these artistes came together to form an ensemble of the highest quality of musical interpretation. It was thus no surprise that they were overwhelmed with jubilant oyations. Michele Carulli demonstrated his close intimacy with the world of Italian opera through his interpretations that were authentic and rousingly accented.
Saarbrücker Zeitung, 15.6.2004
Der Troubadour ... La Ola für das Staatsorchester, den Opernchor und den bravourösen "Spielmacher" Michele Carulli. Der stellvertretende Generalmusikdirektor der Saarbrücker Bühne ist bei Verdi ganz bei sich. Da dirigiert einer, der jeden musikalischen Einfall Verdis erspürt, die konsequent mit dem Orchester erarbeitet un so eine exzellente Durchhörbarkeit der Partitur beschert. Sauber kommen auch die Pässe vom Graben zur Bühne: Tempo, Klangbalance – alles top. ...
Saarbrücker Zeitung, 27.12.2004
Dirigent Michele Carulli war hörbar in seinem Element. Donizettis Musik, von wenigen dramatischen Momenten abgesehen viel zu liebenswürdig für diese rabenschwarze Thematik, wurde vom Staatsorchester mit kraftvollem Zugriff und schönen Soli umgesetzt. Ein Abend, an dem das Staatstheater zeigte, was es kann. Und warum man es braucht. ...
>Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten<, 2005
"The interpretation was emotionally compact, balanced and pliable in regard to the orchestral timbre, all honouring Mozart with a noticeable amount of joy and love. And all of this being accomplished with a respectable amount of technical and tonal raffinesse. The chemistry between the orchestra an Michele Carulli just seems to work"
>Sächsische Zeitung<, 2005
"The way the Italien went about forming this trditional work was exciting and unconventional. He conveyed Beethoven´s symphonic work through his emphatic, high-tempered and expressive body language. The Orchestra allowed itself to be led, pushed and subdued by him ... with barely a lift of his finger he caused the hidden beauty of several woodwind passages to gleam, and unleashed martial powers in the orchestra with a mighty gesture."
Dresdner Neuste Nachrichten, 18.10.2005
Michele Carulli scheint von seinem neuen Wirkungsort, wo er für zunächst drei Jahre verpflichtet ist, so herzlich wie ehrlich angenommen worden zu sein. Mit seinem GMD dürften die Landesbühnen Sachsen sich selbst beschenkt haben.
>Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten<, 2006
"Neither orchestra nor audience wre capable of escaping the spell which Carulli´sinspiring conducting put upon them. It was a truly furious concert!"
>Das Orchester<, 2006
"The focal point of the evening was the world premier piece, which was played excellently ...
a worthy concert program far removed from the usual, beaten path ..."
>Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten<, 2007
"Enchanting, the way the natural emotionality and intimacy of the simple Andante melody were transformed into pure listening pleasure! Orchestra and soloist were bound together under Carullis precise and sparse conducting into an inspiring, musical cooperation."
>Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten<, 2007
"... Carulli and his musicians are very much in tune with one another, reacting with sensitivity an creativity - wonderful."
Dresdner Neuste Nachrichten, 5.3.2007
Staunen und Jubel standen am Ende des 3. Sinfoniekonzertes der Landesbühnen Sachsen, zu dem GMD Michele Carulli geladen hatte ... Das Orchester der Landebühnen unter seinem Chef schöpfte alle klanglichen Möglichkeiten des für das Werk keinesfalls optimalen Raumes aus und brillierte mit einer geschlossenen, emotionsdichten Wiedergabe, die die Brüche nicht verdeckte und vor allem eines hatte: eine nie erlahmende Spannung, die den Hörer nicht los ließ. ... Eine Überraschung ist dann der Schluß, ein "Morendo" voller Resignation und Stille. Carulli und seine Musiker verstanden sich auch dabei auf Sensibilität und gestalterisches Augenmaß – wunderbar.
Sächsische Zeitung, 5.3.2007
The particular event was Shostakovitch´s 8th Symphony, composed in 1943. Carulli laid bare the characteristics of the Symphony in a way that showed his deep understanding of its content. The tone was at a high emotional level, ... Further, under Carulli´sconducting, the work remained one of the most affecting musical expressions of grief of the 20th century. And this was so despite the occasionally exuberant pasion of the music tha Carulli demandedfrom the musicians with large physical gestures.
Sächsische Zeitung, 23.4.2007
Zugreifend ist Michele Carullis Gestus an diesem Sonnabend an den Sächsischen Landesbühnen in Radebeul. ... Das kann man sehen, wenn Carulli mit großen, fahrigen Gesten und fast schon dirigentendarstellerischen Posen sein Orchester zu stürmenden und drängenden Passagen anspornt oder Bläserakkorde präzise formt. Auf Effekt und Kontrast in Tempo und Volumen hat er es in den martialischen und mit Präzision angelegten Episoden der Verdi-Ouvertüren zu " Nabucco", "Macht des Schicksals" oder "Sizilianische Vesper" abgesehen. ... Mit Intensität und klarer Struktur, mit schönen Steigerungswellen und einem konzentrieten Ton werden die musikalsichen Emotionen von Vorspiel und Liebestod aus Richard Wagners "Tristan" zur überzeugenden Interpretation diese beachtlichen Abends. ...
Dresdner Neuste Nachrichten, 15.10.2007
Puccini´s Tosca ... In Michele Carulli there stood a conductor who challenged unremittingly. Carulli kept the music flowing, guided the Landesbühne Orchestra skilfully through the richly varied musical subtext. Brute force with great gestures hurt the ears but Carulli also provided tender counterpoint with the few lyrical passages in the score.
Sächsische Zeitung, 16.10.2007
Puccini´s opera Tosca ... GMD Michele Carulli offered with his outstanding Landesbühne Orchestra an impressive Puccini at the Saxon State Opera where the classic opera had a premiere on Saturday.Carulli´s vital style is reflected in the quality of the orchestra: how discriminating their playing is, with how much temperament the climayes are formed, how ravishing a piano passage sounds. ... Thanks to Puccini, thanks to beautifull voices, and thanks to Maestro Carulli, all posibillities became realities and what was promised was delivered. The artistes were tumultously celebrated by the public.
www.klassik.com, 10.2007
Concert pearls from Italy ... Gian Franco Malipiero, Piano Concertos nos. 1-6 ... Such a kind of music demands a special approach, and there is no doubt in my mind that Bartoli knows how one sets about it. Depending on the character of each concerto, he sets the piano part between lyrical and hymnal breadth, rhythmically precise, and elastically articulated playing and finely woven perfomance of filigree-like musical fabric. His performance convinces with a large measure of a wealth of feeling, which impels him to high achievement with the wonderfully sounding orchestra under the baton of Michele Carulli.
Morgenpost, 14.1.2008
"Rusalka" an den Landesbühnen Sachsen ... Auch das Orchester wartet dank GMD Michele Carulli mit Höchstleistungen auf ...
Sächsische Zeitung, 14.1.2008
Antonín Dvorák´s Rusalka had ist premiere luxuriosly celebrated on Saturday at the Landesbühne Sachsen under the direction of Maestro Michele Carulli. Chorus, orchestra and soloists all brought it to life. ... Great, ever mounting, applause for an exeiting evening of opera with stimulating conception and rich musical quality.
Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten, 14.1.2008
Antonín Dvorák´s Rusalka ... What chorus and orchestra of the Saxon State Theatre are able to create magically out of the given limitations of space, fits perfectly the flowery poetical subject matter. Michele Carulli delineates from his heart the score as he lets it be expressed in beautiful tones. Entirely in resonance with the pastoral wall colours, that let no doubt arise about the fairy tale nature of Rusalka.
Sächsische Zeitung, 16.6.2008
Weber`s Freischütz ... Michele Carulli conducts the hits and the many less popular delicacies with much emphasis and melting melodiousness.
Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten, 16.6.2008
The new Freischütz ... The orchestra under the baton of GMD Michele Carulli achieves rightaway with the opening bars of the overture a mood that is absolutely fairytale-like.
Dresdner Neuste Nachrichten, 14.10.2008
Don Pasquale ... GMD Michele Carulli spurs on unremittingly the orchestra and ensemble with large gestures ... .
Sächsische Zeitung, 27.10.2008
Giuseppe Verdi´s Messa da Requiem ... Michele Carulli plumbed the dynamical extremes of the work. He let the orchestra pray in silky pianissimo for eternal peace, befor with fist reaching for heaven like a raging beacon, he called up the day of reckoning. Pure intonation of brass parts, sensitively arranged tonal colours of strings and woodwinds, bear witness to the painstaking work of orchestra and conductor. ... The soloists now and then did seem to get a bit ahead of the orchestra, but Maestro Carulli always maintained tempo and also reined back – when needed – the loudness of the ensemble. Standing ovations, five curtain calls for soloistsand other musicians: an enchanting evening!
SZ Online-Magazin, 10.2008
GMD Michele Carulli has so prepared his orchestra for Donizetti´s Don Pasquale, that all that the production contained, rang out with bounce and mood, and drew Italien sparkle from the German orchestra. At the end was sustained applause. ...
Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten, 28.10.2008
With total dedication ... Verdi´sRequiem ... Carulli knelt with full commitment in the interpretation: temperamental, sensuous in sound, extremely precise, and for all who were there tremendously exciting, ... The combined choir of the Landesbühne and the Singakademie Dresden formed a strongly expressive and tonally intensive force from which Carulli on this evening could demand everything. ...
>Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten<, 2008
"The Orchestra of the Landesbühnen Sachsen, led by its "Chief", shone with a balanced, emotionally compact interpretation, exposing contrasting elements and marked by one characteristic in particular: a never-ending tension which refused to lesson its hold on the listener."