Portland Press Herald“Reinhardt… is an energetic presence whose cues are unequivocal, and who drew a rich, gleaming and generally powerful sound from the orchestra, which is precisely what the music at hand demands.”
San Francisco Chronicle“But it was after intermission, in a vibrant, splendidly shaped account of Dvorák’s Fifth Symphony, that she truly showed what she could do. In particular, Reinhardt had a powerful success in one of the main challenges with Dvorák — how to retain his distinctively dark, heavy orchestral colors without letting the rhythms bog down. In the two outer movements especially, the textures sounded aptly rich, but Reinhardt’s sleek, physical podium manner kept things moving handsomely.”
Omaha World-Herald“Reinhardt was a joy to watch leading the symphony. Her hands and baton commanded the music with surgical precision. Despite her impassioned accuracy, her face and movements were buoyant and gleeful. She brought a fresh and unique energy to the ensemble. […] The title piece of the concert, Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 5 in E Minor” finished the evening’s program […] The execution was impeccable. The Omaha Symphony received an immediate standing ovation at the conclusion of a night full of great musical voyages.”
Dallas Morning News“During a two-year appointment as assistant conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, from 2016 to 2018, Ruth Reinhardt repeatedly impressed as an incisive musician of real depth. On Friday night, at Bass Performance Hall, she was the Fort Worth Symphony’s guest conductor, and again the musical results were most rewarding…“Reinhardt led a smart, thoroughly sympathetic performance, and the orchestra played beautifully” (Stravinsky Danses Concertantes)…Timing, shaping and balancing the music with great care, Reinhardt again got splendid playing from the orchestra” (Sibelius Symphony No. 5)
The Seattle Times“The conductor, Ruth Reinhardt, is still in her 20s; the soloist, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, is about a decade behind her, and they both have incandescent talent…Reinhardt proved an adept accompanist in the Tchaikovsky, but the rest of the program made it clear that she also is a conductor with strong ideas of her own…The evening’s novelty, “Ciel d’hiver” (“Winter Sky”) by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, presented an intriguing constellation of sounds that waxed and waned, as delicate pinpoint effects and glissandi grew louder and more complex, finally falling away…Reinhardt made an excellent case for this unusual work. Beethoven’s often-heard Symphony No. 1 showed Reinhardt’s imagination and originality in a score where you wouldn’t think there was much room for new approaches. Light, effervescent and crisp, this reading was fleet but never rushed or hurried; the second movement was gracefully phrased with nicely placed accents, and the third was buoyant and full of charm. Reinhardt had fun with the opening of the fourth and final movement, in which the opening theme is presented with a teasing phrase in the violins — just a few notes at first, then a few more, and finally the launch of the whole theme. The finale, with snappy timpani accents, was full of energy and humor.”
The Dallas Morning News“The Dallas Symphony Orchestra has had some gifted and skilled assistant conductors conductors, but I’d vote Ruth Reinhardt the best of my 19 years here…As in her ReMix concerts at Moody Performance Hall, she has put together an imaginative program, with clever musical connections that don’t immediately suggest themselves. And on Thursday night, she led with clear-headed and sensitive authority…It was Reinhardt, though, who stood out, not by overdoing anything, but by so fastidiously scaling, balancing and shaping the music. This was true throughout the concert: loving attention to detail without any fussiness, never allowing inherent urgency to slacken. The Hindemith and Kodály lacked nothing for flash and flair.”
Sarasota Herald-Tribune“The refreshing, young and extremely talented conductor Ruth Reinhardt made an immediate strong impression with a dramatic and nuanced performance of Antonin Dvorak’s Othello Overture, Op. 93…The orchestra’s musicians proved once again that they are a treasure all on their own in Gabrielle Faure’s Pelléas et Mélisande Suite. Reinhardt had her hand in it as well as the musicians, as a whole and in solo roles, were pliant in response with delicious phrasing.”
Ruth Reinhardt is the newly appointed music director of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, commencing with the 25-26 season, the fifth in the orchestra’s 80-year history, and serves as music director designate in the 24-25 season.
In 24-25 Ms. Reinhardt will conduct orchestras on four continents – Europe, North America, and makes her debuts in Asia with both the Seoul Philharmonic and Hong Philharmonic, as well as in South America with the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra (OSESP). She begins the season at the Lucerne Festival conducting a program dedicated to and celebrating the centennial of Pierre Boulez with the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, and includes debuts with symphony orchestras in Bamberg, Nuremberg, Beethovenhalle in Bonn, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, and the Residentie Orchester in the Hague, along with return visits to the RSB Berlin, and Stockholm (Philharmonic) and Malmö Sweden. In the US, Ms. Reinhard will conduct the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and make debut appearances with the St Louis Symphony and Charlotte Symphony and return engagements with the Milwaukee and San Diego symphony orchestras.
Programmatically, Reinhardt’s interests have led her toward an in-depth exploration of contemporary repertoire, leading the symphonic and orchestral world into the 21st century. Strongly centered on European composers, with significant emphasis on women composers of the second half of the 20th century and early 21st century, she brings new names and fresh faces to many orchestras for the first time. Among those whose works appear often in her progams are Grażyna Bacewicz, Kaija Saariaho, Lotta Wennäkoski, Daniel Bjarnason, Dai Fujikura, and Thomas Adès. Parallel programming can be complementary or contrasting, from the classic moderns such as Lutosławski, Bartok, Stravinsky, and Hindemith, or core composers of the symphonic canon – e.g. Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Dvorak.
In recent seasons, Ruth Reinhardt has made an important series of symphonic debuts in North America with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, and symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Detroit, Houston, Baltimore, Milwaukee, and Seattle. In Europe, her appearances have been no less impressive – the Orchestre National de France, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Tonkünstler Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, and Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (RSB), to name several.
Born in Saarbrucken Germany into a medical family – both parents and her sister are physicians – Reinhardt knew early that music would be her calling, sand studied violin and composition, writing an opera while still in high school. Her studies took her first to the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, violin with Rudolf Koelman and conducting with Constantin Trinks and Johannes Schlaefli, and continued at The Juilliard School of Music in the conducting class of Alan Gilbert and James Ross. Upon graduation she joined the Dallas Symphony for two seasons, as assistant conductor to Jaap van Zweden, and was simultaneously a Dudamel Fellow of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and in summer was assistant conductor to the Luzern Festival Academy to artistic co-directors Wolfgang Rihm and Matthias Pintscher. Previous fellowships include the Seattle Symphony (2015-2016) and Tanglewood Music Center (2015), and Taki Concordia associate conducting fellow (2015-2017). Ruth Reinhardt currently resides in Switzerland.
SEPTEMBER 2024
