Tomasz Golka, conductor, Winner of the 2003 Eduardo Mata Conducting Competition

Reviews

The ensemble of 30-plus players closed the evening with an eye-opening reading of Mendelssohn's familiar "Symphony No. 4 (Italian)." Golka and the players opened the first movement with tremendous vigor, maintaining a crackling energy throughout. Soaring musical statements, delicately layered, cohesive ensemble playing and constant awareness of the piece's structure created a thrilling performance of the entire piece.

— Elaine Schmidt, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, February 12, 2008

Intimacy and well-balanced ensemble interplay were the elements that conductor Tomasz Golka and the players brought to [Wagner's 'Siegfried Idyll']. Hearing them play felt like being part of a private conversation, or perhaps reading a tender letter.

— Elaine Schmidt, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, February 12, 2008

There were exciting and beautiful things in the playing: Golka displayed an understanding of the complementary roles of momentum and elasticity in [Richard] Strauss's music.

— Richard Dyer, Boston Globe, July 5, 2006

Tomasz Golka had the most demanding job, leading Milton Babbitt's "From the Psalter," settings of Biblical Psalms in Elizabethan verse translations by Sir Philip Sidney. The music is as complicated and striking in meter, language, and emotional directness as the texts. The string orchestra under Golka played it confidently, and Golka achieved a Mozartian transparency.

— Richard Dyer, Boston Globe, August 8, 2006

In Dvorak's 8th Symphony Golka truly showed of what he is capable. He has real charisma and knows how to efficiently and effectively bring out his interpretation. He has a great feel for works large and small. The encore, Dvorak’s Slavonic Dance no. 8, was elegant and dance-like.

— Dorota Szwarcman, Ruch Muzyczny, August 2004

… the music-making often reached breath-taking heights.

— The Bakersfield Sun

There exist those conductors who can bring the orchestra together to play as a single instrument, expressing one unified emotion. Golka does this.

— El Universal

Golka maintained a strong internal pulse and yet brought fluidity to the constant tempo changes in this epic introduction of the fourth movement [of Brahms’ 1st Symphony]... under his baton, the orchestra sounded full of colors and subtleties... Golka's best traits, which he shares with Eduardo Mata, are musicality and the power of expression...

— La Reforma

… most memorable are his composure and his certainty … in the Brahms, he achieved an attractive warmth combined with a dense orchestral sonority.

— La Jornada

Golka greatly enhanced the sound of the violin section, achieving very suggestive coloristic effects… he was not on the podium to appease anybody, just to make music.

— La Reforma

Golka conducted with a firm grip, yet constant smoothness... his presence turned those 25 minutes into a listening delight...

— Periodico A. M. Leon