“For all the excellence of the individual soloists and the minutiae of detail and balance, the single most notable element of this performance was Laurence Equilbey’s conception. This was an outstanding evening. Insula triumphs again.”

“The sheer imagination and expertise are immense: the projects of Insula and Laurence Equilbey offer true musical high points of any season.”

“In König’s hands, these are nice-sounding symphonies [by Louise Farrenc]. In Equilbey’s hands, they are great ones.”

“Laurence Equilbey and her Insula Orchestra have been at the forefront of the revival of interest in Louise Farrenc, a musician whose achievements were remarkable on many fronts. As a complete experience their recording of the assembled symphonic works proves both illuminating and rewarding.”

“Fierce and full of energy – a superbly recorded performance.  As always, Equilbey’s pacing is faultless.  It is truly wonderful that we now have Farrenc’s three symphonies in phenomenal, faultless performances by Insula & Equilbey in one place.”

“Farrenc’s Third Symphony is unquestionably her finest work; as Equilbey shows, it is a work of tremendous energy and verve, with a flavour that is distinctly its own.”

“Laurence Equilbey conducted exceptionally well.  Under her baton one could hear precision, but also delicacy and tenderness.”

“Equilbey traced every contour of the music, finding every nuance in Gounod’s beautiful web of orchestral colours.  Her way with Gounod’s melody, too, is entirely natural…  A massively moving, profound experience.”

“Equilbey clearly relishes the raw and earthy sounds of original instruments.  Her layering of tension in the slow introduction was excellent, and the transition to the explosive and energetic Allegro first movement was well captured.” 

“Equilbey’s direction is meticulous, painstakingly accentuating the emotional charge in each phrase and giving an edge to some of the darker undertones.”

“Equilbey’s Lucio Silla is now the performance of our time. She makes early Mozart opera compelling listening and presents a triumph of a recording.”

“Laurence Equilbey always brings fresh insight to the music she conducts, and her period instrument orchestra, Insula, seems to understand her ethos completely, almost as if the players are an extension of her.”

“Laurence Equilbey is excellent.”

“Rarely can Farrenc’s music have spoken with so much power and so much eloquence – rarely has her genius shone through more brightly than with Laurence Equilbey and her Insula orchestra.”

“Equilbey draws out the nuances of dynamics, balance, and character, while never losing sight of the score’s larger musical aims. (…) Equilbey’s fluent performance was highlighted by smart tempo choices, close attention to musical detail, and a strong understanding of musical character.”

“Equilbey is a compelling advocate, performing with passion and care.”

“Since founding the chamber choir accentus in 1991, the French conductor Laurence Equilbey has gone from strength to strength: Insula orchestra, founded in 2012, is the orchestra-in-residence at La Seine Musicale, Paris, and she is now in demand with orchestras and opera houses all over Europe.”

“Equilbey’s approach makes this colorful, atmospheric music come alive.”

“Equilbey drives a punchy reading of the score and does a fine job at drawing out the felicities and innovations in Weber’s orchestration, spooky woodwind and rasping natural horns being especially effective throughout. The disciplined yet flexible Insula orchestra is a real draw.”

“Kleiber, Kubelík and Harnoncourt might well find themselves displaced, so firm of conviction is Equilbey’s vision, and so exquisitely realised…”

“Laurence Equilbey brings all the right mixture of delicacy and strength of purpose – truly terrific performances, and really persuasive music-making…”

“Equilbey’s naturally dashing temperament imbued Farrenc’s struggle with danger with an exquisite nobility. The careful attention that she gave to every note and nuance of Farrenc’s intricately composed score brought out the possibility that Farrenc self-consciously sought to add a distinctive French love of self-discipline as a new kind of intensity for German symphonies. Equilbey brought the same alert and penetrating intelligence to Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony.”

“Conductor Laurence Equilbey, with flowing elegance, gives a very spiritual and solemn interpretation of the work [Brahms German Requiem], with no hint of pomposity.”

“[Laurence Equilbey] conducted the Gulbenkian Orchestra with energy, without being authoritarian, producing a very beautifully balanced sound.”

“Equilbey is tough and has vision. One can tell by listening to her recordings of the Brahms Requiem or the “Seven Last Words” by Haydn. With accentus, she favours a flexible and dark sound for the choir and holds all the voices perfectly in balance. The upper voices do not dominate and one can hear very clearly the middle voices and other details; this was also the case in Vienna. Equilbey’s trademark is a wonderful amalgam of French and German aesthetics, combining unsentimental clarity and profound feeling.”

“This was exactly the inaugural kick the opening needed, and I doubt if anyone in the hall didn’t rejoice at the encore of this early (1808) Ode to Joy.”

“The musicians of Insula orchestra, led by conductor Laurence Equilbey, bring out all the nuances in the score with a formal lightness of touch that only serves to magnify the work. Equilbey, in a state of grace, conducts weightlessly, discernibly illustrating the influence of Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach on Haydn’s writing.”

“[About Gluck’s Orfeo Ed Euridice CD] Equilbey and the Insula orchestra are painstaking in their re-creation of Gluck’s original sound world: period strings and brass underscore the harshness of Orfeo’s isolation where the warmer sound of conventional instruments tends to console. Speeds are brisk, but in veering away from Muti-like solemnity.”

“Laurence Equilbey…has at her disposal a very high level ensemble, which shows in Der Freischütz powerful and theatrical sound effects.”

“The sound is full-bodied and warm in the new hall. The equilibrium between accentus chorus, founded by Laurence Equilbey, the three soloists and the orchestra is well-balanced. Instrumental and vocal sounds are well blended. Also the sharpness drawn by the conductor is well carried by the acoustics; nothing is forced.”

“Laurence Equilbey’s ensemble, hailing from Paris, showcases the best in period-instrument performance: lithe playing that forces us to sit up and pay attention to long-neglected……works.”

“She likes speedy tempi, but always leaves room for nuances, atmosphere, variation and warmth. In addition, she structures this one-and-a-half hour performance as a rounded narrative, which lacked nothing and nothing was overpowered. Above all, she holds the instruments and voices in an unrestrained balance, allowing neither the choir nor the singers to dominate.”

“Insula Orchestra and Laurence Equilbey gave a very fine concert of music by Schubert, featuring a version of the Unfinished Symphony of a quality that one would like to hear more often.(…) Insula Orchestra, with its transparent timbres, the outstanding quality of its individual musicians, and myriad dynamic variations at its fingertips, literally enchanted the audience at the Metz Arsenal, accustomed to more heavyweight symphony orchestra formats. The size of the main auditorium at the Arsenal in no way impaired the legibility of the immensely subtle interpretation led by Laurence Equilbey, absolutely on top of her game. The quality of the treatment, creating the impression that one was hearing the premiere of a piece that one yet felt one knew by heart, seems to definitively inter the controversy about the need, or otherwise, to play the nineteenth century repertory on period instruments.”