“He was able to get the kind of precision in the complex ensembles that one expects of a top Italian maestro in this repertoire… Thanks to Lam’s witty and precise conducting, the ensembles went with an authentically madcap Rossinian zing.”
HUGH CANNING, OPERA MAGAZINE
“Lam led a beautifully paced opening, in which the first movement’s faster music slithered out of the Adagio, before unspooling a long-breathed reading of the symphony that favoured colour and sonic effect”
ANGUS MCPHERSON, LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE
“Cilea’s vividly coloured score, superbly played by the City of London Sinfonia under the detailed direction of Dane Lam, takes this mundane tale of a broken heart to the level of grand tragedy, driving it ever onwards towards doom.”
STEPHEN PRITCHARD, THE OBSERVER
“Brisbane-born Dane Lam, a young and rising talent, conducted the opening performance with muscular urgency … he was the beating heart and emotional centre of a glorious work given a truly memorable staging.”
DEBORAH JONES, THE AUSTRALIAN
“As ringleader in the OHP big top, Dane Lam was endlessly uncompromising on rhythmic detail”
FLORA WILSON, THE GUARDIAN
“Under young Australian-Chinese conductor Dane Lam the ASO joined with Yoshimoto with the kind of intimacy one usually only hears in chamber music. In the opening works, Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture and Smetana’s Ma Vlast, the orchestra played with subdued but finessed voice. One was struck at first by how quietly they played, but nevertheless seemed to strike a chord with the mood of the moment. The sweet melancholy permeating both works seemed to capture what listeners were feeling: a sense of relief mingled with sadness at what has been lost. … What a gift this concert was.”
GRAHAM STRAHLE, THE AUSTRALIAN
“Queensland-born maestro Dane Lam coaxed a fluid and vividly evocative account of Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun from the players…”
TONY WAX, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
“That musical gold shone from the stage of ANU’s Llewellyn Hall under conductor Dane Lam’s impressive orchestral interpretation. The pressure was on from the start to win the audience over after an unsettling 20-minute delay but all was forgotten when Lam served up a deliciously refined overture, then continued painting Mozart’s score with athleticism, insightfulness and emotional weight. With fortepiano before him, Lam also shifted to conducting from the keyboard while integrating the many recitatives with perceptiveness. At all times, the singing was supported with sensitivity. The Canberra Symphony Orchestra also responded commendably across the night with verve and diligence.”
PAUL SELAR, LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE
“Audiences have heard the overture countless times, and orchestras play it again and again, but the care that the conductor, Dane Lam, took over the balance, intonation and phrasing gave this familiar music a champagne sparkle which continued right through the long evening. (There were no cuts in this performance – I had never heard the second dance in the last act before). Crucially, this care for balance was also evident in the vocal ensembles. Like Cosi fan tutte, the first half of Figaro is a virtuosic series of ensembles, not arias, in which characters sing music which reflects their sometimes opposite response to the unfolding situations. These are always various within each trio, quartet, and especially larger ensembles. It is seriously hard to balance these so that every voice can be heard, but Lam not only achieved this consistently, but also ensured that the resulting texture was ravishingly clear.”
NICHOLAS ROUTLEY, AUSTRALIAN STAGE
“This production drives forward unstoppably and clutches all in its relentless grip, enabled by some superb verismo singing and led insightfully by conductor Dane Lam. The latter demonstrates finely tuned verismo instincts, a sure ear for a surging melodic phrase and a telling orchestral detail in equal measure, and the ability to make six desks of violins sound like sixteen when required. The prelude to Act 1 was a microcosm of such skills, as the dark muted opening relaxed into the tender romanticism of the upper strings’ lyricism, with textures so transparent that we could hear every tantalising woodwind gesture.”
CLAIRE SEYMOUR, OPERA TODAY
“If the staging tells the story well then so, too, do Scottish Opera’s orchestra, on fantastic form tonight for conductor Dane Lam. The divided strings sounded clean as well as desperately poignant in the two preludes, but the party scenes crackled with life, and the instrumental solos were all exceptionally well-taken.”