Stephanie Childress leads the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra with liveliness, lightness and precision. Her movements, the way she leans over the desk, her handling of the dynamics, all indicate a high level of professional maturity. There is also a youthful freshness that emphasizes the appeal of this first stage work by Mozart. Every phrase makes a nice arc, every note weighs exactly as much as it should. As we know, at the time of the premiere of “The Abduction from the Seraglio” in Vienna’s Burgtheater

– on July 16, 1782 – the composer was only 26 years old, just two years older than this conductor. It almost seems as if Mozart himself was standing at the conductor’s podium…

Jolanta Lada-Zielke – Klassik Begeistert 17 October 2023