"This was Chopin playing that was as good as you can get."
The Post and Courier Charleston, SC
Andrew von Oeyen
"As for star quality, von Oeyen is already risen."
– Chicago Tribune
Before you read another line, go to the phone or Internet and grab a ticket for one of von Oeyen's remaining performances. Friday morning, he delivered one of the most commanding accounts of Rach 2 that I can recall hearing live -- majestic and singing, lucid and dramatic, and technically effortless." (Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Detroit Symphony, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy)
– Detroit News
"Brilliant technique can be taken for granted among today's concert pianists, but von Oeyen`s playing goes a step further. He leaves you convinced that he can do absolutely anything he likes with a keyboard."
– Chicago Tribune
“indisputable gifts [and] an extravagantly thorough and effortless technique...von Oeyen seems incapable of misarticulating a musical sentence."
– Los Angeles Times
"Von Oeyen brought to Beethoven`s elegant "Fourth Piano Concerto" a mature intimacy, a ruminative assurance, that all but belied his technical brilliance."
– Detroit News
"Exceptionally mature for his age, Andrew von Oeyen has a technique remarkable in its fluidity, a precise and balanced way of playing, but most of all a disarming elegance and charisma that allows him to communicate with the greatest of ease."
– Le Monde de la Musique
"Andrew von Oeyen is an American treasure whom we should all recognize, and of whom we should all be proud."
– KDHX Radio Review, Saint Louis, MO
“The Hayes Piano Series concluded triumphantly Saturday afternoon with a smart, varied and altogether engrossing recital by Andrew von Oeyen…In fact, I would go so far as to say that von Oeyen played the finest all-around performance of Franz Liszt’s Sonata in B Minor that I have heard in many years.”
– Tim Page, Washington Post
"What matters about his playing is its musicality. Von Oeyen has a touch that lets a melody sing out from a cloudburst of accompanying notes. Most important of all, in this wildly varied program one heard each composer speak in his own voice."
– Chicago Tribune
"What an ikioi there was in the 23-year-old Andrew von Oeyen's piano playing! This masterful playing was highlighted to perfection...Keep an eye out for recordings by this up-and-coming young pianist - they are sure to be of something very special."(Prokofiev Piano Concerto No.3 with the Singapore Symphony, conducted by Okko Kamu)
– Singapore Symphony review
"This was Chopin playing that was as good as you can get."
– The Post and Courier, Charleston, SC
"Before intermission, young American pianist Andrew von Oeyen gave a wonderfully clear-eyed reading of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2. He employed a muscular technique and sculpted sound that welcomed the music's romanticism without preening."
– Detroit Free Press
"He plays with a pure and clean approach, remaining true to the music...his song-like and well-balanced approach to Chopin's Fourth Ballade will remain in the memory...his artistry and technique shows off the beauty of Liszt without resorting to sentimentality."
– Musica Viva, Japan
Soloist Andrew von Oeyen made a blazing debut with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, brushing aside the considerable technical challenges of Liszt's Concerto No. 1. …He dispatched thundering double octaves and singing lines with ease…"
– Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
"He gave the impression that, technique-wise, he had easily put this concerto in the conquered category, and still had more to spare. He was by turns elegant, agitated and caressing (Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Asher Fisch).”
– Peter Dobrin, Philadelphia Inquirer
"Here, von Oeyen demonstrated his genius in conducting and playing the solo part in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor, K. 491. One of Mozart's later and more symphonic concertos, this one in C Minor emerged with fitting gravity and light-textures from von Oeyen and the orchestra. Von Oeyen has the measure of this work from 1786 (while Mozart was working on Figaro), pacing both richly dark and serious sections, as well as those that were graceful and simple. Von Oeyen's piano part characteristically had expert control and fit the orchestral fabric with precision and correctness...Von Oeyen is already a top flight musician of major talent with rare insight."
– The Post and Courier, Charleston, SC
“Von Oeyen has a flair for this lesser Rachmaninoff opus (Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Grant Park Orchestra). Without wallowing in the concerto's romantic schmaltz, he mustered a winning combination of powerful fingers, rhapsodic freedom and emotional involvement that marked him as a pianist to watch.”
– John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune
“Now 24, a tall, smiling young man, he plays with a blend of crystalline fire and heartfelt poetry that was ideal for the changeable moods of Rachmaninoff's youthful concerto (Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Grant Park Orchestra).”
– Chicago Sun Times
"Sarah Chang and Andrew von Oeyen then took the stage for Brahms’ feverish Sonata for violin and piano (“No. 3 in D minor”)... He and Chang are now paired for a worldwide tour. While Chang was appropriately aggressive in her attacks, her tone soon warmed into beautifully articulated phrases, von Oeyen carefully matching her at every juncture...Von Oeyen’s tone was likewise lustrous, his playing forceful yet meaningful. The pair then stormed into Brahms’s tempestuous fourth movement, eventually concluding with a long, sustained hush. It was wonderful."
– Napa Valley Register
"The Allegretto from Schubert's "Three Piano Pieces," D. 946, was a gently rocking barcarolle. Any notes Schubert put on paper turned into a song, and the song was always present here, supported but never swamped by the swirling piano writing....The Brahms' Opus 116 was masterfully played. "Petrushka" made something clear about that masterwork too: It had to be about puppets, not humans. From the famed "Russian Dance" to Petrushka's scurrying flight from the murderous Moor, it was all bright, clattery, nervous, even its violent outbursts on a smaller-than-human scale. Von Oeyen made all that clear with breathtaking panache."
– Chicago Tribune
"Sarah Chang's star presence drew an extra-large audience that also heard von Oeyen avoid excess flashiness in Liszt's Vallée d'Obermann, delivering the long arc of the music in an even-handed performance. Von Oeyen, who accompanied Chang as well as Robert McDuffie, played with refinement throughout."
– Aspen Times
"Since age 11, Andrew von Oeyen, has channeled Mozart and the "A Major Piano Concerto," honing it to sublime perfection at Monday's concert, evoking three standing ovations. Even the musicians joined in the applause, obviously as mesmerized by the phenomenal dual accomplishment of soloist/conductor as the enraptured sell-out audience. Von Oeyen conducted without a score. A nuance of head, eyes or smile inspiring strings and winds of the 25-member Spoleto Festival Orchestra ensemble; subtle changes of mood, dynamics, rhythm mirrored in their faces, by turn beaming or intense. The result was magical, a synergy of listening and playing. Everyone, musicians and audience alike, seemed to hang on each soulful note as if it were being composed or re-composed on the spot...It was indeed a memorable concert, one of those breathtaking experiences that one always remembers and is grateful for the privilege of having attended."
– Post and Courier
Andrew von Oeyen proved a fierce, brilliant exponent of the Bartok Piano Concerto No. 2. He played with a gigantic tone, tossing off the composer's clusters and counterpoint as though they were child's play — at times, one could have sworn the piano was amplified — but then proved himself capable of rapt tenderness with an encore of Debussy's "Clair de Lune."
– TIm Page, Post and Courier
"The second piece on the program, Franz Liszt’s formidably challenging Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major with Andrew von Oeyen at the piano, was full of musical fireworks, shifts in meters and dynamics, and complex harmonies. To play Liszt’s compositions, a pianist must possess an exceptionally strong technique, of which von Oeyen showed himself to have more than a sufficient amount. Although he entranced the audience with the power of his individual performance, he also showed that he possessed something even more important: a thorough knowledge of the composer’s obvious desire to make the bravura playing of the soloist an integral part of the concerto. Both the soloist and the orchestra understood this, offering a performance that held the audience’s attention as thoroughly as any dramatic music could. All present could clearly recognize von Oeyen’s technical skills, but also recognized in him that greater artistry which goes far beyond individual display."
– Classical Voice of North Carolina
Von Oeyen's reputation as a performer of the first caliber is well deserved. Closing the first half with Schumann's Concerto in A minor, he caressed the keys, coaxing the instrument into giving up melodies as if coaxing out a secret, then rattled them teasingly to stir the blood.
– San Antonio Express News
"...totally delicious, was the presentation of then-22-year-old Felix Mendelssohn's charming and somewhat cheeky "Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor" by a similarly young pianist, Andrew von Oeyen. There are a lot of notes in this piece, none of them missed or even smudged by von Oeyen as he calmly executed the flamboyant piano part."
– Herald Tribune
For Tchaikowsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, guest soloist Andrew von Oeyen took the stage. Tall and lanky, he recalls a young Van Cliburn (who made this work virtually his own in past decades). Von Oeyen, who made his debut at age 17 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Esa-Pekka Salonen, is a brilliant young pianist with all the tools at his command. In this quirky writing which seems to revel in sudden juxtapositions of contrasting dynamics, he tackled both with masterful command. In the Andante semplice he showed a warm, even sensuous playing, while the scherzo-like prestissimo of the same movement was pure quicksilver--effervescent wisps of sound from the keys...Maestro Guillermo Figueroa led the musicians with an obvious passion, as von Oeyen stunned everyone with an emotional power not soon forgotten.
– Albuquerque Journal
To complete the first half of music, Andrew von Oeyen joined the orchestra as soloist in the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor. After launching the work with those famous tolling piano chords, von Oeyen quickly revealed a highly concentrated and focused approach, thoughtfully choosing lines to project above the thick, rich and dark orchestral accompaniment. This clarity also permeated the virtuoso passagework, played with a lovely rhythmic feel, very different from the gestural way that these passages are sometimes interpreted. He opened the third movement, Allegro Scherzando, like a mad scientist in front of a collection of smoking beakers: And again, his figuration was white-hot.
– The Advocate (Stamford, CT)
On Saturday, von Oeyen touched the soul of the collective audience with Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466...he showed off his brilliant technical accomplishments in a variety of moods, from the simple, plaintive opening theme to the turbulent finale. The stunning chromatic passages flowed like a purling stream, and the soloist played the lovely melodic Romanze movement, so familiar to many serious piano students, with affectionate elegance.
– Daily Breeze
"Von Oeyen consistently has wowed with technical maturity and feeling far beyond his 25 years. The Rach Three, which pianists can spend their lives mastering, was no different.”
– The State, Columbia, SC
"Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto was the right vehicle for the extremely gifted Andrew von Oeyen. Only 26, he has a substantial repertoire that he performs with great success around the world. The piece displayed his clear finger-work at great speed, as well as his ability to spin out long, slow melodies with beautiful tone. Although brilliant technique is a significant part of this piece, the slow movement's journey through the depths of the Russian soul is its emotional foundation. It began as a dream that unfolded slowly on the way to a powerful climax, all so naturally paced in this excellent performance."
– The Virginian Pilot
Andrew von Oeyen, superstar in the making, then appeared for Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto. The impression he gave was of overwhelming, concentrated energy at the keyboard. Sinuous, smooth legato lines alternately sparkled and sang. Filigree patterns of notes took flight. The refurbished Steinway he played on never sounded so good.
– Peoria Journal Star
At 28, von Oeyen has achieved superstar status as an international concert pianist. His approach to the “Emperor” is elegant without being effete, powerful without being overdone, rhapsodic – a hauntingly beautiful second movement – without any hint of schmaltz. Here is Beethoven’s marvel of a concerto (aren’t they all) with every note in place, every emotion explored, marinated (if you will) with the love for freedom which is at the soul of everything Beethoven wrote. The performance is sheer exhilaration.
– Nevada Events and Reviews
One of the highlights was the evening’s guest artist, pianist Andrew von Oeyen, whose rendition of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 57, was remarkable for its air of quiet authority. Von Oeyen's playing combined a light, fluid touch with an almost dry tone that gave the music a conversational tone, so that the interplay with the now-subdued orchestra became a true conversation. His work in the slow second movement — a series of prayer-like melodies that slowly grew into a final orchestral chord that sounded like a sigh of relief — was elegiac without being maudlin, much as his first movement cadenza managed to dazzle without being ostentatious. And his playing in the vigorous third movement was buoyant and joyful, almost jaunty.
– Tulsa World
With emphatic, expert support from Villaume and Co., von Oeyen nailed this one down tight. He dealt brilliantly with Bartok's knuckle-busting fingerwork, imposssibly fast octaves, and precarious hand...the crowd screamed and shouted until von Oeyen gave us an encore: an exquisitely nuanced rendition of Debussy's ever popular Claire de Lune.
– Charleston City Paper
"Andrew von Oeyen was a ball of fire in Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1. Teeming with exuberance and armed with fluid, muscular technique, the lanky 26-year-old American tore through the concerto with mercurial insight."
– Birmingham News
American pianist Andrew von Oeyen made a memorable debut with the orchestra in Mendelssohn's "Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor.” Despite his youthful appearance, von Oeyen proved to be a commanding keyboard presence, his fine technique put to the test by the considerable demands of this popular concerto. While the Mendelssohn certainly has its bravura moments, von Oeyen achieved them without resorting to keyboard theatrics or a clangorous tone. And in the slow movement's delicate manner, the pianist's filigree passages were exquisitely conveyed. The finale was suitably rhythmic with balances between soloist and orchestra always carefully gauged. Von Oeyen's performance was further distinguished by an intelligent approach that found an ideal match between the concerto's classical and romantic influences. Von Oeyen's encore, Debussy's ubiquitous "Clair de Lune,” turned out to be an ideal choice given the concert's theme. The pianist's subtle approach drew the audience into Debussy's moonlit sound world, and in doing so, accomplished what all concert artists set out to do: leave an audience wanting to hear more.
– The Oklahoman
"Andrew von Oeyen played with surpassing clarity and a light touch that illuminated the familiar work [Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto]. From the opening cadenzas of the first movement through the spirited third movement, a true musical conversation evolved among soloist, conductor and orchestra."
– Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Andrew von Oeyen...a virtuoso pianist full of brilliant energy and style performed George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" with great verve and brilliance. The audience was truly moved by the performance, and gave von Oeyen a well-earned standing ovation.