Olari Elts
Media
"Elts put the storytelling first and foremost and with the orchestra’s flawless playing made this a captivating performance.  " Read review
Bachtrack
Leighton Jones
May 2019
"...the conductor Olari Elts clearly has the measure of them, and most obviously an ear for how best to draw out the detail of the intriguing colours Tüür manages to extract from both soloists and orchestra." Read review
Musicweb International
Richard Hanlon
March 2018 
"Themes and ideas, interconnections and contrasts, ricocheted across Estonian conductor Olari Elts’s cleverly constructed concert with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. […] Elts’s Rautavaara was a slow-burn, vivid with carefully etched detail and drawing intensely on the SCO players’ soloistic skills […] Elts’s Respighi was no less vivid, with an exquisite sparkle to its impeccably balanced textures – refined, but with a mischievous glint in its eye all the same. […] Elts’s Copland, too, felt intimate and introspective rather than monumental and expansive, offering a very fresh, human perspective on this well-loved classic of Americana." Read review
The Scotsman
David Kettle
07.11.2017
"Elts’ conducting can be flamboyant at the same time as being meticulously precise. [...] The result in Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances had intensity and color, decisiveness and vigor, allied with the same sensitivity which pervaded the Rhapsody, plus fine work from the alto saxophone in the first movement." Read review
The SunBreak
Philippa Kiraly
17.04.2017
"There’s an irresistible energy and joy in Elts’ conducting style; he leaps about the podium, sweeping his arms and hands in enthusiastic but exquisitely clear, focused gestures. His gift for revealing inner structures gave the symphony a fresh, living dimensionality. Elts took full advantage of NACO’s hybrid chamber/symphonic sound, working at close range to produce a magical balance between sternum-rattling power and painterly detail and transparency." Read review
Artsfile Ottawa
Natasha Gauthier
30.03.2017
"What made it really special was Elts’s remarkable handling of the orchestral texture, exquisitely balanced to revealing effect, so that you heard things you’d swear were never there before – but thankfully, never feeling in the slightest calculated." Read review
The Scotsman
David Kettle
11.04.2016
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Heino Eller: Violin Concerto

Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Olari Elts, conductor
Baiba Skride, violin
ODE 1321-2

"He approached Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony as though it was being played for the first time, with sparkling energy, clear articulation and a sense of narrative drive that rendered the whole thing sort of unarguable" Read review
Seen and Heard International
08.04.2016
Simon Thompson
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Borgström and Shostakovich: Violin Concertos

Wiener Symphoniker
Olari Elts, conductor
Eldbjørg Hemsing, violin
BIS-2366 SACD
"The excellent Olari Elts went on to sculpt Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony in big, sweeping gestures and a positively lurid palette of orchestral colours. [...] This was broad-brush Shostakovich, thrillingly physical and reeking of vodka and boot-leather. The ending drew cheers." Read review
The Birmingham Post
Richard Bratby
05.02.2016
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Erkki-Sven Tüür: Symphony No. 8 etc

Tapiola Sinfonietta
Olari Elts, conductor
Ondine: ODE 1303-2
"Elts disclosed the hidden art of a mature Haydn. Elts guided an inspired Seattle Symphony orchestra with the precision of an artisan, arising new and surprising nuances from Haydn´s music." Read review
Opera World
Carlos J. Lopez
23.01.2016
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Poul Ruders: Symphony No.5

Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Olari Elts, conductor
BRIDGE 9475
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Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances

10 November 2017, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra

Programme:
Respighi/Bach preludi ja fuuga D
Whittall - Piano concerto (soloist: Risto-Matti Marin)
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Rachmaninov/Respighi Preludi "Seagulls"
Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances
"The true star of the show, though, was Estonian conductor Olari Elts, who rather magically managed to conjure quite analytical, microscopically detailed performances that still sparkled with spontaneity and fresh, vivid life." Read review
The Scotsman
David Kettle
11.05.2015
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Brahms-Glanert: Four Serious Songs, etc 

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Olari Elts, conductor
Michael Nagy, baritone
Kari Kriikku, clarinet
Ondine: ODE 1263-2
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2016.06 Mahler 8 with Latvian National Symphony Orchestra

Photo credit: Latvijas Koncerti
"Elts made his impromptu appearance a highly entertaining, highly intoxicating, even at times very beautiful experience. he has a charisma that is boyish and ebullient. It certainly came over."
The Scotsman,
Ken Walton
03.12.2014
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R Martinsson: Garden of Devotion

8 May 2015, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Lisa Larsson
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Erkki-Sven Tüür: Symphony No. 5

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Olari Elts, conductor
Ondine: ODE 1234-2
"Elts drew richly burnished tone from the orchestra's eloquent strings in both pieces, and the brilliance of Shostakovich's fast movement [of the Ninth Symphony], by turns skittish and saturnine, benefitted from the contrast with the Moderato's inwardness."
Seen and Heard International,
Bernard Jacobson
07.02.2014
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J Brahms: Symphony No.1

20 November 2015, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Olari Elts