Rafael Payare

Press

• The Royal Opera House / Puccini's Turandot

  The Royal Opera House, London

  Mar 2025 - Apr 2025

  • Above all, Rafael Payare conducts a vivid performance, strong on rhythm and colour and projection.

    • Financial Times
    • 20 March 2025

  • Rafael Payare, Venezuelan-born, grips the score, bringing high energy but also a lot of intuitive care and delicacy to a soundscape that can otherwise be unrelenting.

    • The Guardian
    • 20 March 2025

  • Payare’s frenetic energy led to an exciting performance, full of percussive power to crown an impressive revival for this house favourite.

    • Bachrtack
    • 20 March 2025

  • The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House performs Puccini’s beautiful music at its usual outstanding level under the guidance of conductor Rafael Payare, who demonstrates a strong familiarity and love for the opera.

    • Broadway World
    • 20 March 2025

• San Diego Symphony Orchestra / East Coast tour 2023/24

  Carnegie Hall, New York

  Oct 2023 - Oct 2023

  • The epicenter of symphonic activity in the Golden State seemed to shift southward Friday night, at least in Carnegie Hall, as the San Diego Symphony, led by its music director Rafael Payare, showed it could go toe-to-toe and note-for-note with those more storied ensembles up the coast... The Venezuelan conductor, another proud product of that country’s El Sistema program for young musicians, brought a youthful, dynamic presence to the podium that belied his 43 years.

    • New York Classical Review
    • 14 October 2023

• San Diego Symphony / Season Opening 2023/24

  The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park

  Oct 2023

  • Overseeing all was Payare in a no-holds-barred interpretation. As we’ve come to expect, the symphony musicians responded with enthusiasm in a clean performance chock-full of emotion.

    • The San Diego Union-Tribune
    • 03 October 2023

• Staatskapelle Berlin with Alisa Weilerstein, Berlin Musikfest

  Philharmonie, Berlin

  Sep 2023

  • Unter der Leitung von Rafael Payare zeigte sich die Staatskapelle Berlin auch im Bereich der Avantgarde Weltklasse... Der aus Venezuela stammende Dirigent Rafael Payere dirigierte das komplizierte Werk mit höchster Präzision. Gustav Mahlers Fünfte nach der Pause zeichnete sich durch Entschlackung und tänzerische Leichtigkeit aus. Mahler aus dem Geist des Tangos statt des behäbigen alpenländischen Ländlers... Das Adagietto nahm Payere schnell und zeigte, dass Substanz keine Frage der Tempos ist. Man möchte diesen außergewöhnlichen Dirigenten gerne mal mit Wagner hören. Er hat die erfrischende Art eines Gustavo Dudamel, dessen Meisterschaft in der Klassik in aller Welt neue Maßstäbe gesetzt hat. Was für ein Glück, dass die Welt der Musik keine Grenzen kennt.

    • Berliner Zeitung
    • 10 September 2023

• Los Angeles Philharmonic

  Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles

  Apr 2023 - Apr 2023

  • [Rafael Payare] lit a fire under the orchestra with his weaving, swaying, extremely physical manner of conducting.

    • San Francisco Classical Voice
    • 18 April 2023

• London Symphony Orchestra with Vilde Frang

  Barbican Hall, London

  Feb 2023

  • [Strainsky's Firebird Suite] is hardly an everyday piece – the orchestra is huge, the demands high. But Payare and the LSO’s players triumphed – Payare has a gift for orchestral colour (witness his performances of Latin American works), and it was absolutely in evidence here... Even in the loudest of passages, the result was never purely cacophonous: layers were always audible, the sound striated, while Payare, at the other end of the dynamic scale, had his strings play at what must have been pppp. From the suave excitement of ‘Katschei’s Dance’ to the fragrant charm of ‘Ronde des Princesses’, this was a simply remarkable performance. Rhythms were supremely well pointed throughout – a vital component of understanding Stravinsky. An exceptional concert from a remarkable conductor, virtuoso soloist and world-class orchestra. Payare’s return is already eagerly anticipated.

    • Seen and Heard International
    • 24 February 2023

• Rossini's Barber of Seville, Covent Garden

  Royal Opera House, London

  Feb 2023 - Feb 2023

  • ***** I don’t know whether or not Rafael Payare bakes. But either way, he served up the ultimate lemon meringue pie at Covent Garden last night, in the shape of the overture to Il barbiere di Siviglia: a buttery base of low strings below a tangy filling of woodwind, topped by the airiest, fluffiest meringue of violins. It was light, it was airy, it was enthusiastically accented, it was rhythmically on the nail and it elicited the biggest ovation for an opera overture I can remember – and deservedly so, because it set the scene for an evening of buffa entertainment that never faltered... with exemplary direction, vivacious playing under Payare’s baton and a singing cast of this quality, it’s a winner. Grab the remaining seats while you can.

    • Bachtrack
    • 03 February 2023

  • **** The fast-rising Venezuelan — a shining product of that country’s El Sistema music education project, and now music director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra — injects so much energy and pace into the score that you feel the ensembles are swept along on a whirlwind. Yet never do the singers seem rushed, nor the rapport between pit and stage put under strain. It’s all perfectly judged.

    • The Times
    • 03 February 2023

• Orchestre symphonique de Montréal / North American Tour 2022/23

  Carnegie Hall, New York

  Mar 2023

  • Payare is in his first season as music director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and the collaborative feeling between conductor and orchestra in the Mahler symphony was that of a seasoned relationship. Payare is a dynamic presence on the podium, physically active and attentive to detail... Beyond Payare’s in-the-moment direction, his preparation came through in the excellent pace, dynamics, and balances within and through the orchestra. There are so many opportunities to pick and choose details to highlight, and the playing shone a spotlight on the wonderful wind colors in this orchestra, especially the unusually nasal double-reeds and a dark trumpet sound. The articulation of details in the strings, things like quick 16th-note rests toward the end of phrases and moments of portamento, were superb.

    • New York Classical Review
    • 08 March 2023

• Orchestre symphonique de Montréal / European Tour 2022/23

  Royal Festival Hall, London

  Oct 2022

  • **** Payare made [Shostakovich’s tenth symphony] sound cogent, if scarily neurotic, from its tragic opening to the supposedly triumphant but ambiguous ending.

    • The Times
    • 31 October 2022

• Orchestre symphonique de Montréal / Season Opening 2023/24

  Maison symphonique de Montréal

  Sep 2023

  • Rafael Payare fait véritablement « jouer » l’OSM et quand l’OSM joue à ce point et ce niveau on ne revient quasiment pas de ce qu’on entend. L’expérience renoue avec les grandes émotions de concert que pouvait nous donner un Evgueni Svetlanov avec son Orchestre d’État de Russie ou, j’imagine, jadis, Charles Munch. On se demandait un jour si Rafael Payare allait pouvoir renouveler « l’effet Zubin Mehta » à Montréal. Il n’est là que depuis 1 an et on est déjà à l’égal ou au-dessus et dans les 2e et 3e de Mahler, le Sacre… même pour un fan du Zubin Mehta des années 70. Je ne suis pas un spécialiste de jeux de hasards et loteries : mais ce chef c’est le Jackpot, la boule d’or et « grande vie » réunis.

    • Le Devoir
    • 13 September 2023