"This was Chopin playing that was as good as you can get."
The Post and Courier Charleston, SC
Andrew von Oeyen
"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...the pianist 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
"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, MI
"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
“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 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."
– Singapore Symphony review
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
"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 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).”
– Philadelphia Inquirer
“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
“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
"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
"This was Chopin playing that was as good as you can get."
– The Post and Courier, Charleston, SC
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
"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
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
"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
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.