CHICAGO TODAY (Roger Dettmer)
"Hauser's authoritative debut on Friday, with an expertise worthy of the Chicago Symphony, proved that conductors are born, not made - and furthermore that he possesses credentials beyond memorization to become an exemplar of his generation(...) Hauser led with such technical clarity, totality of conception (...)Hauser conducted with a dynamic and individual (yet never driven or eccentric) performance of Mendelssohn’s "Italian" Symphony. Still a different timbre and weight of sound were drawn from this orchestra, with the bonus of a first-movement exposition repeat and a rhythmic impulse that reminded one of a younger Solti. I cannot recall a conducting debut of anyone at Hauser's age so controlled, concentrated, and comprehensively expressive since Ozawa's, at age 27 in the Ravinia pavilion.”
"Hauser's authoritative debut on Friday, with an expertise worthy of the Chicago Symphony, proved that conductors are born, not made - and furthermore that he possesses credentials beyond memorization to become an exemplar of his generation(...) Hauser led with such technical clarity, totality of conception (...)Hauser conducted with a dynamic and individual (yet never driven or eccentric) performance of Mendelssohn’s "Italian" Symphony. Still a different timbre and weight of sound were drawn from this orchestra, with the bonus of a first-movement exposition repeat and a rhythmic impulse that reminded one of a younger Solti. I cannot recall a conducting debut of anyone at Hauser's age so controlled, concentrated, and comprehensively expressive since Ozawa's, at age 27 in the Ravinia pavilion.”