“To have the audience leaning in, listening to the musical narrative, as guest director Lorenza Borrani does from bar one of the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s second tour for the year is really something… With Borrani directing with her focus on crisp articulation and style over swagger, Beethoven’s venerable
String Quartet No 16 becomes something quite different.”

“Borrani’s contribution this year was Prokofiev’s Violin Sonata No. 1, and it is masterly. She gains some amazing effects, from the resonant low passages at the
very beginning of the work to the sublime, silvery sheen of the closing bars of the first movement, the violin whirling around in wispy scales above a rumbling foundation. A fantastic piece, and a fantastic performance.”

“There is an obvious rapport between Borrani and the musicians of the ACO, who brought out the tenebrous menace she captures in her string arrangement
of Prokofiev’s Sonata for Violin and Piano. Borrani brought a yearning melancholy to the lyrical moments that emerge from the grittier energy of the Allegro
Brusco, while her sinuous lines in the Andante were chilling at the lower end, her high register penetrating with a laser-like heat.”

“To have the audience leaning in, listening to the musical narrative, as guest director Lorenza Borrani does from bar one of the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s second tour for the year is really something… With Borrani directing with her focus on crisp articulation and style over swagger, Beethoven’s venerable String Quartet No 16 becomes something quite different.”

“Borrani’s contribution this year was Prokofiev’s Violin Sonata No. 1, and it is masterly. She gains some amazing effects, from the resonant low passages at the very beginning of the work to the sublime, silvery sheen of the closing bars of the first movement, the violin whirling around in wispy scales above a rumbling foundation. A fantastic piece, and a fantastic performance.”

“There is an obvious rapport between Borrani and the musicians of the ACO, who brought out the tenebrous menace she captures in her string arrangement of Prokofiev’s Sonata for Violin and Piano. Borrani brought a yearning melancholy to the lyrical moments that emerge from the grittier energy of the Allegro Brusco, while her sinuous lines in the Andante were chilling at the lower end, her high register penetrating with a laser-like heat.”

“Her preferences for delicacy and exploitation of the many, many developmental shades of pianissimo in slowly building crescendos produced a remarkable sound. … What a joy to hear Alfred Schnittke’s Sonata for Violin and Chamber Orchestra played with such intelligence and humour!”

“In the wrong hands, it could sound chaotic. Borrani and the ACO’s spectacular performance made it feel seamlessly structured. Always attuned to the sonata’s sudden changes of mood and violent stylistic juxtapositions, the group’s tight-knit ensemble and incisive attack realised the passages of dissonant aggression while their soft-grained sonorities and soulfully phrased melodic shards captured its moments of mournful reflection.”

“Under the excellent direction of guest director and violinist Lorenza Borrani, who clearly had a great rapport with the Orchestra, we were treated to a superb performance by the ACO. … Borrani was amazing in her solos, fiery and hypnotic yet tender and liquid as well.”