'Celebrated: Ariadne Daskalakis' ...the young violinist Ariadne Daskalakis masters the solo violin part with as much dreamlike singing as rhythmic power, and she rises with perfection to stratospheric heights. The public celebrates the soloist with enthusiasm and receives a movement of Bach as an encore.
Monika Willer, Westfalenpost, February 12, 2009
Beethoven Concerto : Athens State Orchestra : Megaron Concert Hall
"...The first half of the concert was dominated by Beethoven's Violin Concerto, performed by Ariadne Daskalakis. Her sound was powerful and confident. The structural unity of the concerto was performed with clarity... The middle movement was performed with delicacy and sensitivity. Daskalakis' clear, round and tonally secure sound was especially appreciated. In the third movement... the violinist showed power and expression and concluded the concerto with success."
Nikos Dontas, Kathimerini, January 18, 2009
Violin Concertos by Tartini and Haydn with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra in the Cologne Philharmonic Hall
"Eyecontact with the Virtuoso" Fresh Wind in the Cologne Philharmonie's Series 'Masterworks' ...The orchestra had already made an award-winning quality recording of Tartini Violin Concertos with the fabulous violinist and Cologne Professor Ariadne Daskalakis. They performed Tartini and Haydn in historical tradition without conductor, opting for direct contact between the orchestra and the virtuoso. She resisted heaviness in the carefree passages, and let her violin dance and sparkle its way through the remarkably difficult material.
MK, Cologne Stadtanzeiger, December 12, 2008
"Elegance till the last Note." ...Highlights of the richly varied program were the performances of violinist Ariadne Daskalakis. She performed two A-Major concertos by Tartini and Haydn as soloist and leader with lightness, tasteful vibrato and intelligent interaction with the orchestra. She formed the Adagios with feeling and poetry and the fast movements with dream-perfect elegance and energy.
Matthias Corvin, Cologne Rundschau, December 9, 2008
Beethoven Violin Concerto: Polish Chamber Philharmonic, Cond. Wojciech Rajski
"The highlight was Ludwig van Beethoven's famous Violin Concerto… [Ariadne Daskalakis] unfolded a soulful, intimate, melting tone, of which the bewitching beauty commanded the listeners' attention in spite of the open-air conditions... Ariadne Daskalakis came out strong with commanding form in the Rondo, an energetic movement which enchants with its voluptuously intoxicating sounds."
Hanna Styrie, Kölner Rundschau, 20. August 2007
"The highlight of the concert: Ludwig van Beethoven's Violin Concerto in the interpretation of the Greek-American violinist Ariadne Daskalakis, who holds a professorship at the Cologne Conservatory. Daskalakis' flourishing violin sound was astoundingly present even in the last 2 rows...The violinist stressed the sonority of the concerto..."
Frank-Uwe Orbons, Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, 20. August 2007
Musical Gems: Palace Concert with Helmut Müller-Brühl and the Cologne Chamber Orchestra
[...] The Concerto in G Major for violin and orchestra, KV 216, was then played by Ariadne Daskalakis, a spirited virtuoso whose intensity reverberated throughout the hall. She imbued the music with an exquisitely mellow sweetness, particularly in the slow movement, where the violin has the melody almost all to itself. [...]
Rhein-Erft-Rundschau, 13 June 2006
World Premier with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Sian Edwards
"Walter's 'Zeichnung' can be considered . . . a juxtapositioning of orchestra and a solo part. The solo violin (subtly played by Ariadne Daskalakis) is the focal point, embedded in the percussion and interwoven into the orchestra score."
Dorothea Husslein, Münchner Merkur, 14 June 2004
"The solo violin (Ariadne Daskalakis) and the four percussionists (Cologne Percussion Quartet) were woven as lyrical elements into the fabric of the orchestral movement and imbued this finely engraved 'Zeichnung' with contemplative qualities."
Rüdiger Schwarz, Abendzeitung München, 14 June 2004
Ariadne Daskalakis and the Potsdam Chamber Academy
"The program centred on Tartini's violin concerto in G Major. It was performed masterfully by the young Greek violinist Ariadne Daskalakis, who balanced the sonorities well with the full orchestra. With the acoustics of the concert hall (the Fürstensaal), every register of her violin carried without being shrill in any way, letting the solo part's many runs, double stops, and appogiaturas sparkle effortlessly. She rendered the Andante with great sensitivity and meditative warmth."
Nikolaus Frey, Fuldaer Zeitung, 7 April 2004
"(Daskalakis) executes the flourishing runs with immaculate intonation and stresses the recurring chords of the G Major concerto. Ariadne Daskalakis winds her way expertly through the challenging, virtuosic first and final movements. Especially in the cadenza-like passages... the soloist sparkles with her outstanding technical skills and facility. Daskalakis's sound aesthetic is clearly influenced by historical performance practice. With delicate, graceful sound she chisels her phrases clearly. Lyrical, voluptuous passages - as in Tartini's b minor Concerto - sound totally natural and clear. ...An interesting Rediscovery of Tartini's works in a flawless recording."
Antje Hintz, NDR (North German Radio), January 2006
Ariadne Daskalakis as Soloist and Leader of Ensemble Oriol Berlin
On April 19, 2002, in the Chamber Music Hall of the Berlin Philharmonie:
"Mozart was a consummate master at pulling every kind of trick conceivable. And he showed it in his violin concerto in A Major, KV 219, performed by Ensemble Oriol led by soloist Ariadne Daskalakis in the Chamber Music Hall of the Berlin Philharmonie. . . . Absolutely nothing obscured the clarity of her articulation and the consistency of her sound's beautiful, icy timbre. One sensed she was taking a stand against the marzipan Mozart of dime stores and souvenir shops."
Jan Brachmann, Berliner Zeitung, 22 April 2002
Ariadne Daskalakis and the Brünn Philharmonic Orchestra
Violin Concerto no. 5 by W. A. Mozart: "With her convincing artistic maturity, penetrating insight, and impeccable tone, [Ariadne Daskalakis] gave a first-class rendition, seconded by the ensemble's own flawless performance."
Coesfelder Nachrichten, 27 November 2001
Ariadne Daskalakis and the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra under J.-P. Weigle
"Brahms a highlight"
"The first movement of his violin concerto became a homogeneous whole, uniting passion, intellect, and rapture. Ms. Daskalakis possesses the outstanding qualities of the 'diabolic violinist' called for by the frenzy of expression in the exposition and elsewhere. But she also gets the violin to 'sing' with beguiling beauty like the voice of an angel."
Delmenhorster Kurier, 15 September 2000
"As soloist in the Violin Concerto by Johannes Brahms, the renowned artist impressed especially with her attentiveness and care with double stops and with her impeccable technique in the extremely virtuosic cadenza of the first movement. After the singing moments of the Adagio... followed the famous Hungarian Rondo, where both the soloist and the orchestra sparkled with spirit."
Stefan Lewerenz, Delme Report, 17 September 2000
"The greatest performance was by the soloist, Ariadne Daskalakis, in the Brahms D-Major Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, op. 77. She executed the difficult passages masterfully, cutting an almost capricious figure in the front row next to conductor Jörg-Peter Weigle."
Delmenhorster Kreisblatt, 15 September 2000
Ariadne Daskalakis and the Radio Orchestra of Südwestdeutscher Rundfunk (SWR) under Michael Luig
"She took Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra no. 3 in G Major, KV 216, and played it with heart and soul. Daskalakis's spirited performance charged the dialogue between soloist and orchestra with the wealth of Mozart's thoughts and emotional depth. She graciously offset the 'lack of virtuosity' in Mozart's score with a near-perfect rendition of the work. Her subtle treatment of the musical substance, her exquisite nuances, and her pure, focused tone made the concerto the highlight of the evening -- to thunderous applause."
MRZ, 29 August 2000
Ariadne Daskalakis and the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonic Orchestra
"Playing with perfect technique on a wonderful instrument, the Greek violinist Ariadne Daskalakis gave a rousing artistic performance as the soloist [in Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E-Minor] with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonic orchestra."
Lippische Landeszeitung, May 2000
REVIEWS OF CHAMBER MUSIC PERFORMANCES
Baroque Music as an Experience: "Selva della Musica Köln" at "Tag des offenen Denkmals" in the Fürstensaal
[...] Ariadne Daskalakis highlighted the warm tone colours of her baroque violin, especially in the lower registers, and captivated the audience with her resonant double stops. The dialogue between the violin and the woodwinds was as light as a feather, with Daskalakis accentuating slightly more than her colleagues. [...]
Oberhessische Press, September 2006
Festival "Sound Encounters" in Boston - "Best of the season"
"Performances were top-shelf wonderful, among the best heard all season. Festival organizers Carol Rodland and Michael Norsworthy, joined by Ariadne Daskalakis, Scott Kluksdahl and Max Levinson, played as if their very lives depended on it. All aspects of execution - pitch, tone, technique, pacing, interpretation - were flawless, as were chamber interaction and blend."
(David Cleary, "new music connoisseur", June 2006)
Three Soloists Open the Four-day "Contours" Music Festival with Superb Concert
"Ariadne Daskalakis . . . chose Maurice Ravel's 'Tzigane' for her concert solo. She interpreted this Gypsy-inspired rhapsody with resounding mellowness, a highly evocative tone, and flawless technique."
Hanna Styrie, Rhein-Erft-Kreis Kurier, 5 January 2004
"With Artistic Sensitivity and Devotion" -- The Manon Quartet Berlin Opens the Cologne "Feste musicali" Series with Haydn's The Seven Last Words of the Redeemer on the Cross
"The first violinist was spellbinding in her ability to intone both sorrow and consolation, both desolation and a vision of imminent paradise. Her partners (Bernhard Forck, Sebastian Gottschick, and Anna Carewe) also distinguished themselves at every turn. The quartet took Haydn's dynamic extremes to heart, bringing out the light and shadows of the harmonies and showing how individual words become the essence of the music. Their depiction of the earthquake lacked nothing in the way of terror and tumult."
Emka Pirbauer, Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, 22 April 2003
Ariadne Daskalakis and Miri Yampolsky In the Chamber Music Hall of the Berlin Philharmonie:
"Unsurpassed ensemble playing, whether they are executing a sudden entry or rendering a subtle line. . . . But perhaps the most beautiful of all is the restrained second movement [of Beethoven's 'Spring Sonata'], in which the wonderful interplay of individually shaped tempi weaves a fabric of precisely balanced lines, with all their hesitations, ideas, and questions. There is not a single empty phrase; everything is discourse. . . . Better chemistry between musicians would be hard to find. . . . With flawless technique in Gabriel Fauré's A-Major Sonata, the two women illustrate the composer's late-romantic world of sound, its soaring, fleeing, longing, trembling, and the inwardness of the Andante."
Berliner Zeitung, December 1999
"Impressive duo [Ariadne Daskalakis, Miri Yampolsky] sweeps away audience on a river of music. . . . It was also here [sonatas by Ravel and Fauré] that the duo showed off the kind of chemistry that practice alone can never achieve on its own. The two traded phrases back and forth with the subtlest of differences. . . . There was a superb crescendo in the final movement of the Fauré, particular, where the violinist, who was leading a chain of alternative phrases, finally gave her all."
The Globe and Mail Toronto, February 1999
Artists 