“The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra was conducted by Gordon Gerrard, not long ago part of the company. Committed and expressive in his treatment of the score, he also chose brisk but sensible tempos, leadings willing CPO in a fine account, including a crisply played overture.”
“Conductor, Gordon Gerrard and Stage Director, Robert Herriot delivered a near pitch perfect production that not only allowed for the required suspension of disbelief, but invited the audience on a transformation to a place of moving heart-tugging reality.”
“Right at the outset, the overture is conducted by the much-travelled Gordon Gerrard for a lightness of energy and buoyancy of momentum, rather than the punctuation of grand musical lines with big chords of which, in Mozart, there are many. Such assertive understatement, in turn, welcomes many nuances in singing at which this vocally-notable cast excels.”
Opera Canada”With minimal cuts from conductor Gordon Gerrard, whose excellent musicality guided a harmonically mature Calgary Opera orchestra through every single chord, the stylistic milieu was perfectly framed for a protracted evening of French lyric tableaux.”
“The performance and the performers were roundly cheered, with special praise for conductor Gordon Gerrard, the orchestra and the chorus…And, as is often the case, the audience was right: these were the best elements in the performance.”
“The youthful yet obviously talented conductor, currently with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, was again a welcoming face from the stage and demonstrated the same class and accessibility that he showcased his last time here.”
“The conductor here, by the way, was Bramwell Tovey’s understudy Gordon Gerrard, and he was in especially good form in the piece that opened the second half of the program, Sofia Gubaidulina’s Descensio. Taken too fast, this invocation of the sacred would be meaningless; too slow, and it would bore. Gerrard got it just right, nailing the mystical Russian’s invocation of the Holy Spirit and all of the raptures that followed.”
“If you’re accustomed to a Rossini with massive tongue-in-cheek chords and full throttle momentum, you’ll find conductor Gordon Gerrard’s twenty-five member orchestra concealed in the pit of the Dofasco Centre for the Arts a constant revelation of the composer’s mind. The orchestra has a chamber dimension to it and thus we become more aware of Rossini’s methods in construction of effects. Interaction of instruments, contrapuntal surprises, placement of distinct tones, subtle shaping of lines all make the band in the pit, through characterizing specifics of orchestration, into an organic character as much as those on stage. We get to hear exactly why Rossini is musically such a fun guy.”
“Gordon Gerrard paid close attention to the singers and made every effort to project the refinements of the score in matters of dynamics, character and tempo.”
Gordon Gerrard dirige l’excellent orchestre et accompagne les récitatifs au clavecin; sa synchronisation des grands ensembles vocaux est parfaite.
“Again having Gordon Gerrard at the HPO podium insured a faultless musical accompaniment.”
