“[On Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8] Usually considered a folksy and rustic work with some ruggedness thrown in here and there, Villaume and the orchestra fashioned an overtly dramatic account of almost Mahlerian proportions.

Villaume has considerable experience in the theater; he is also music director of Dallas Opera, and in March he conducts Gounod at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. At Soka Performing Arts Center he worked in a theatrical manner, using big and vigorous motions as if he had to be seen onstage from a pit.

The orchestra didn’t overreact, but it certainly paid abiding attention to his urging. The symphony unwound in a range of articulation, accent and nuance. Melodic phrases were ever supple. Dynamic contrasts were huge.

The PKF showed a wonderful precision (even in slow passages) and easy cohesion. The strings had a bright, even brilliant sound, but were never brittle. The winds and brass displayed some piquant colors, crystalline flutes, faraway oboes, peppery horns…”

– Los Angeles Times

 

“Villaume was an imposing presence on the podium, shaping the sound with oversized, effective gestures. At times, he palmed his baton to sculpt phrases and finesse dynamics with fluid hand and finger motions. Stick pointing down, he conjured string section lines with beckoning fingers, as if tickling or squeezing the sound, imbuing it with motion, infusing it with life.”

Arms frequently raised to full height above his head, Villaume evinced warm musicality and heartfelt drama from the orchestra. His timing was masterly, knowing when to push the tempo or to hold back on a sensuous line, finding the right placement for musical entrances and gauging imperceptible buildups to climaxes.

The musicians reacted to Villaume with a near-telepathic response, as sympathetic to his conducting as a piano is to a virtuoso’s fingers…”

– The San Diego Union-Tribune

 

“A hulking dervish on the podium, the exuberant French maestro Emmanuel Villaume led this spunky Czech orchestra. With his long arms constantly flailing in exaggerated but unmistakable gestures, were he to be spied at a distance by Don Quixote, the fabled knight would surely mount an attack without hesitation. But his energetic style evoked a consistently vibrant response from his 64 musicians, who produced as virile and vital a sound as many larger orchestras.”

– San Diego Story

 

“[Emmanuel Villayme] … conducts with an energetic, even muscular style. Villaume makes use of a baton, but for long sweeping passages he places the baton on the podium and conducts with his arms and hands supplying broad, sweeping gestures. Emmanuel Villaume made his San Francisco Symphony debut in 2000, and since then he has conducted many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York. He also serves as Music Director of Dallas Opera. In this concert, Villaume’s rendition of Smetana’s The Moldau was robust, yet he managed to bring out all the rich scene-painting of Smetana’s musical depiction of the River Moldau as it runs through forests and meadows, then swirls through rapids as it makes its way toward Prague.”

– The Berkley Daily Planet