RTÉ Symphony Orchestra, Dublin with Demidenko / Grieg, Rachmaninov, Sallinen, Sibelius
"Under the baton of Mikhail Agrest, the heart of the music seemed to dwell in rhythm. He's no time-beater; and he conveys a sense of metre that moves in long spans and allows musical events to find their right place and time."
The Irish Times, November 2007
English National Opera / Janacek Jenufa
"Mikhail Agrest conducted Janacek's wonderful score with a great sense of its fractured wholeheartedness, seizing its fleeting ecstasies like they might vanish before he could."
The Independent, October 2006
"Mikhail Agrest, a 30-year-old Russian, brings singer-friendly temperament, Slavic definition and a sensitive touch to the beautiful score. The orchestra is transformed; even the violin solos sound luscious."
Financial Times, October 2006
"The Russian conductor Mikhail Agrest led an impassioned account of the score… the orchestral detailing was sumptuously realised."
The Telegraph, October 2006
"Mikhail Agrest… has the measure of Janácek's obsessive rhythms and ebbing passions."
The Times, October 2006
"… beguiling orchestral playing, conducted by Mikhail Agrest in his house debut. He handled all the pulsating accompaniments and melodic inventions with enormous clarity, pacing everything carefully to the work's radiant end."
The Evening Standard, October 2006
"Mikhail Agrest, of the Mariinsky Theatre… conducts a vibrant and exciting performance, bringing out the distinctive colours of Janacek's wonderful score."
musicomh.com, October 2006
"It is also, thanks to the highly perceptive conductor Mikhail Agrest, a galvanized orchestra..."
Independent on Sunday, October 2006
"On his ENO debut, the suave Russian conductor Mikhail Agrest ensures that this is an evening as distinguished musically as theatrically."
The Observer, October 2006
Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra / Rimsky-Korsakov, Prokofiev
"Russian born conductor Mikhail Agrest came; he conducted; he conquered. Subbing at the "last minute" … Agrest once again proved that the right conductor can walk in "off the street" (as it were) and get the best from our city's 87 foremost musicians.
Agrest saved his real fireworks till his final offering: 10 selected ballet excerpts from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64 (1936). Certainly among the Russian/Soviet composer's finest orchestrated, most tuneful writing, this music has always been a crowd pleaser. The Circle Theatre audience certainly responded to Agrest's shaping of the myriad emotional contrasts Prokofiev's material evokes."
nuvo.com, April 2006
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchester / Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet
"In Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, Mikhail Agrest's conducting placed him firmly in the centre of attention. He alternated enthusiastic liveliness and fiery seriousness; passion and playfulness. The orchestra played with a bright and powerful sound, never veering towards clumsiness or harshness. The excellent horns gave it their all, the strings were no less impressive, and the percussion announced Tybalt's Death with a roll of thunder."
The evening then became a bit more spring-like. Agrest maintained the high standards set in the first half. The flutes, pearl-like, circled the singing theme; the cello and English horn competed as to which was the more languishing. After a furious finale, one can only agree with an earlier reviewer who said: There can be no thoughts whatsoever of Russio-phobia."
Leipziger Volkszeitung, September 2005
The Metropolitan Opera / The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh
"Discoveries abounded in "Kitezh", including the young conductor Mikhail Agrest, who on one of Gergiev's rare nights off led a performance that was at once intense, serene and sweeping."
Newsday, July 2003
Royal Opera House / Les Noces
"…The score was superb: four spiffing Kirov Opera soloists, plus chorus and pianists brought total conviction to the music under Mikhail Agrest's baton - I have never heard it played better in the theatre….
Financial Times, July 2003
Graz / La Cleopatra
"…the Mariinsky orchestra under direction of young Agrest gave a flawless performance. They brought out all the expression that this music contains…"
Salzburger Nachrichten, February 2003