JONATHAN BRANDANI
CONDUCTOR
"Turandot" - Florida Grand Opera 2026
"In the pit, Brandani led a solid performance overall. [...] The orchestra’s sound tended to favor the brass, which added a more muscular texture to the overall feel of the piece. As for balance with pit and stage, the conductor ensured a good mix with the singers coming through clear whether thundering over fortissimo ensembles, or singing the gentlest of piano sounds." OperaWire, 2026
"Conductor Jonathan Brandani impressively commanded the score’s grand arc. He drew excellent playing from the orchestra, especially the lustrous strings." South Florida Classic Review, 2026
"Conductor Jonathan Brandani kept a good balance between the orchestra and singers, achieving precision of ensemble and bringing out Puccini’s colorful instrumental palette." Palm Beach Arts Paper, 2026
"Hansel and Gretel" - Calgary Opera 2026
"As is often remarked, the musical score, despite its saturation in faux German folksongs, is really an example of Wagner-lite, most especially in the overture and in the prayer duet with the subsequent dream. Conductor Jonathan Brandani had the full measure of the music here, the dream ballet music rising to a cathartic climax that could bring a tear to any adult eye. Throughout the opera, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra played expressively and with authority, but never covering the voices. Overall, the music and singing, recitative or aria, were well integrated into the dramatic action and hardly noticeable: the art that conceals art." Opera Canada, 2026
"Madame Butterfly" - Calgary Opera 2025
"The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra was conducted by Jonathan Brandani with what Calgarians have now come to expect of his work: complete competence. Together with the judicious choice of tempos, the music of the opera flowed naturally with solo spots highlighted where needed and always with sumptuous strings and powerful brass. In Calgary, we are rather spoiled." Opera Canada, 2026
"Bluebeard Castle / Gianni Schicchi" - Calgary Opera 2025
"Jonathan Brandani, the company’s artistic director, led the orchestra, continuing his impressive run of sensitive, highly musical performances as a conductor. As comfortable conducting Bartók as Mozart or Donizetti, Brandani coaxed the best from a willing Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra in musical scores of considerable complexity. The orchestra played with impressive authority, delivering the lush, Debussy-style elements of the Bartók opera with keen understanding and elegant playing." Opera Canada, 2025
"The barber of Seville" - Opera Theatre of Saint Louis 2024
"While it is easy to heap praise upon the production’s wonderful ensemble, it is impossible to overlook the fact that none of their arias would amount to a hill of beans without conductor Jonathan Brandani. Performing an exquisite score with members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, he set the pace with sonic textures that brought the operatic elements together. Blending the tender with the mirthful, his baton breathed new life into Rossini’s score, making it a powerfully emotional frame for the tricks unraveling above him. Hopefully his stunning inaugural performance with OTSL leads to many, many more." ReviewSTL.com, 2024
"Jonathan Brandani and those marvelous musicians from the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra win me over. …The orchestra is lucid. You can hear every subtlety of timbre, the horse-hair touching the string, the immediacy of those double reeds. …There are many little solo cameos in the overture, and each is brilliant." Broadway World, 2024
"Conductor Jonathan Brandani leads the SLSO in a brisk and bright reading of Rossini’s infectious musical score." Ladue News, 2024
“Das Rheingold” - Calgary Opera 2024
"While the singing is remarkably consistent and fine, it is the orchestra that frequently takes centre stage (in this case, quite literally), with Jonathan Brandani once again showing his remarkable abilities to get the best from the orchestra. Leading an enlarged CPO, Brandani led the orchestra in a beautiful realization of the score, the tempos expertly gauged, the big moments making their mark.
The famous atmospheric opening and the majestic final pages all received their due, as did the music for the Nibelheim scenes. Less obvious but equally important was the treatment of the conversational element of the music, one that needs constant subtle nuance to make the verbal inflections seem natural. Here Brandani was as impressive in German opera as in the Italian operas he has previously conducted with the company." Calgary Herald, 2024
“La Bohème” - The Atlanta Opera 2024
"This is a vividly staged, rapturously sung and beautifully conducted account of this most popular and romantic of operas. […] Conductor Jonathan Brandani, making his Atlanta Opera debut, is superb. He beautifully balances urgency and lyricism. His tempos are generally brisk in the comic scenes, but he brings a more expansive sensitivity and heartfelt phrasing to the opera’s lyrical episodes. Brandani draws polished playing from the Atlanta Opera Orchestra." ArtsATL, 2024
“The Marriage of Figaro” - Calgary Opera 2023
"Conductor Jonathan Brandani and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra provide the musical throughline. With brisk, but not over-brisk, tempos and a sure sense of how to accompany the singers, the orchestra provides an invisible, but palpable, support to the singers. The singers are never covered and are able to create the many fun-filled moments in which the opera abounds without forcing their voices. Brandani, as before, has a sure sense of how this music goes, and the orchestra impressively well. […] Many of the vocal lines are slightly embellished, and the singers avoid the heroic manner of grand opera, staying within the vocal proportions of early opera. Throughout the performance, there is a delicacy and refinement that suits the world of Mozart and the 18th-century musical sensibility." Calgary Herald, 2023
“Crispino e la comare” - Teatro Nuovo 2023
"Teatro Nuovo’s period-style orchestra astonished again and again. […] In “Crispino,” its rough-hewn energy gave it a sincere, good-humored quality. […] The maestro al cembalo Jonathan Brandani effectively conducted “Crispino” from the keyboard and let the bass and cello lead in recitatives."
The New York Times, 2023
“Macbeth” - Calgary Opera 2023
"Jonathan Brandani, the company’s artistic director was the conductor, leading the Calgary Philharmonic to one of its best operatic performances. This is a new score for the orchestra, and it is a testament to Brandani’s secure leadership that the tempi were well judged, including both the jaunty and deeper elements of the score. Under Brandani’s leadership, the orchestra played very cleanly and with a strong sense of musical character. A sense of security in all the musical elements was palpable, from the crisply played overture to the thunderous conclusion at the end of the opera." Calgary Herald, 2023
“La Cenerentola” - Teatro Lirico di Cagliari 2023
"[...] a multifarious and multifaceted musical direction [...] The Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari were well led by Jonathan Brandani, a young and versatile musician, absolutely aware of the rich expressive variety of Rossini's music, which describes and at the same time determines the action. [...] Brandani was therefore skillful in resolving the different levels of reading of this work of subtle comedy in the direction of a musical theater not confined to a specific genre, but lush with nuances and contrasts." Musica Magazine, 2023
"Brandani's interpretation awakens ancient sounds and atmospheres while respecting the Rossinian score." I Teatri dell'Est, 2023
"Conductor Jonathan Brandani leads the orchestra, accompanying the stage with thoughtfulness and balance with the voices." Sardegna Soprattutto, 2023
“The Barber of Seville” - Meininger Staatstheater 2022
"Brigitte Fassbaender told a "story" with this ensemble, which conductor Jonathan Brandani and the Meininger Hofkapelle stylized into grand opera. Finely tuned to the action on stage, the music accompanies and carries the emotions and plot. The result was a top-class musical performance with the utmost precision and coherence." Der Opernfreund, 2022
"The Meininger Hofkapelle follows their guest conductor Jonathan Brandani with obvious pleasure on this journey to sunny operatic Italy, where the music sparkles from the pit like prosecco, but the nuances behind the fun are not neglected either." Online Musik Magazin, 2022
“Armida” - Bregenzer Festspiele 2022
"Jonathan Brandani, on the podium of the Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra, unraveled the orchestral textures keeping the tension high at all times, with a strong rhythmic propulsion even in the long accompanied recitatives, capturing the speaking character of the orchestra, emphasizing the narrative and atmospheric moments of the orchestration, with almost "olfactory" results in the bucolic scenes." Il Corriere Musicale, 2022
"Jonathan Brandani has carefully worked out the difficult score with the Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra. His interpretation captivates with differentiated articulation, lovingly crafted details and a compact overall sound that is perfectly balanced in the groups." Schwaebische, 2022
"[…] the vocal performances were remarkable, the joy of playing of the ensemble gratifying. So was the precise and enthusiastic performance of the Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra under the spirited baton of the Italian Jonathan Brandani." Klassik Begeistert, 2022
“L’Italiana in Algeri” - Bregenzer Festspiele 2022
"A lot to do for the continuously engaged Symphony Orchestra Vorarlberg, but there was no sign of overload at the premiere. On the contrary, Maestro Jonathan Brandani represents - also in harmony with the stage design - an airy Rossinian sound, and brings the temperament inherent in the score to good effect, but also does not get carried away with the action." Vorarlberger Nachrichte, 2022
"The Symphonieorchester Vorarlberg under Jonathan Brandani plays with relish and one can hear the precise examination of the liberties that Rossini's onomatopoeic and spirited music offers." Salzburger Nachrichten, 2022
“Napoli Milionaria” - Teatro Verdi, Pisa / Teatro Goldoni, Livorno / Teatro del Giglio, Lucca 2021/2022
"Jonathan Brandani conducts with panache, sure softness and a gesture of admirable clarity and style, with exemplary control of the stage and its balance with the pit. Fluid are the transitions between genres and quotations (between swing, classic Neapolitan song, Bernstein and more) with which Rota plays in the score. The "Edwardian" tint of the composition that blends irony, sadness and yearning for redemption and happiness is centered. Excellent in terms of compactness, brilliance of sound and versatility in trying its hand at the aforementioned genres was the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana." OperaClick, 2022
"Conductor Jonathan Brandani, who has done a great deal of research on the opera even going so far as to discover changes made by the composer after the “premiere" in Spoleto, sensitively conducts an incredibly amalgamated and always precise Orchestra Giovanile Italiana (OGI). Sweet and delicate in the sentimental moments, brilliant in the comic ones, impactful in the tragic ones. Exemplary is the performance of the bombing of the city. Even the piece of plaster falling off the roof falls at just the right time, making the audience gasp in a moment of strong realism." I Teatri dell'Est, 2022
"The Italian Youth Orchestra, conducted with vigor and skill by Jonathan Brandani, gives its best in a crescendo of passions and musical contaminations, sketching Rota's challenging score with fresh and bright colors." Fermata Spettacolo, 2022
“Medea in Corinto” - Festival Donizetti 2021
"It is under the very enlightened and enlightening direction of Jonathan Brandani, and in an "updated" and often stimulating staging by Francesco Micheli that this work is presented, which deserves to be rehabilitated. […]
The exceptional musical direction of the young Tuscan conductor Jonathan Brandani underlines and makes clear how Mayr’s music is an exciting universe, much more refined and cultured than is generally believed [...]
Starting from the ouverture we immediately notice a rendering of great clarity, a limpidity of the sound and an enhancement of the singular instruments (especially woodwinds) which shows all the refinements of a score so rich that one wonders why it fell into oblivion. There is also a permanent concern to maintain a dramatic tension and to support the singers, without ever covering them, especially in a rather small space where it would be easy for the orchestra to show its strength: we can recognize the opera conductor of course, but also the symphonic conductor, concerned with colors, nuances and the theatrical rendering of the interpretation. Jonathan Brandani has chosen to start his career outside Europe and outside his country; he is at ease in an already wide repertoire without running the risk of being restrained in habits and routine [...]. But one can already feel a real energy and a very intellectually solid interpretative maturity. It is really encouraging to hear once again the vitality of the Italian School of Conducting, a vitality currently unique in Western Europe, as the landscape for young talented conductors is poor, both in Germany and in France for example. With so many average conductors roaming the theaters, hearing such a quality in a young conductor is singularly heartening. So, remember this name, and rush to see him if an artistic director in France had the idea to invite him…" Wanderer, 2021
"Jonathan Brandani’s conducting was the revelation of the evening: at the head of the Donizetti Opera Orchestra, he knew how to emphasize all the particularities of the score with an exciting direction, underlining some instrumental refinements perfectly rendered by the Donizetti Opera Orchestra." Première Loge, 2021
"The Italian conductor Jonathan Brandani had the difficult task of making this forgotten score attractive to the modern audience. He conducted the Orchestra Donizetti Opera with determination, keeping lively rhythms and clarity on the different sections of the orchestra and providing a crystalline interpretation and coloring a composition that was closer to classical than romantic. It was especially noticeable in his interpretation of the long dramatic overture which opens the opera." OperaWire, 2021
"The skillful baton of Jonathan Brandani knew how to make this rich and monumental score shine, which draws from the Mozartian and Gluckian heritage but already with the influences of Cherubini or Spontini in the Frenchified line of a serious opera style that coexisted with the first successes of the great Rossini, such as Tancredi (Venice, 1813). […] Brandani's reading from the podium was above all that of a maestro concertatore who knew how to let the beauty of the score flow both in his difficult and theatrical arias, with libretto by Felice Romani, and in the varied accompaniments and in the hedonic solos of harp, flute, clarinet." Platea Magazine, 2021
"The Bergamo production has its strength in the conducting of Jonathan Brandani who offers a particularly careful and attentive reading of the score, capable of highlighting the quality of Mayr's orchestral writing. Excellent agogic choices always aimed at accompanying the singers in the best possible way." GB Opera Magazine, 2021
"Jonathan Brandani is one of the few conductors to have conducted, in recent times, Medea in Corinto, in the United States in its 1813 version. On this centenary, he tried his hand at the rewritten version of 1821. At the head of the small orchestra nestled in the pit of the Teatro Sociale, he does an incomparable job that truly honors the composer and this rich score. Accompanying each voice, bringing out the instrumental solos and alternating heroic passages with others, more gentle and introspective, Brandani makes us feel the closeness he has built with this unjustly forgotten composer." Toute la culture, 2021
"Excellent performance on the podium by Maestro Jonathan Brandani, a refined interpreter who fully captures Mayr's pre-Romantic style in his reading. He succeeds with grace in bringing out all its multiple sounds, a music with echoes of Mozart and that already preludes to Rossini.
The Orchestra Donizetti Opera ensemble succeeds in drawing a palette of variegated colors and in sketching a poetic narrative atmosphere, suspended between myth and reality, ensuring a good support to the voices on stage." Opera Libera, 2021
"From a musical point of view, the production was conducted by Jonathan Brandani, a specialist in this repertoire, who brought out all the chromatic refinements of Mayr's score, exhibiting intense dynamics, guaranteeing excellent support for the singers and guiding the Donizetti Opera Orchestra to an excellent performance." Opera Click, 2021
"Standing ovations, too, for conductor Jonathan Brandani, who previously led the work in New York in 2018. The sound ratio between the pit and the stage is excellent, and the dynamics seemed to us very accurate. The orchestra is homogeneous and the instruments highlighted by this Bergamo version, solo violin, flute, harp, sounded superb in their solo passages. The colors seemed to us darker than in the version recorded by David Stern, but the efficiency of the gesture and the accuracy of the aplomb pleased us without reserve." Forum Opera, 2021
"Musically, the result seems superior to that of yesterday for “La fille du régiment”, even if it is the same Orchestra Donizetti Opera that officiates in the pit. Under the direction of Jonathan Brandani, the cohesion is appreciable and the instrumental solos of good workmanship." Anaclase, 2021
"Therefore, the work of the conductor Jonathan Brandani was excellent, ductile in phrasing and sensitive to singing, capable of a narration that lights up Mayr's classical building with romantic tremors. The maestro and the director (and artistic director of the Festival) Micheli speak of a "Mozart grown up and pre-Romantic". And they hit the mark." Connessi all'Opera, 2021
"At the head of the Donizetti Festival Orchestra, the Italian conductor Jonathan Brandani takes care to preserve the overall coherence of the work, highlighting its most lyrical aspects and the multiple influences that nourished it, Mozartian in particular." Opera Online, 2021
"Jonathan Brandani, announced as Mayr expert, succeeded with Orchestra and Coro Donizetti Opera [...] an orchestrally rich, especially in the second act dense performance, whose tension lasted over three hours." Opera Lounge, 2021
"La Bohème" - Calgary Opera 2019
Calgary Opera's production of Puccini's imperishable La Boheme: "Among the several debuts with the company in this production was conductor Jonathan Brandani, who led the CPO in a strongly characterized account of the rich orchestral accompaniment. [...] It was evident from the outset that Brandani knows the score well and has clear ideas about what he would like from the orchestra and the singers. Obviously competent and strong as a leader, he revealed a distinctive personality and affinity for this music. I hope he will return soon." Calgary Herald, 11/11/2019
Khalil "pristine", Barrett "exquisite" in whimsical production of La Bohème: "Conducted by Jonathan Brandani, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra played impressively, although at the beginning, I thought they overshadowed the principals slightly. In Act II, Brandani’s sprightly tempi were delivered with the same joie de vivre as the characters onstage [...]. In all, Brandani brings out some of the orchestra’s best performance in recent history, with one of the most recognizable opera scores ever written." Schmopera, 11/12/2019
"The Italian Straw Hat" - Minnesota Opera 2019
Minnesota Opera Italian Straw Hat: "Cigni’s direction was undoubtedly tight, however, and he found a willing counterpart in the zippy, flexible conducting of Jonathan Brandani. Brandani drew peppery, athletic playing from an on-form orchestra and relished the score’s numerous sly references to Rossini, Verdi, Mozart and Puccini." Star Tribune, 1/28/2019
"Il Bravo" - Wexford Festival Opera 2018
A Wexford round up: "Conductor Jonathan Brandani whipped up musical storms and strife in the pit, drawing great energy from Mercadante’s striking harmonies and rich instrumental colours, but he also respected Mercadante’s more innovative and translucent orchestrations. All in all, the dramatic muddle was more than outweighed by the splendid musical drama." Opera Today, 11/24/2018
Wexford Festival Opera 2018 Review Il Bravo: "Under the conducting of Jonathan Brandani, the Orchestra of Wexford Festival Opera produced an engrossing reading, in which the score’s rich textures and subtle expressivity were fully explored. This made the opera as a whole, a memorable musical experience. Brandani held the orchestra, chorus and soloists together in a wonderfully balanced performance, allowing Mercadante’s music the space to convince." Opera Wire, 11/29/2018
A Wexford round up: "The final offering, Mercadante’s Il bravo (The Assassin), was almost certainly the most convincing operatic music heard this year, conducted with evangelical zeal by Jonathan Brandani." The Sunday Times, 11/28/2018
Il Bravo review at National Opera House, Wexford – ‘an exciting rediscovery’: "Jonathan Brandani conducts purposefully, drawing full-throated singing from the chorus and vigorous playing from the orchestra." The Stage, 11/22/2018
OPERA JOURNAL - Oct 28, 2018
Mercadante - Il Bravo (Wexford, 2018): "Under Jonathan Brandani's musical direction however, the singers soon warm up and the momentum of the work itself seems to carry them thrillingly along. Brandani does well to reign them in and manage the powerful dynamic that is impassioned but controlled and alive to the drama." Opera Journal, 11/28/2018
Wexford retrospect: "The third evening was a real rarity Mercadante's Il bravo. It is full of splendid music and was superbly conducted by Jonathan Brandani. The Wexford Orchestra is an outstanding group of players and he got energetic idiomatic and precision playing from them. Bravo indeed!"
Brian Dickie, former artistic director of Wexford Festival Opera
and former General Director of Chicago Opera Theatre, 11/27/2018
Sublime music compensates for a weak libretto: Wexford revives Mercadante’s Il Bravo: "If the singing didn’t always excite and there was a perceived lack of attention to detail to some aspects of the production the orchestra’s performance of this beautiful score (conducted by Jonathan Brandani), greatly compensated. This was, by far, the best of the operas presented this year on the main stage."
Bachtrack, 11/23/2018
Abstruse Handlung mit spektakülarer Musik: "Jonathan Brandani dives passionately with the Wexford Festival Orchestra into Mercadante’s wonderful soundscapes and emphasizes once more that this composer should have gained a permanent place in the standard repertoire."
Online Musik Magazine, 11/28/2018
Ekaterina Bakanova excels in Wexford’s staging of Mercadante’s Il Bravo: "Jonathan Brandani kept a tight rein on cast, chorus and orchestra as the evening progressed. He allowed us to savour Mercadante’s wonderful instrumental colours while ensuring a good balance between the soloists and orchestra."
Seen and Heard International, 11/25/2018
Mercadante’s Il Bravo from the Wexford Festival: "Jonathan Brandani led an impassioned and fast reading of the score. I saw this opera many years ago at the Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca, Italy, and I recall more lyricism, but the excitement in Brandini’s reading was undeniable."
The Donizetti Society, 11/24/2018
L’opéra romantique comme on le rêve: "In a work that never stops panting in a very rushed pace (Mercadante reminds of daddy Rossini) the musical direction of Jonathan Brandani keeps the ensemble without never losing the tension: the precise indications, the clarity of his reading, the total absence of inaccuracies of any type in an orchestra which plays well are his most notable qualities; but he also is capable of holding back the sound and of alternating explosive moments with more lyrical and suspended ones. It is a musical direction which fully gives justice to a work which under this baton reveals some very seducing moments. All of this shows how unjust is the oblivion in which Mercadante has fallen into."
Wanderer, 11/11/2018
Emotionale Impulse vom Dirigenten Brandani: "Such an intensively dramatic Opera like ‘Il Bravo’ needs without doubt a conductor that fully supports the score and that is able to show to advantage all the musical effects in their full expressivity. The Italian-born Jonathan Brandani succeeded in the best of
possible ways. A special praise for the marvelous duet of mother and daughter in the
final Act, which he brought to life in a gentle and divinely beautiful way." Kieler Nachrichten, 10/22/2018
Le Bravo ou La Vénitienne, melodramma de Saverio Mercadante: "The conductor Jonathan Brandani delivers seducing contrasts in the music and brings into relief some moments of frankly marked acceleration, but without brutality. He holds together the architecture of the score, particularly the great and long ensembles which conclude every act. The choruses are not numerous, but they succeed in producing a homogeneous sound, showing a constant attention to the indications and to the nuances requested by the conductor." Anaclase la musique au jour le jour, 11/2/2018
Das Herz des Opiumschiebers: "On the contrary, in Saverio Mercadante’s Il Bravo the musical ideas come fast and furious, and are brought to life with fire by Jonathan Brandani and the orchestra. Those are the jewels, with which Wexford will make its audience happy." Frankfurter Allgemeiner Zeitung, 11/9/2018
Una ópera difícil, truculenta y olvidada de Mercadante: "The musical direction was in the hands of the Italian Jonathan Brandani, whom I was seeing for the first time. The impression is positive; he increased strength and energy in the last two acts. He accompanied well the singers."
Beckmesser.com, 10/27/2018
Il Bravo von Mercadante beim Wexford Opera Festival: Düstere, musikalisch hochwertig umgesetzte Geschichte aus Venedig: "Under Jonathan Brandani the Wexford Opera Festival sounded vital and full of nuances of expression and dynamics." Opera Online, 10/30/2018
Wexford 2018 “yielded many an unexpected pleasure” while some elements “felt out of
place”: "Young Jonathan Brandani conducted with an invigorating sweep and flair. Six days later,
Il bravo made history as the festival’s first live-stream telecast." Opera Canada, 11/6/2018
"Medea in Corinto" - Teatro Nuovo 2018
"The most obvious change is a brand new period-instrument orchestra of nearly 50 players - a rare resource for US opera and a first here for opera of this era. The orchestra’s bold, vibrant playing, superbly attentive to music’s intricate wind writing, helps bring to sizzling life ‘Medea in Corinto’, [...] Jonathan Brandani, at the piano, and orchestra leader Jakob Lehmann persuasively share conducting responsibilities." Financial Times, 07/31/2018
‘The Dawn of Romantic Opera’ Review. Subtle, Playful Performances: "Launching Teatro Nuovo’s first season, a period-instrument ensemble brings color and articulation to "Medea in Corinto. [...] The most exciting - and entirely novel - aspect of the festival was the Teatro Nuovo Orchestra: a large period-instrument ensemble made up of natural brasses, early woodwinds, and gut-strung string instruments. The concertmaster, violinist Jakob Lehmann, led the orchestra, and the keyboard player [...] Jonathan Brandani gave cues to the singers. [...] The effect was transformative: these superb players brought to early 19th- century opera the kind of color and articulation that has become standard in Handel historical performance. Instead of bombast and sheen, we got subtlety and playfulness. The Wall Street Journal, 7/31/2018
"The operas were fascinating, the indoor acoustics superior, the performances musically impressive. The biggest plus was the nearly 50-strong period instrument orchestra. [...] Jonathan Brandani assumed the role of ‘maestro al cembalo’ in the Mayr. On the whole, orchestra precision was good and the playing of the brass instruments secure." Opera Magazine, October 2018
Teatro Nuovo's Bel Canto at SUNY Purchase - Thunderbolts Out of the Blue: "Jonathan Brandani was a fine maestro for the Medea. [...] overall you were fixed on the orchestra which felt like a chamber group. Instruments spoke to other instruments and related to the singers. The music was oddly, but engagingly interactive. Moving at a brisk pace, but with plenty of time to relish moments of sad and delicate beauty, these operas were a wonderful treat." Berkshire Fine Arts, 8/7/2018
"PURCHASE, New York—Not to slight the fine singing, but the thing most likely to strike firsttime visitors to Teatro Nuovo [...] is the newly formed periodinstrument orchestra of nearly 50 players. With it, Teatro Nuovo claims to become the first venture in the U.S. to present 19thcentury Italian opera on period instruments."
"The orchestra added considerable luster to last weekend’s performances of [...] Giovanni Simone Mayr’s Medea in Corinto.
"Here conducting responsibilities were divided between the 'maestro al cembalo' (keyboard maestro) and the 'primo violino e capo d’orchestra' (concertmaster). Crutchfield, at a period piano, functioned in the former capacity for Tancredi as did Jonathan Brandani for Medea, with Jakob Lehmann serving as concertmaster for both. [...] A fresh, assertive, vibrant sound was present as well [...]."
Musical America Worldwide
Medea at Teatro Nuovo: "Sunday's performance was a treat, both musically and theatrically. The performance was semi-staged, and there were many moments of gripping drama. [...]. The highly skilled Teatro Nuovo Orchestra played under Jonathan Brandani, maestro al cembalo [...]. The ensemble seemed to play so intuitively together that a conductor in the modern sense would have been superfluous. I never sensed a moment when the orchestra wasn't playing as one, and I never sensed a moment when orchestra and stage were not in sync." Taminophile, 7/30/2018
"Il Mondo della Luna" - Palau de les Arts, Valencia 2018
"The Italian-born Jonathan Brandani conducted with vigor, soundness and sensitivity. The orchestra was always excellent." Las Provincias , 3/10/2018
"Splendid performance of the orchestra. The conducting by Jonathan Brandani was very rich in details and full of energy." El Mundo, 3/13/2018
"The orchestra, conducted by Jonathan Brandani, was always attentive to the balance and the energy of the score. It was effective and offered a solid support for the voices on stage." Valencia Plaza, 3/12/2018
"Don Pasquale" - Minnesota Opera 2017
"Strong musical support was provided by conductor Jonathan Brandani leading an orchestra that sounded properly Italianate: light and airy, with a crisp tone and just the right amount of “crash and dash” from the percussion and brass. Instrumental ensemble was very tight, and one couldn’t have asked for better synchronization with the singers." Bachtrack
"Conductor Jonathan Brandani drew crisp, idiomatic playing from the orchestra, and kept the singers securely strapped in during the faster numbers." The Star Tribune
"Add on the exceptional work of conductor Jonathan Brandani and the Minnesota Opera Orchestra and, even if the staging concept doesn’t work for you, the music certainly should." Twin Cities Pioneer Press
"The pit orchestra is conducted by Jonathan Brandani. As with his earlier conducting for Tosca, Brandani displays a nuanced grasp of the genre, mining small moments and accents to highlight the humor infusing the score." Twin Cities Arts
"Jonathan Brandani conducted an orchestra of fifty musicians that played Donizetti's score beautifully, conveying the characters' states of romance, foolishness, exuberance and anger through the music."
Talking Broadway
"Tosca" - Minnesota Opera 2016
"Brandani led the orchestra with clarity, transparency of color and a fine balance." Post Bulletin
"Jonathan Brandani conducted the orchestra. The musicians performance was dynamic, precise, and faithful." Aisle Say Twin cities
"Don Pasquale" - Lucca Opera Festival 2014
“You won’t meet another conductor with such clear, purposeful indications as Jonathan Brandani. Moreover, he makes this music spark. And Brandani conveys this with his fine regard for the score’s details.“ Seen and Heard International
