Press

  • "With barely one foot on the rostrum, John Storgårds threw out his left hand to cue the wild tremolo which opens Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony. Not for him was the customary long pause and deep breath before tackling this mountain of the repertoire. It was a moment of gut-wrenching immediacy, breathtaking in its unexpectedness and setting the tone for a perfectly weighted performance which captured every subtly and catastrophe of this titan of the repertoire."
    Rohan Shotton, Bachtrack, June 2026
  • "John Storgårds: a one-of-a-kind figure on the international music scene."
    Mats Liljeroos, Hufvudstadsbladet, April 2026
  • "Never have I heard an orchestra so eloquently convey the profound sadness of the “Pathetique”; Storgårds and the orchestra made its pain powerfully palpable, its darkness almost impenetrable. It was an interpretation both deeply beautiful and intensely moving, totally devoid of schmaltz and histrionics. Seldom have I experienced a performance that treated this composer with such profound respect and emotional insight."
    Rob Hubbard, The Minnesota Star Tribune, April 2026
  • "Thanks to the skill of the BBC Philharmonic and John Storgårds, Shostakovich’s dramatic vision is realised more vividly here than ever heard it before. It’s not just the impeccably calibrated emergence of those musical forms achieved by Storgårds and his players that impresses, but how he brings ever more definition to what is unfolding. Storgårds manages the transition between sections highly effectively and in his reading Shostakovich’s many lines of counterpoint become the epitome of a Mayakovskian theatrical experiment."
    Dominic Hartley, MusicWeb International, March 2026
    BBC Philharmonic
  • "John Storgårds led the San Francisco Symphony in a programme including Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor - the very definition of iconic. Conductors can easily be lured into searching for novel ways to perform the Fifth, with eccentric tempos or phrasing. But Storgårds let the music speak for itself. The result was a finely detailed performance of great power. Every note, every phrase, every dynamic built the structure of each movement with elegant nobility. […] Storgårds isn’t a physically showy conductor, but the conclusion of Beethoven’s Fifth found him bouncing with excitement on the podium."
    Lisa Hirsch, San Francisco Chronicle, January 2026
    San Francisco Symphony
  • "John Storgårds underlined the score’s raw energy and highlighted its strikingly violent and tender juxtapositions, driving the music to irresistible climaxes and poignant solo utterances"
    David Truslove, Opera Today, September 2025
  • "Here Storgårds allowed the music all the breathing space it needed, his string players finding astonishing depths of warmth and exquisite softness."
    Rohan Shotton, Bachtrack, June 2025
    BBC Philharmonic
  • "From quietest moments to the most extrovert, the music had shape and direction, and an underlying thread of tension."
    Scott Cantrell, The Dallas Morning News, April 2025
  • "One of the highlights of this year’s Proms season was John Storgårds and the BBC Philharmonic’s blistering account of Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony"
    Neil Fulwood, Nottingham Culture, 4 October, 2024
    BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
  • "Storgårdsin johtamisesta välittyy musikaalinen ja näkemyksellinen tahto, ja hänellä on maaginen taito tartuttaa se kaikkiin muusikoihin."
    Aija Haapalainen, Turun Sanomat 6 September, 2024
    Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, Season opening concert