THE PRESS WROTE:
Fatma Zidan Group- concert at Musikhuzet, Ronne
"Technical superiority: Adam Ørvad's accordion playing was likewise swerwing through the at the same time the rhythmic and melodic function in the overall sound. Accurate, secure and full of musicality the fingers were flying over the buttons and included the modern instrument into the Arab universe of sound, as if it were the most natural thing in the world to mix accordion and oud together. The four musicians were four soloists who brought their skills into the playing so that the sum of individual achievements were potentiated to a degree that was far beyond the expected!"
Christina D. Gornitzka, Bornholm Tidende, June 2016
"The dream of a ridiculous man" theatre play based on Dostoevsky's short story. TELL two JOY art theatre.
Viktor Melnikov, actor and Adam Ørvad, accordion.
"Melnikov's monologue is perfectlyaccompanied by Adam Ørvad on accordion. It created the right and a very distinctive atmosphere in the chapel, and one the feeling that there was not speak about the classical accordion music. Ørvad musical accompaniment was much more than that and you could feel the timpres of both organ and strings"
Christian Skovgaard Hansen, Ungt Teaterblod, april 2015
"The sound of the accordion sound sends us both back in time and towards the Russian reference room of Dostoyevsky. Ørvad plays in some passages dreamingly beauty, while in other scenes he coaxes out unpleasantly creepy sounds out of his instrument. He is a notable actor whose acoustic expression hits heart and stomach and creates an emotional, wordless contrasting space around the wordy tale. "
Anne Liisberg, Teater1, april 2014
"60 minutes of mad monologue in the chapel of Assistants Cemetery. The mood is gloomy in "The dream of a ridiculous man", but the piece is surprisingly vivid, among others thanks to Adam Ørvad accordion playing. (...) The novel is written as a monologue, and the well known Russian director Slava Kokorin stays true to the model. So the actor Viktor Melnikov stands alone on stage, accompanied only by the strange, sometimes unsettling music of accordionist Adam Ørvad. Balkan tones mingle in the strangest way with Tchaikovsky, Erik Højsgaard and Hanne Ørvad. Much therefore depends on Melnikov, and fortunately he makes it excellent. He not only manages rattling off Dostoyevsky (almost) continuously for an hour without ever missing a beat, he manages to put an intensity in the words, whether he is in the streets of St. Petersburg's or in the Garden of Eden.
It is a distinctive, almost spiritual experience to sit in the old chapel, while questions of guilt and sin, morality, salvation and God's existence are flying around you. Definitely worth a visit. "
Julie M. Callesen, KultuNaut, February 2014
Adam Ørvad: WING SPAN, double soloCD 2012
"Classical accordion virtuoso Adam Ørvad presents a twofer here with a dual purpose; firstly, he preaches the gospel of contemporary Danish classical accordion writing and second, he presents a series of arrangements from the classics, to demonstrate the accordion’s suitability as an instrument to interpret even the greatest of music. How sympathetic you will be to the latter will perhaps depend on your toleration of the accordion’s sonority but my experience here has been wholly positive.
I always enjoy hearing accordion players in the underground. The sound travels well and it’s evocative. Doubtless it’s twice as evocative in the Metro. It would however be a brave accordionist who sought loose change with this selection of Danish music. Vagn Holmboe’s Sonata No.2 Burlésco is a magically colourful work dating from 1989 written with two Intermezzos. The longest movement, though, is the quietly introspective Andante. The finale has baroque elements. The Sonata shows what a great composer can fashion for the accordion. Mogens Christensen’s Couronne is a slow, mysterious, almost pellucid piece that evolves over ten minutes with great assurance: he has confidence in his quietude and the means to sustain it.
Højsgaard’s Épreuve is a very accessible and entertaining piece. In Hans Abrahamsen’s Canzone, Ørvad evokes a chamber organ sonority and the spirit of the Baroque is subtly updated. The title piece is Wing Span by Hanne Ørvad and its multi-coloured textures and vocalised sensibility are richly apparent. It reminds us that the classical accordion is a well respected instrument in Denmark and that since the pioneering figure of Mogens Ellegaard a huge amount has been written to furnish the world’s accordionists with a valuable repertory.
The transcriptions show how viably the accordion can inhabit the classical repertory. I enjoyed these technically accomplished and dextrously played performances very much, whether Bach or Franck — I wasn’t expecting Prokofiev’s Toccata, that’s for sure, but I’m glad we have it in so brilliantly and rhythmically taut a performance as this. The soloist’s legerdemain and skill for sonority can be gauged in Franck’s Prélude, Fugue et Variation where in the fugal passages he evokes the organ. And to take on not only Bach’s Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue but also the French Ouverture, BWV 831 shows how avidly the contemporary accordionist casts his net. These transcriptions are all Ørvad’s work, and are truly sonorous and musically elevated examples of the accordionist’s art.
Anyone with an interest in the accordion will find a huge amount to stimulate in these excellently engineered, vibrantly played performances."
Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb May2013
"Adam Ørvad's ambitious recital is divided between two separate discs. The first focuses on contemporary Danish music and ranges from the pithy elegance of Vagn Holmboe's Second Sonata to the improvisatory brilliance of Louis Aguirre's Yemayá, with Hanne Ørvad's Wing Span the highlight in its bracing fusion of expressive spontaneity with formal clarity. The second disc features classical works heard in Ørvad's always ingenious transcriptions: Prokofiev's Toccata must make a formidable recital encore, while the two pieces by Franck bring out the timbral and textural similarities between organ and accordion. The highlights, however, are the pieces by Bach - a composer whose indestructibility in any guise only partially explains the tensile brilliance brought to the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue or the irresistible rhythmic agility which informs the French Ouverture. It is a measure of Ørvad's proficiency as a transcriber that both of these works should sound as if written for the accordion - as idiomatic in realisation as they are involving in overly emotional terms. Both discs are superbly recorded, Danacord gives the instrument ample space to "breathe" without compromising its immediacy. (...) Ørvad supplies his own succinct and thought-provoking annotations. (...) Danacord proffers something like the extent of what the instrument is now capable"
Richard Whitehouse, Gramophone, july 2012
"UNADULTERATED ENERGY
You get a little of everything at Adam Ørvads new double album with accordion works. First, a CD of newly written works and then one with his own transcriptions of Bach, Prokofiev and Franck.
When musicians make the kind of nostalgic half-hedges, you can get nervous. But the art of transcription is part of the accordion tradition and with his lyrical shaped playing vanguard soundstage Ørvad doing just fine through the stylistic challenges he has given himself. Yet one can not help but feel that he is best in the contemporary works for accordion - the presence is simply stronger, the timbre richerand phrasing are sharper.
From the opening with Vagn Holmboe's "Burlesco" sonata move fast out fine. Variatoion is great in the contemporary works Ørvad deftly pieces together. Yet, Holmboe capricious playing with the heavy tool box, you remember. Especially for the slowly dragging the second movement, which unfolded with great beauty and gradually reveals its captivating qualities. Ørvad blows with his indomitable energy, both time in Holmboe's ingenious motivforvandlinger and one's own imagination.
Occasionally one would wish that he hit ee little more understated nerve in his game. So would a work by Hans Abrahamsen's "Canzone" get even more into its own, and you would avoid forbemmelsen that they enegriske discharges gradually begins to run in circles for Ørvad. The safe handling of the many styles Ørvad here embarks in, ends anyway to draw a uniquely fascinating picture of a Danish accordeontalent. "
Jens Povlsen, Klassisk, april 2012
Solo concert, San José de las Lajas, Festival de la Habana, Cuba
"Amazing presentation of Adam Ørvad in San Jose de las Lajas.
A close ovation, at the end of each of the masterly interpretations of the Danish outstanding accordion player Adam Ørvad, was the most genuine communication with the audience that attended the Hall of the Lajero Movie-Theater, located in San Jose de las Lajas, 35 kilometers far from the Cuban capital.
The Danish accordion musician Adam Ørvad invited to participate in the 24th Festival for the Contemporaneous Classic Music in Cuba, performed last Saturday 31st in San Francisco de Asis Convent, in the historical old part of Havana, where he was also acclaimed by the audience. However, last night, those attending Lajas’ theater felt vibrate each of the notes that emerged from that instrument which seemed to tell a story of the world’s creation in the suggesting piece Yemaya, composed by the also remarkable creator of contemporary classical music Louis Aguirre (Camaguey 1968).
Before, Ørvad’s accordion was able to transport to the climax those spectators with Vingefang’s work (Wing Span, 1997), an exceptional piece from the Danish composer Hanne Ørvad, in three moments: Adagio e animato, Long expressive and Allegro volante, "Flyvende Sommer".
The composers Adriano Gallousi (Italy) and Juan Piñeira (Cuba), present in the concert, recognized Ørvad’s interpretation fluency and, mainly, Gallousi, pointed out that it is the first time it is listened, in Cuba, a musician with the international level Adam has, with the accordion; an instrument is inserted since the 50s, in the scores of those authors of contemporaneous classic music."
By Raul San Miguel, El Habanero, November 2009
Solo concert, Vesløs Church
"Time flew by in the variegated programme that Adam Ørvad presented in Vesløs Church at the concert of August 6th. With his short and well-chosen introductions to the works and dazzling and at times virtuous performance did he lead the audience through a range of very different works, both original music for the accordion as well as transcribed works.
Vagn Homboe’s ”Sonata no. 2 ”Burlesco” op. 179a” of 1989 was one of the highlights of the concert. Particularly the slow movement. It was as if the distinctive character of the instrument here literally came into its own. A tonal language that is highly evocative of his series of string quartets.
And in Mogens Christensen’s ”Couronne” of 2005 Adam Ørvad generated a remarkable elevated quiet in the room, an intimacy with the audience, that was enthralling. A reaction to the spherical character and almost elfin lightness of the piece counterpointing the tensioned chords, which produced a particularly elevated spatial effect. The piece is a commission for Ørvad’s debut concert three years ago.
An organ-transcription of César Franck and a piano-transcription of the Armenian composer Khachaturjan (he of the ”Sabre Dance”) demonstrated the potential of the accordion for dynamic crescendos and gave these pieces a thoroughly new and different musical guise, showing Adam Ørvad’s virtuous grandness.
The concert was concluded with Bach’s ”French Overture, BWV 831”. A magnificent work full of springiness and with the fervour of the sarabande in a soft register Adam Ørvad displayed his excellent stylistic flair.
The concert was well attended and a link in ”Music in Han Shire”.
Henrik Svane, August 2008
CD. Duo Diagonal: "Incontri"
"At a glance a peculiar instrument combination, yet perhaps not. (...) especially Couperin’s "Simphonie de Clavecins" is full of enthusiasm and a drive that is a joy to listen to."
Jens Sparrevohn Rønn, Musikeren, July 2008
"What a meeting!
What is the relation between the Baroque harpsichord and the modern accordion? Nothing, right? But there you are quite mistaken. A CD with the musicians Anka Zlateva and Adam Ørvad proves that not only can the instruments share the same room, indeed exciting and enthralling music ensues from the meeting. In Baroque music for two harpsichords by for instance Couperin and Mattheson it is fine to let one be replaced by accordion.
Naturally there are but few original compositions for the duo, but those recorded by Leonid Bashmakov and Timme Ørvad displays a range of fascinating tones and possible combinations. And Anka Zlateva’s arrangement of two pieces for piano by the Bulgarian composer Pancho Vladigerov have a tangible encore quality. Both musicians are very talented and the entire recording has a wonderful presence to it."
Ole Straarup, Århus Stiftstidende, May 2008
Chagall-evening with Mazel, Ejby Forsamlingshus
"Folk music of high standard. The music, as it was presented by the orchestra Mazel, was of very high quality. No one that evening remained unaware that the music was like a smile through tears. For klezmer music is played only in minor and has a both melancholy but also beautiful ring. Nevertheless, it can also be life-affirming dance music. (...) It was a musical pleasure for the audience to experience the empathy and virtuosity of the professional musicians.
Midtsjællands Avis, March 2008
Concert, Duo Diagonal at "Easter Festival and Contemporary Chamber Music", Sofia
"At the first glance, the combination of the typical Baroque harpsichord and the correspondingly newer accordion seems impossible. By a gradual revelation of the wealth of tonal possibilities of the accordion, approaching certain organs with regard to registers, tonal range and timbre (opr. tembre), one is made aware of the similarity between the accordion and the other with the Baroque associated instrument, the organ. In an exotic, bordering on the perverse, manner, the concurrency unite the religious and the temporal in Baroque music, presented through the organ and the harpsichord. These connections permit the programme with Baroque music (arranged for harpsichord and accordion) and modern works."
Ilija Gramatikov & Nikolaj Kolev, Altera, April 2007
(...) these two are both wonderful professionals, who provoke the genesis of new pieces or arrangements of old (...)
Natalija Ilieva, Kultura, April 2007
Debut concert, The Royal Danish Music Conservatory
“Adam Ørvad plays with exuberance, mastery and grace. (...)
Hence it is rare to meet with a so profoundly lyrical talent behind the unwieldy trunk. It was not, as may initially have been expected, only the fine, sensual play of changing harmonic colours in the preliminary first performance, Mogens Christensen’s “Couronne”, that called for Ørvad’s sense for delicate shadowy nuances and calm listening timing. There was also the breezy levitating lightness as starting point for the wondrous pre- and postludes in the Finn Kalevi Aho’s strongly Bach-inspired sonata, and the smiling, flowing grace in the soloist’s own arrangement of César Franck’s “Pastorale” for organ.
Even the refreshing encore, a suite of presumably Rumanian folk dances, were characterised by a flying virtuosity rather than pushy energy. Over and over, Ørvad affirmed that the bellows are the soul of the instrument.
With all his loveable lightness, he is nevertheless an achiever who, with steady confidence and calm, reaches a settlement with a challenge like Aho’s half hour, highly complex and profound work, untangles the knots, forming a clarity and inherent organic dynamism that convinces of the grandeur of the work. An intellectual tour de force became a potent experience.
The second centre of gravity of the evening, the Scot Gordon McPherson’s dramatically pantomimic ”Lame God”, Ørvad delivered with warm narrative desire and competence, that never overstrained its means.”
Jan Jacoby, Politiken, March 2005
Solo concert, Slangerup Kirke
“The verger at Slangerup Kirke, Dennis Tobiasen, reports of a super concert and points it out as one of the best concerts he has experienced in the church – and he has heard all of them!”
Frederiksborg Amts-Avis, October 2004
Insideout, Amsterdam
"One just had the fortune to experience the utterly mad: "Insideout" by Sasha Waltz and Rebecca Saunders, performed by the fabulous musikFabrik NRW that was scattered all over the enormous factory building in Docklands, and even placed inside glass cases. Working conditions that only dedicated musicians will accept."
Rheinische Post, June 2004
CD - Karin Haußmann, Deutscher Musikrat, Edition zeitgenössisher musik, WERGO 6558 2.: Ein Ort für Zufälle, musikFabrik
"Better interpreter (...) for these pieces is hard to conceive of. To this belongs also Ein Ort für Zufälle (A Place for Coincidences) for soprano, accordion, flute and percussion. It may strike the unprepared as a scintillating machine from an old chamber of wonders, in which small wheels take large turns: A drumming accent penetrates the note of an accordion, as if secretive ellipses were crossed (...)"
Die Zeit, July 2004
Den Forvandlede Kat, Det Nordjyske Operakompagni
"...Offenbach’s music also did well transplanted to Adam Ørvad’s accordion..."
John Christensen, Jyllands Posten, 2002
"...Musically it is not least a pleasurable experience to hear the three singers in polyphonic unity, not to mention the accompaniment throughout the play, as usually delivered by accordionist Adam Ørvad..."
Birgitte Bové, Nørresundby Avis, 2002
Hanne Ørvad, portrait concert, Manzius hall, Birkerød
Adam Ørvad and Therese Åstrand made captivating performances of the two works, in which not least Adam Ørvad’s ability to make the accordion illude like an organ underlined the choral-like in the Largo espressivo movement from "Vingefang".
Jens Brincker, Berlingske Tidende, 2002
Bastien og Bastienne, Det Nordjyske Operakompagni
...Adam Ørvad delivered a fabulous performance, his accordion-accompaniment had precisely the kind of lightness and musicality that is so necessary for Mozart, and when he appeared on stage as an extra player he added intense drama to the narrative with his gesticulation.
Tore Mortensen, Nordjyske Stifts-Tidende, 2001
...It is decisive for the accessibility of the performance that Adam Ørvad plays with infectious vivacity and beauty...
Randi K. Pedersen, Børneteater, 2001
Koncert, Allerød Musikskole
...and yet the best was saved for last: Adam’s performance of César Franck’s Organ Pastorale in E-major, a very beautifully arranged performance of a work that elegantly came to rest in itself.
Knud Cornelius, Frederiksborg Amts-Avis, 1999
