"...the remarkably talented clarinettist, Timothy Orpen."
Evening Standard
“Who are the best young British musicians around today? Well, I offer you clarinettist, Timothy Orpen…”
The Telegraph Online
“Given the right combination of blazing talent and invigorating sounds, the [Park Lane Group] formula can still create something fizzing. It happened last Wednesday when the Australian-born clarinettist Timothy Orpen and his piano partner Alison Farr, both acrobatic virtuosos, pranced and burbled through the fearsome demands of Maxwell Davies’s Hymnos. No leaping squawk was too excessive for Orpen…”
The Times
“Orpen was superb throughout in fact… They saved the real blood and thunder for the end, however, in the shape of a near-faultless performance of Peter Maxwell Davies's fiendish Hymnos (1967). Orpen's tone ranged from an astonishingly piercing top note to the barely audible depths in which the piece ends...”
The Classical Source
“…Timothy Orpen is an exceptional clarinettist surely destined for great things. He presents an exciting and diverse programme that appeals to a wide audience… kept the audience on their toes, following the story of the piece as if words were falling from his instrument… effortless playing…”
Brighton Festival Review
“Opening the evening with Schubert's 'Der Hirt auf dem Felsen', soprano Lucy Crowe, Simon Lepper on piano and a particularly brilliant clarinettist Timothy Orpen gave a bright and passionate performance.”
Three Weeks Magazine - Edinburgh Festival
“…performed with consummate taste, using the liberal doses of rubato the piece requires but without excess or artifice. The sound was warm, full and immediately engaging, the sort of sound that needs no vibrato to give it interest. Awkward upper register issues were dispatched with such ease as to leave only the other clarinet players in the audience to even guess as to their difficulty. The considerable technical demands of the final page showed formidable digital dexterity that allowed shape and direction to take precedence over mechanical execution.
The Poulenc, an altogether different piece, showed an altogether different approach. Here the sound was deliberately brighter and a bit more penetrating, a sound more in keeping with what the composer may have had in mind. Rhythms were crisp and accurate but not at the expense of the longer phrase.
It was an altogether impressive debut from one of our rising young stars.”
Clarinet & Saxophone Magazine
"In Finzi's gorgeous Clarinet Concerto, the suberb Australian soloist was always in command of the intricate score. His bright singing tone and effortless technical mastery were particularly noticable in the central Adagio....
In Weber's Clarinet Concertino, the soloist, besides displaying technical brilliance, showed a charming sense of phrasing."
Bristol Evening Post
