Last week Jon Malaxetxebarria received favourable reviews for his concerts in the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra’s main season.
“Elgar’s ‘Enigma Variations’ is a good piece to prove the ability of a conductor, since each variation has such contrasting personality… It was a classic interpretation in front of an orchestra that played very well for him. The young conductor Jon Malaxetxebarria had control of the score’s fluctuations and of the orchestra, and the respect of the musicians. In our opinion he has set the foundation to become an internationally recognised conductor, and we await the success that experience and hard work will bring.” (Jesús Mari Begoña, Berria)
“Malaxetxebarria rose to the huge challenge of bringing out the individuality of each variation, without losing the coherence of the work as a whole, showing good phrasing in the long melodic lines…” (Asier Vallejo Ugarte, Klassikbidea)
See the full review here (Berria, in Basque)
Listen to Jon’s interview in Spanish on Radio Euskadi here
