“… Yoel Gamzou, Kassel’s 1st Kapellmeister, showed in a moving manner how radically modern and emotionally direct Puccini’s music truly is, instead of the all too often heard kitsch-interpretations. He treats this music with total flexibility and creates extremely precise tension and suspense. He lets Puccini’s immense emotions become truly substantial, exactly by preferring precision to dishonest pathos. Long applause and many bravos for this opening of the season… “ Werner Fritsch, HNA
“[Yoel Gamzou] gave a most thrilling debut in Kassel with Beethoven’s “Fidelio”. One hasn’t experienced such furor in Kassel for a very long time. Already in the opening motto of the overture, you could tell he experiences the music with his entire body. It was precisely the freedom in tempi, the sometimes-extreme acceleration and deceleration, that make his vision of Beethoven so gripping. Much of it sounds electrifying, as for example the introduction to Florestan’s dungeon scene. The Kassel orchestra played quite literally at the edge of their chairs. All in all, the staging doesn’t quite come close to the level of the music, as the sensation of this premiere was Yoel Gamzou.” Georg Pepl, Frankfurter Rundschau
“At the end, alongside the soloists, the audience cheered particularly the conductor Yoel Gamzou and the orchestra. And rightly so, because how often does one hear Verdi’s Rigoletto so immediate and so gripping, stripped of anything mechanical, painted with refined orchestral colours and – at all ends of acts – with such compelling, fierce power?” Werner Fritsch, HNA
“… similarly versatile were the sounds from the pit, where Yoel Gamzou inspired the orchestra to a plastic Verdi-interpretation, full of contrast. The 1st Kapellmeister, who conducts with burning intensity and who incites furor in Kassel, creates a thrilling drive through his freedom of tempi and timing. He creates with the chorus some electrifying crescendi… “ Georg Pepl, Frankfurter Rundschau
“… It was Yoel Gamzou who was mainly responsible for the depth of the evening. The 1st Kapellmeister, whose departure shall be even more strongly regretted after this evening, manages to rid Rossini’s music of all mechanical aspects, through flexible and reactive music-making. He accompanies the singers with suspense, yet subtly. And he gives the lyrical aspect of the piece, alongside the dramatic ones, enough space. A truly contemporary Rossini vision, which was rewarded with intense applause” Werner Fritsch, HNA