Press Acclaim
"Of all the orchestras that regularly make the Bay Area concert circuit, [New Century] truly plays at a higher level than the rest." --Be'eri Moalem, San Francisco Classical Voice, May 2011
"Keep browsing if you insist on perfect, digitally scrubbed performances. Turn here, though, if it's grit and honesty you seek, real performances by real people." --Zachary Lewis, Cleveland Plain Dealer, November 2010
"Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg continues to bring vitality to this already accomplished and acclaimed ensemble. Her debut album with the NCCO has a Latin flavor...There is a warm, romantic feeling to much of this music, and despite the considerable technical demands of these bravura pieces, the music and those strong emotions are never overshadowed." --Greg Cahill, Strings Magazine, August 2010
"Not for nothing was the first CD Salerno-Sonnenberg released with the orchestra entitled "Together"...it's a testament to the unanimity and cohesiveness with which these artists have joined forces." --Joshua Kosman, Gramophone Magazine, March 2010
"This stalwart string orchestra - always excellent, always overlooked - took a gamble on star power by bringing in the forceful violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg as its new music director, and got a jolt of much-needed vitality as a reward." --Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle Best of 2009, December 2009
"The San Francisco-based New Century Chamber Orchestra has been around since 1992, a reliably excellent group…Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg seems to incite real pleasure and excitement among the players, a simpatico feeling." --Richard Scheinin, San Jose Mercury News, November 2009
"Salerno-Sonnenberg looks toward a future in which concert music neither ignores popular music nor aspires to be part of it...the Piazzolla proves an effective showcase for the theater-of-equals idea Salerno-Sonnenberg is developing as both soloist and music director of the all-virtuoso NCCO...[Together] makes one eager to hear their future work, with the single caveat that this may prove a hard act to follow." --James Manheim, All Music Guide, August 2009
"Salerno-Sonnenberg was and most definitely is a force to be reckoned with [and] the superb musicianship of her cohorts ensured that it was far more than her show… [Together is] a marvelous CD that should help propel the NCCO into the national spotlight." –-Jason Serinus, San Francisco Classical Voice, July 2009
"Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, in her first season as music director of the New Century Chamber Orchestra, has helped that excellent string ensemble reconnect with its collective id…The orchestra's performance was superb, a mixture of beauty and abrasive zeal." --Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle, May 2009
"The already spirited ensemble, which plays conductorless, seems even more charged up now that the internationally known soloist with the electric personality [Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg] has taken on the artistic director's role." --Sue Gilmore, Contra Costa Times, November 2008
"An orchestra whose listening skills are so finely honed that it takes only a short encounter for its players to cohere – unanimously and joyously – around the vision of a charismatic leader." --Michelle Dulak Thompson, San Francisco Classical Voice, September 2008