PRESS - ‘an iron baton in a velvet hand’

Kristiina Poska recently collaborated with the Orchestre Français des Jeunes (OFJ) for a series of concerts in Dijon, Paris and at BOZAR Brussels. The performances were met with an enthusiastic response from audiences and drew positive attention from critics.

Diapason: “A youth orchestra that sounds on a par with many professional ensembles, a high-wire programme led by Kristiina Poska, and a contagious enthusiasm crowned by a standing ovation from the audience — the OFJ proves truly irresistible.”

“Special praise is due to their musical director, Kristiina Poska, an iron baton in a velvet hand, who guided her forces with authority and care, attentively shaping the balances, proportions and surges of Scheherazade, as well as the intricate polyrhythms of Recto (2003), Yan Maresz’s quasi-study for orchestra, whose floating pulse draws on a wide range of playing techniques, from Bartók pizzicatos and harmonic strings to trombone glissandi and muted trumpets.”

Bachtrack: “There are concerts one attends with pleasure and leaves with even greater pleasure. The concert given by the Orchestre Français des Jeunes this Wednesday at the Palais des Beaux-Arts was one of those.”

“Kristiina Poska does not seek a vain display of orchestral virtuosity here, but patiently weaves the threads of a narrative that is both beautiful and demanding. Conducting from memory, she impresses with her complete command of the score, bringing its full richness to the fore. Supported by an orchestra she has instilled with remarkable discipline, she exercises an authority that still allows the music — and the musicians — to breathe freely, offering a vision that is at once coherent and poetic of a work one never tires of hearing.”

Crescendo Magazine: “The orchestra displays a particularly convincing sense of unity and cohesion. The synergy between the sections is evident, as pleasing to watch as it is to hear. The strings play with sustained commitment; the woodwinds stand out for the precision of their entries and the elegance of their solos. The brass bring brilliance and definition without ever overstating their presence. The percussionists contribute with pinpoint accuracy, while the harpist, perfectly audible, enchants with the delicacy of her arabesques.”

“One should highlight the remarkable work of Kristiina Poska, who unifies the ensemble and infuses this orchestra of young musicians, on the threshold of their careers, with a communicative energy.”

Le Figaro: “When reviewing youth orchestras, one usually starts by mentioning freshness and enthusiasm. Yet that is not what we will chiefly remember from the concert given by the Orchestre français des jeunes (OFJ) at the Paris Philharmonie. Rather, with our eyes closed, what we heard was playing worthy of a professional orchestra.”

“The recruitment of the 47-year-old Estonian conductor is a fine achievement by Charlotte Ginot-Slacik, general director of the OFJ since 2022. Kristiina Poska is at the height of her powers, her left hand holding the baton, her gestures firm and powerful, in the direct lineage of Baltic conductors who exercise supple yet authoritative control over the orchestra. She makes no concessions, and one admires her sense of construction, which succeeds in unifying this hundred or so instrumentalists drawn from the Paris and Lyon national conservatories, as well as regional conservatories from Lille to Toulouse, from Caen to Bordeaux, via Boulogne, Strasbourg, and Aix-en-Provence.”

“A work of orchestral bravura, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade proves all the more impressive for never resorting to garish effects. In an interpretation sustained from beginning to end, one admires both the bite of the attacks and the clarity of the sound layers, the homogeneity of the tutti as well as the quality of the soloists—not least the glorious trombone of Élise Marcellin.”

Classykeo: “Discipline, cohesion, clarity, individual and collective virtuosity — the list of qualities would be long to draw up. The strings play as one, with a broad sound, fine transparency, and ardour when required. The winds offer delightful sonorities across all sections; at every desk one feels that the excellence of French wind playing has a bright future ahead. The percussion section is fully in tune with the whole. And all respond as a single being to the impulses of a conductor whose intentions are clearly mature and precise, and whose commitment is total. Thus the music lives, moves forward, is constantly reborn, tells stories, travels, flares up or dreams — and the acoustics of the great hall magnify it all.”

Bruno Serrou: “Kristiina Poska’s conducting elicited from the young musicians sumptuous sonorities of light and sensuality, enhanced by a conductor who sings as if she were in her own garden. A judiciously febrile, blazing, fluid, powerful, lively and contrasted Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, admirably highlighting the magnificent instrumental solos as well as the entire body of solo desks”

“Virtuosic, the Orchestre Français des Jeunes set the Philharmonie de Paris ablaze under the invigorating direction of Kristiina Poska.”

Cult.News: “Under Kristiina Poska’s direction, the challenge becomes an opportunity. The conductor guides the orchestra toward a highly structuring reading of the piece. She appears particularly attentive to the way instruments blend together or stand apart. This meticulous work benefits the overall cohesion: one hears sections of remarkable homogeneity and a highly developed sense of mutual listening.”

“From the very first bars, Kristiina Poska’s conducting asserts a clear vision: she does not seek spectacular effect for its own sake. This does not mean that her Scheherazade lacks flair — quite the contrary — but rather that this flair is always in the service of the narrative. For, inspired by The Tales of One Thousand and One Nights, it is indeed stories that are being told here.”

“Poska gives her orchestra an admirable sense of breath and flow: never does she allow the tension to sag, yet never does she press the emotion too heavily. In return, the orchestra displays a rare level of concentration: every note seems considered, weighed, and delivered with scrupulous care.

Klassiek Centraal: “With energetic yet never forceful gestures, she spurred the orchestra on, while her emphasis on narrative clarity and lyrical breathing resulted in a performance that was both dramatically articulate and transparent in its sonic architecture. The orchestra responded with an intensity that rivaled many professional ensembles: rock-solid playing, razor-sharp entries, and a glow that could be felt throughout the entire hall. The precision with which the young orchestra breathed and turned as a single organism was nothing short of remarkable; each section seemed to intuitively sense what the others required.”

“If this concert is a harbinger of what we may expect from the OFJ under Poska, then the tone has been unmistakably set: demanding, adventurous, and deeply musical. Within a rich and diverse concert landscape, this was an evening that continues to resonate.”