Return of the Lipinski Stradivarius"
"...highlighted just what a wonderful artist deMaine is. His clear sound, immaculate intonation, and tremendous musicianship were riveting...What stood out in this concert was the galvanizing effect of Robert deMaine’s magnificent playing. Every phrase had a purpose, and while there were no gratuitous musical gestures to draw the ear away from the overall architecture of the work, it was abundantly clear that deMaine possesses show-stealing skills." — William Barnewitz,
Urban Milwaukee Dial
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"DeMaine's playing is rapturous and outgoing...He made the two cadenzas - one in the opening movement and one at the end of the third - look easy. He's a dynamo, expressing soft and loud parts with seemingly effortless grace."
— Ted Shaw,
Windsor Star
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"...an exhilarating performance...played with robust passion, but also gentle delicacy, sensitive to every nuance of the music...This was a performance that enlivened the spirit."
— William Randall Beard,
Minneapolis Star-Tribune
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"DeMaine’s gorgeous, substantial tone conveyed great feeling...Every phrase, every note is crafted to perfection, nuanced with a deep understanding of the music and where it’s going. There were no loose ends, no "off" notes." — Gwenda Nemerofsky,
Winnipeg Free Press
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"...Andrew Armstrong au piano et Robert deMaine au violoncelle m'ont paru égaux à Ehnes comme techniciens et comme musiciens et les trois coéquipiers forment certainement un ensemble de premier plan."
— Claude Gingras,
La Presse, Montréal
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"deMaine’s high melody was exquisitely delivered. Tuning and timing were coordinated with uncanny precision." — Scott Cantrell,
Dallas Morning News
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"For a completely different (and much more romantic) take on folk materials, Mimir presented Antonín Dvorák's gorgeous Piano Quintet in A Major. Violinists Curt Thompson (who is also the executive director of Mimir) and Mills joined Chen, DeMaine and Chung. From the stunning cello solo that opened the piece to the final hustle and bustle of a country dance, the players perfectly caught the composer's intention. The nostalgic ending took on an added poignancy because the audience in the sold-out house knew that as the piece drew to a conclusion, so did Mimir 2011."
— Gregory Sullivan Isaacs,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
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Frankly Music gets help from its friends
"Almond, deMaine and Armstrong played with tremendous expressive freedom and ensemble cohesion, giving each other room for graceful rubatos, relishing the piece's elegant melodies and matching each other's phrasings throughout."
— Elaine Schmidt,
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
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Frankly Music makes big music
"This big-scale drama should ebb and flow, but always build. It should top itself again and again, though it seems for all the world as if all possible limits have been exceeded. Almond, deMaine and Armstrong, in complete technical and aesthetic command, built to climax after climax over four movements and reached the ultimate peak at the end. If you want more catharsis in your life, Brahms, Almond, Armstrong and deMaine have something for you."
— Tom Strini,
Thirdcoast Digest
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Old Town Surprise
"Throughout the concert, I was impressed by the ravishing tone and probing musicianship of cellist deMaine. Although I have heard Saint-Saens' The Swan countless times, under his fingers the music had new life and new emotions."
— Kenneth Glick,
Glickarts
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"An American, deMaine communicated Dvorak’s idyllic yet heroic music with depth of feeling and instinctive understanding. His playing was beyond reproach, merging technical accomplishment with passion, tenderness, and sheer brilliance."
— William Furtwangler,
Charleston Today
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"The Kodály Duo for Violin and Cello was the highlight of the concert. Robert deMaine’s technical prowess was perfectly paired with Hilary Hahn’s clean, articulate style. There were no frills here. Both musicians let the piece speak for itself. "
— Leah Rankin,
The Newshouse (Syracuse, NY)
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"...DeMaine's art: a beautiful singing tone, lapidary technical precision, and a persuasive identification with the idiom of the music at hand...marvelous...in which every note had something lovely to say."
— Greg Stepanich,
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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"Throughout the concert, I was impressed by the ravishing tone and probing musicianship of cellist Robert deMaine...under his fingers, the music had new life and new emotions. The music and performances were sublime."
— Kenneth Glickman,
Glickarts
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"The slow movement (Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2) returned to chamber intimacy as a lovely duet bloomed between Andre Watts and cellist Robert deMaine, who played with such exquisite beauty that he practically stole the show."
— Mark Stryker,
The Detroit Free Press
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"A sublime, brilliant experience...Robert deMaine was spectacular - an understatement. Marvelous, nuanced magic - an afternoon of glorious music-making."
— The Hoboken Journal
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"Richard Strauss' "Don Quixote" rounded out the program. Our principal cellist, Robert deMaine, was perfect, playing with great passion and persuasion."
— Leonard Slatkin,
www.leonardslatkin.com
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"Equally as brilliant as Cani's technique was the tone and intonation of deMaine. Principal cellist of the Detroit Symphony, he demonstrated both his playing skill and compositional prowess in three of his Etude-caprices. Employing a bagpipe tune in one, a Brazilian folk song in another and drawing upon pure fantasy in the third, each was filled with formidable technical challenges that deMaine negotiated almost effortlessly."
— Matt Steel,
The Kalamazoo Gazette
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"The full-bloodedly romantic performance, markedly moving and profound, was in the highly capable hands of cellist Robert deMaine and pianist Peter Orth. Fauré's solemnity and stately grandeur sounded made to order for them, and the performers gave it a moving breadth and dignity."
— Shirley Fleming,
New York Post
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"Robert deMaine took center stage as the protagonist in Strauss' symphonic poem "Don Quixote." To the knight of sorrowful countenance, deMaine brought a tenderness and poignancy that can only be wrought through mastery of the highest order. Slatkin and the DSO backed their star with vivid, eloquent playing. It was music-making of genuine character, just the sort that Strauss -- and Slatkin -- had in mind."
— Lawrence B. Johnson,
The Detroit News
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"I have to say that it's hard to imagine another cellist fitting comfortably into Robert deMaine's shoes...a brilliant performer."
— Bernard Jacobson,
Music-Web International
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Schumann D Minor Trio Review
and
Schubert B-flat Major Trio Review — Zach Carstensen,
The Gathering Note
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Los Acordes del Chelo
"Robert deMaine, great American cellist, invited to play with Orchestra." — Lucia Herrera,
La Prensa Libre (Guatemala City, Guatemala)
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"The evening's greatest treat was the magnificent playing of Robert deMaine, whose technical brilliance is surpassed only by the beauty of tones he produces." — The Salt Lake Tribune
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"Cellist Robert deMaine brought a warm, rounded tone to Fauré's Sonata, and the constant sense of renegotiation gave the performance an unusual vibrancy."
— Allan Kozinn,
The New York Times
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"DeMaine, who has already become something of a legend, held the audience spellbound...mesmerizing."
— Matthew Erikson,
The Hartford Courant
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"Robert deMaine's gripping performance covered the piece's vast stylistic spaces with elegance and ease, and his intonation was perfectly true."
— Justin Davidson,
New York Newsday
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"Robert deMaine is one to watch. He plays with astonishing sensitivity and maturity. His playing is a dream: never overbearing, yet with an obvious focus of intensity and line. His musicality is a joy; he plays genuinely from the heart, without affectation."
— The Santa Barbara News-Press
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"Cellist Robert deMaine performed the works with elegance and authority. The Hindemith 'Trauermusik' proved deMaine a true master of his instrument as he elicited eloquent, haunting tones, and with sweeping bow, a plaintive melody...all accomplished with virtuosity, flair, and an uncommon intimacy." — The New Britain Herald
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"The performance amply demonstrated the young cellist's full range of technical skills and virtuosity. The atmosphere became electric as deMaine infused each work with an enormous amount of energy and intensity. The capacity audience was thrilled." — Dr. Elwood Bear,
Atencion San Miguel (San Miguel de Allende, Mexico)
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"The young renowned American cellist Robert deMaine's musical and sonic projection was so intense that there was a convincing and magical illusion of there being two soloists during many passages. His technique and command were marvelous, and the interpretation compelling." — The New Zealand Herald (Auckland)
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"Stunning cello star shines with symphony...Soloist deMaine left quite an impression on what will certainly rank as one of this year's most memorable concerts."
— The Santa Cruz Sentinel
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Symphonic Splendor, and a Choice Cello, to Boot
"After hearing super-cellist Robert deMaine in the Charleston Music Fest, I was doubly determined to make it to Saturday evening's Charleston Symphony Concert...Then came the cello magic, courtesy of Mr. deMaine and Joseph Haydn, whose D-Major Cello Concerto provides ample opportunity for virtuosic display. Our soloist brought the sunny score to vibrant life, with amazing dexterity and gobs of lush tone. The noisy standing ovation led to a glittering encore. I found out during my mad backstage dash during intermission that deMaine had written his own remarkable cadenzas." — Lindsay Koob,
The Charleston City Paper (South Carolina)
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"A formidable virtuoso...a superb performance...captured the music's heroic qualities...But it was the beauty of the musicianship that most lingered in the ear. Indeed, the interpretation of the slow movement was so rapturous, so intimate, as if reading love letters from the stage. Suffice it to say it won a deserved ovation."
— John Pitcher,
The Omaha World-Herald
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"DeMaine is without question one of today's most exciting cellists. Not only is his playing dynamic, it is infused with lyricism and wonderfully nuanced expressiveness. His musicianship is immaculate and his technique is no less so."
— Edward Reichel,
The Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City, Utah)
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"DeMaine's performance of the concerti (Haydn in C and C.P.E. Bach) was definitive. He played with the virtuosic aplomb of a seasoned soloist. His sweet, rich tone provided consistent pleasure and his original, finely phrased cadenzas indicated an artist keenly aware of 18th-century style. Yet there was such quietly commanding personality to his playing that the effect was especially meaningful." — Tony Angarano,
The Hartford Courant
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"Robert deMaine gave a solo recital that for high seriousness, technical accomplishment and joy in music-making was just what you want a concert to be. This was a most rewarding, challenging program, and the audience was attentive and enthusiastic. In each of the pieces, deMaine showed himself to be a cellist with all the necessary equipment for fine musicianship: great dexterity, beautiful singing tone, and a thorough, even boisterous command of rhythm. And yet his playing inclined toward the classic, with a firmly centered, noble sound that never came off as less than dignified...deMaine's technical prowess was very impressive, and he made a persuasive advocate for the music. In addition, he demonstrated that he is a substantial and fine composer himself, playing three of a dozen Études-Caprices he wrote for his instrument in 1999. The excellence of this recital was a welcome event." — Greg Stepanich,
The Palm Beach Post
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Pianist and Cellist Add Their Expressive Treatment to Works
"From the outset, it was obvious that these two musicians (Robert deMaine, cellist, and Andrew Armstrong, pianist) were quite gifted and the liquidity of their phrasing and ensemble were immediately captivating. DeMaine's intense vibrato was employed with good effect and his seamless sense of phrasing is well matched by Armstrong...It held patrons' unflagging interest. DeMaine and Armstrong plunged the depths and explored the riches of the works. Through his cello, deMaine sang the phrases elegantly, and it was well worth repeating, which the artists did for an encore when they gave the audience another delightful reading of the second movement."
— Gayle Williams,
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune
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"The concert introduced Robert deMaine, a young virtuoso cellist with a vigorous style, mature expression, and beautiful sound."
— Elspeth Poole,
The Berkshire Eagle
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"The soloist was the string virtuoso Robert deMaine, who offered an entertaining show-off encore for solo cello which the audience greeted with enthusiasm after they gave him a standing ovation for the Haydn D-Major Concerto."
— William Furtwangler,
The Charleston Post and Courier
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"DeMaine is not (yet) a big name, and anything but flamboyant, but he is superb. He has all the sensitivity to bring out all the tenderness in the music, and the whole concerto was carried out with a kind of quality that speaks for his integrity, intelligence, and technique...a wonderfully eloquent performance of Dvorák's Concerto."
— William Glackin,
The Sacramento Bee
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"Making modern classical music listener-friendly, American Festival for the Arts' Head of String Department, the American cellist Robert deMaine, gave a sweetly singing interpretation of a new sonata by Michael Horvit. After poems of Tennyson, Horvit's Sonata was pleasing and mellifluous."
— Charles Ward,
The Houston Chronicle
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"Robert deMaine masterfully rendered the solo in Haydn's Concerto in D. A young cellist with tremendous ability, deMaine gave a serious reading. Clearly emphasizing the thoughtful and lyrical aspects of the piece, he played with warmly illuminating, smoothly singing tone, and well-shaped phrases. His technique was most impressive, and his musicianship dramatic."
— The Santa Cruz Sentinel
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"Cellist Robert deMaine tackled a wide repertoire in which attention was called to numerous interpreted contemporary pieces. He demonstrated an unexpected knowledge of contemporary Argentine music. In addition, Mr. deMaine displayed a level of equality in both technical mastery and knowledge of the enormously complex pieces...as well as delicate and poetic phrasing...his sound was executed with rare perfection. The performance was impeccable from a technical point of view and was spiritually harmonic."
— La Nacion (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
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"...the strength of deMaine's cello playing and musical expression is so outstanding, with intense concentration in the character. It was so clearly distinctive, brilliant, opulent, and momentous. His performance made the listener hungry for more."
— Rhein-Neckar Zeitung (Germany)
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"Vigorous cellist Robert deMaine gave a performance of great warmth. He showed perfect knowledge of his instrument and the ability to meld the sound. There was an amazing show of rosin dust rising from the cello into the overhead lights making the fiery music even more exciting with the appearance of smoke. The dancing second movement embraced the excitement right into the beautiful Adagio. The virtuosity reappeared in the smashing fourth movement with its resounding final chords, bringing repeated hurrahs from the appreciative audience."
— The Galveston Daily News
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"At age 13 he possesses all the natural gifts. This cello prodigy is sure to command on the concert stage. His extraordinary talent is unmistakable."
— The Daily Oklahoman
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"Garnering raves and applause, Mr. deMaine plumbed the richness of his instrument to the fullest, truly a showcase of the soloist's virtuosity. A standing ovation was rewarded by deMaine playing (with an exotic Spanish flair) Cassadó's Suite for Solo Cello."
— The Idaho State Journal
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"...The composer must have been associating with Casals, for whom he wrote this sonata. But here, Robert deMaine played it his own way, finely and eloquently...Mr. deMaine is an artist who makes one hang on every note."
— Paul Griffiths,
The New York Times
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Cello Challenges
"DeMaine delivered a focused, brilliant account of Kodály's fiendishly difficult Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 8. With a rich, rounded tone and the finest intonation, deMaine showed an intelligent grasp of the Magyar folk-inspired score. He shaped phrases using a variety of expressive devices, and did not blanket everything with vibrato...the encore was a breezy intermezzo by Gaspar Cassadó."
— Pierre Ruhe,
The Washington Post
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"DeMaine, the young soloist who is a notable principal cellist, demonstrated that his technique was more than adequate to the task at hand (Haydn Concerto in C), as witnessed by the many cheers that followed the whirlwind finale."
— The Daily Chautauquan
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"As the highlight of the evening, guest artist Robert deMaine performed admirably in the demanding compositions. His encore was also a delightful gift to his appreciative audience."
— The Peninsula Times-Tribune/Palo Alto Daily News
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A Tale of Two Roberts
Schumann Cello Concerto Review — Nicole Rupersburg,
The Detroiter
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"Robert deMaine essayed his solo with heart-stopping beauty...the night's most memorable encore came when Neeme Järvi generously turned the spotlight again on deMaine, who played Tchaikovsky's 'Andante Cantabile' with the robust beauty of a Cézanne still-life."
— Mark Stryker,
The Detroit Free Press
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"To hear this virtuoso cellist once is to anticipate repeating the experience."
— Lawrence B. Johnson,
The Detroit News
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"DeMaine played with virile tone and animated assurance, which brought great distinction to the event."
— Dennis Rooney,
The Strad
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"Robert deMaine took the spotlight in Schumann's Cello Concerto in A Minor, a haunting work full of agitated yearning that suggests a paradise just out of reach. DeMaine, employing a radiant sound that glowed like a Vermeer interior, crafted an exquisitely proportioned interpretation that avoided sloppy emoting in favor of songful phrasing alive to the subtle emotional shifts in the score."
— Mark Stryker,
The Detroit Free Press
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"The Schumann Concerto again showcased deMaine's winning combination of big sound, refined technique, and thorough-going musicianship. Through the concerto's broadly lyrical first movement, deMaine filled the hall with rich, dark sound that I could only think of as chocolate. It was meltingly beautiful. But just as captivating were his precise and brightly humored slaloms through the technical obstacle course that forms the finale." — Lawrence B. Johnson,
The Detroit News
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Festival Serves a Treat With Cellist's Franck Sonata Performance
"DeMaine is an immensely gifted musician who has made substantive contributions to the festival this summer. None more so than in the Franck (Sonata), which gave him opportunity for full expression...A large, burnished sound is at his disposal, handsome in all registers. Along with that huge asset is a highly developed technique that never calls attention to itself because it is always in service to the music at hand. His musicality is a marvel of sensitivity, refinement, vigor and impressive penetration. With his highly developed lyrical sensibility he can carry the torch of a poet, but he can also supply muscle on a moment's notice."
— R.M. Campbell,
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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"DeMaine plays with an intensity so fierce and lyricism so delirious that it sounds as if his life depends on it...Musically, DeMaine is all business. A musician's individuality begins with his tone, and he produces an exquisite and personal sound rich with expression, modulated color, and tasteful vibrato. It hovers gracefully between tender sweetness and robust passion, reminiscent of the great mid-century Swedish operatic tenor Jussi Björling." — Mark Stryker,
The Detroit Free Press
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"One of the most profound talents I have ever encountered" — Leonard Rose
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"...the cellist's tone was rich but penetrating, his intonation sure and steady, and his vibrato warm but focused, all characteristics he displayed while leading his section but which shone especially brilliantly in his solos."
— James Leonard,
Ann Arbor Observer
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