“This look back at Wagner [Gods and Mortals: A Celebration of Wagner] also offered an intriguing glimpse into the WNO's future. In sound and spirit, the night belonged to incoming WNO music director Robert Spano, who made revelatory work of the evening's sprawling program, creating moment after moment of concentrated clarity, and mining an energy from the WNO orchestra that felt fresh, exciting and (appropriately) elemental.”

- Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 27 Oct 2024

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“The other big reason to attend this Fidelio is for the conducting of Robert Spano, his first appearance at the podium since being appointed WNO music director-designate, for a three-year term beginning next fall. With a calm and utterly clear gestural style, he led the orchestra in a confident rendering of the score, luxuriating in the opera's most lush moments, like the Act I quartet.”

- Charles T. Downey, Washington Classical Review, 26 Oct 2024

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“This Fidelio also offers an opportunity to hear Robert Spano, the WNO's incoming music director, in action leading the Washington National Opera Orchestra. Spano and the orchestra were at their best in tandem with the chorus (led by Steven Gathman), the sound unified and forceful. I also loved the overture, ribboned with clarinets and flush with bright, vivacious strings.”

- Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 26 Oct 2024

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“Robert Spano makes a splendid debut as the Fort Worth Symphony’s new music director... In his first concert as the orchestra’s new music director, [he] brought new flexibility and expressive suavity to performances that were compelling start to finish.” - The Dallas Morning News

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“Robert Spano has that great skill in a conductor of making every performance radiate joy. You would think, each time, that he has been waiting all his life to make this music happen, and that he is darned well going to make it happen to the utmost.” - The New York Times

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“Spano, Brooklyn's music director, is a phenomenon: he pulls together the most intellectually enticing and emotionally gripping orchestral concerts in New York.” - The New Yorker

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“The revelation of the evening was the detailed shaping of the score by conductor Robert Spano. 'The Aria of the Falling Body' swayed, but with a tensile strength, and the closing pages were a fine demonstration of the very gradual release of musical tension. It's far harder to release than to build up tension, and his success here made the thought of Spano's performing Wagner enticing.” - Opera News

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“He seems the most comprehensively gifted American conductor to emerge since James Levine, Michael Tilson Thomas and Leonard Slatkin.” - The Boston Globe

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“Mr. Spano drew a glowing, spacious performance of this Brahms masterwork from the orchestra, marking a great return visit for both him and this essential ensemble.” - The New York Times

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“As the cacophonies piled up and the rhythms came apart and the whole thing got really loud - with percussionist Tom Sherwood whacking the life out of the big bass drum, which was positioned high and in back, like a sacrificial altar - Spano's concept turned from modesty to savage brilliance.” - Atlanta Journal Constitution

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“It was a triumph for conductor Robert Spano, his Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, the team of vocal soloists, and for Adams' masterpiece itself. Falling temperatures made Spano turn up the interpretive heat.” - The Chicago Tribune

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“Self-effacing and restrained to a fault, Spano elicited remarkably clean, taut, well-balanced performances from an orchestra that can be recalcitrant with visitors. He invariably mustered a broad dynamic scale, focused telling nuances, sustained forward momentum and avoided cheap effects.” - Financial Times

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“Robert Spano barely broke a sweat as he produced a radiant sound of unusual depth and tension from the [BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra] that was nothing short of dazzling.” - Aberdeen Press & Journal

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“Spano conducted from his muscles, and what we heard was powerful music, powerfully played. There was no mistaking the authority from the podium.” - The Los Angeles Times

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“The festival's music director, Robert Spano, caught both the broadest and finest strokes of tempo, dynamics and critical orchestral balances. He drew the best playing in the quiet, subtle moments of the score and long buildups to big climaxes.” - Aspen Times

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“The sonics of the CD are excellent, and the presence of both Rivera and Spano well-suited. It is a fine presentation of both Rivera’s voice and Spano’s collaborative capabilities at the piano, as well as his insight into his skills as a composer.” - ArtsATL