Reviews
JANE GLOVER, conductor
MOB's orchestra has long given members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and top area freelancers a chance to perform interesting music they don't get much chance to play with other groups. And British conductor Jane Glover has taken them to an entirely new level since coming on board as music director in 2002.
That much was clear from their finely poised performances of two late Haydn symphonies, Nos. 102 and 104 ("London") Monday night at the Harris. Glover scaled her forces down to chamber proportions, blending strings and winds instead of playing up the different timbres as do many period bands. The clarity of her Haydn was matched by its unfailing good taste and deft sense of proportion.
Chicago Tribune, January 2011
The Top 10 Performances of 2010
... 4. Jane Glover and Music of the Baroque in Bach's Christmas Oratorio
Music of the Baroque had many inspired nights in 2010—the Mozart Requiem among them—but it was the brilliantly played and sung performance of Bach’s glorious Christmas Oratorio earlier this month that proved most memorable. ...
Lawrence A. Johnson, Chicago Classical Review
Top 5 Classical Concerts 2010
Riccardo Muti Inaugural Concert at Millennium Park, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Berlioz Episode in the Life of an Artist, Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Beethoven Festival, Bernard Haitink and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Boulez@85, MusicNOW
Bach Christmas Oratorio, Jane Glover and Music of the Baroque Orchestra and Chorus
Dennis Polkow, Newcity
"Her Mozart, though often mellow-edged and full of opulently sculpted swoops and leaps, is always light on its feet. Even at its most delicate, however, it is never fragile or brittle. The musical lace is spun from almost transparent but always unbreakable thread.
"There is something organic about the performances Glover draws from her musicians. The orchestral music seems to flow as naturally as a mighty, if changeable, river."
Chicago Sun-Times (MOB Mozart)
"Jane Glover's conducting was a model of sound musicality and unbridled enthusiasm."
Independent (The Magic Flute, July 2008)
"...so beautifully wrought was Sunday's performance under conductor Jane Glover, that you never felt you were looking at Mahler through the wrong end of a telescope...Mahler's textures and counterpoint took on a startling clarity; instrumental details projected with unusual freshness, charm and presence...Glover coaxed wonderfully ripe rubato phrasings from her 12 players, scaled climaxes deftly but never lost her grip on the grand design."
Chicago Tribune (Mahler 4, May 2008)
"Glover enforces stylistic authority and cumulative verve with an understanding hand in the pit."Chicago Tribune (Don Giovanni, May 2008)
"Jane Glover conducts with live pacing, glowing sound and wistful beauty. "New York Times (King Arthur, March 2008)
"Only seismic applause could've brought this celestial night back to reality, and did it ever."
Chicago Sun Times (St. Matthew Passion, March 2008)
"Jane Glover held the reigns in the pit with sovereign mastery, conducting the entire score from memory, and drawing the best Mozartean colours from the orchestra, making it sparkle."
Le Nozze di Figaro (Detroit, November 2007)
"Glover's attention to detail and ear for transparecy inspired the MOT orchestra to a fine sheen and her rapport with the singers was just as illuminating."
Detroit Free Press (Le Nozze di Figaro, November 2007)
"Jane Glover, increasingly an essential part of the furniture of Chicago\'s music scene, had a hit three years ago with Haydn's most widely known such work, "The Creation," and followed that up with this week\'s performances of "The Seasons" of 1801, the master's last major work...Glover breathes this music, as she does that of Mozart's operas. When will we hear her with the CSO? She understands Haydn's style, time and world without ever coming off as pedantic or academic. Just the opposite: Glover knows that this was a composer who knew how to express infectious joy."
Chicago Sun Times (The Seasons, September 2007)
"Jane Glover conducts this masterly score with a perfect mixture of sensuality and perkiness."
The Times (King Arthur, ENO)
"Glover coaxes moments of intense lyricism from Purcell's enchanting score, his daring harmonies and dance rhythms."
The Guardian (King Arthur, ENO)
Press Quotes
KMI
