Don Giovanni

‘(Mark Wigglesworth) gives us a taut, dramatic account of this great score. He has inspired the orchestra and singers to produce one of the most gripping ENO Mozart performances in living memory.’
Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times; October 9th 2016

‘Mark Wigglesworth, a conductor kissed by greatness.’
Mark Valencia, WhatsOnStage; October 3rd 2016

‘Mark Wigglesworth conducts with elegance, drama and warmth, making some unusual tempo choices – the slower than usual second half of Batti, Batti, for instance – that are always insightful.’
Tim Ashley, The Guardian; October 4th 2016

‘Pace-perfect musical articulation…he and the ENO Orchestra put no foot wrong.’
David Nice, The ArtsDesk; October 1st 2016

‘Conducted by Mark Wigglesworth with innate command of line, tempo and structure.’
Fiona Maddocks, The Observer; October 9th 2016

‘Immaculately balanced both internally and in relation to the stage, and full of subtlety as well as dramatic punch…With playing of this calibre, ENO’s musicians sound like the finest opera orchestra in the country. Tempo choices all worked perfectly too.’
George Hall, The Stage; October 3rd 2016

 

The Magic Flute

 

‘Wigglesworth’s Mozart is sublime.’
Anna Picard, The Times; February 9th 2016

‘Superb conducting by Mark Wigglesworth…always sensitive to shifting colours and emotions, is also fluently paced to complement the action.’
Barry Millington, The Evening Standard; February 9th 2016

‘The compelling conducting of Mark Wigglesworth – who is now an artistic rock at the financially beleaguered ENO.’
Martin Kettle, The Guardian; February 8th 2016

‘But the real hero of the evening is the conductor Mark Wigglesworth. In a raised pit, he draws buoyant and shapely playing from the orchestra, bringing to the score a glowing beauty and warmth.’
Rupert Christiansen, The Daily Telegraph; February 6th 2016

‘But even this…is nothing to the heat coming off Wigglesworth’s orchestra. From the nervy, dangerously swift Overture to the final chorus, he keeps the pace up throughout, while still finding space for moments of musical contemplation all the more ecstatic for their rarity.

The raised orchestra makes for a more prominent instrumental balance, but while we gain colour and some gorgeous shading, Wigglesworth’s careful balancing ensures we lose little from the singers.

Mozart’s flute may enchant the most dastardly of villains, but its magic is as nothing to the sleight of hand that Mark Wigglesworth has performed with this glorious revival. Now we can only wait and hope that he can pull off the same trick with the ailing ENO itself.’
Alexandra Coghlan, The Arts Desk; February 6th 2016

‘The real star of the performance was Mark Wigglesworth who gave a sensational performance of the score. One of the traps of The Magic Flute is it can either sound too comic, at the expense of the greater gravity of the piece, or it is simply too grey and staid, neglecting the lightness of Mozart’s humour. Wigglesworth drew a perfect balance from his orchestra. Having already proven himself in Shostakovich and Verdi this season, his third success in Mozart demonstrated that ENO is fortunate to have him.’
Dominic Lowe, Bachtrack; February 6th 2016

‘a company achievement through Mark Wigglesworth’s incisive conducting and the superb playing of his orchestra…It also drove home the consummate musicality of the evening, all the vim and pleasure of Mozart’s mercurial score evoked by Mr. Wigglesworth, who showed himself a master of this repertoire. He brought out the very best in the ENO Orchestra, his fleet tempi moving the evening along with constant energy and momentum. He dove straight into the overture with scarcely any warning that the performance was about to begin; the orchestra responded with technically assured, dynamic playing that swept from the bounding overture to the sublime choral scene that closes the work.’
John de Wald, Opera Britannia; February 8th 2016

Mitridate, Re di Ponto

“His deep understanding of singing, his command of breathing and his subtle dynamic changes worked miracles. British conductor Mark Wigglesworth conducts with a strong sense of the dramatic.”
Richard Martet, Opera Magazine

“The musical and vocal performance under the baton of Mark Wigglesworth is outstanding, full of much variation and searching contrast.”
Kasper Jansen, NCR Handelsblad

“In the pit Mark Wigglesworth proves himself, beyond doubt, a born Mozart conductor. He handles a broom as easily as an artist’s brush, changing with ease from angry drama to immeasurable tenderness”
Thiemo Wind, De Telegraaf

“This Belgian ‘Mitridate’ does everything right.… An absorbing, bright and amusing production … And Mark Wigglesworth conducted the opera orchestra in a lively and gripping manner yet when needed, like here, with light veiled transparency.”
Christoph Schmitz, Deutschlandfunk

“Excitingly produced and superbly sung, meant the performance was a huge success. Wigglesworth gave the Mozart score beautiful sounding contours. Above all the pianissimi were of unbelievable shading.”
Hans Reul, BRF Aktuell & Klassikzeit

“The conducting of the Briton Mark Wigglesworth …really enabled the early work of Mozart to blossom. The style of the conductor has character, is elegant, dynamic and clever – everything that is missing from the stage.”
M. Fiedler, Das Opernglas

“His melodic imagination and gift to musically depict fragile characters is already all too obvious. Mark Wigglesworth intensifies this with tight and now and again wild tempi and dynamic extremes.”
Stefan Keim, Die Welt

“Conductor Mark Wigglesworth led a highly spirited performance, with a phenomenal, immensely gifted international cast.”
Michael Davidson, Opera Canada

“The main item of interest in Mitridate, is the unbelievable musical element of the production. In the pit one finds a wonderful orchestra with fabulous soloists. The horn solo was, for example, a joy to hear. The conductor, Mark Wigglesworth, always chose the perfect tempo to move and maintain the motion of the story.”
Lucas Huybrechts, Knack

 

Cosi Fan Tutte

 

English National Opera at The London Coliseum

“Were stars to be awarded on musical grounds alone, this would merit five, if not six. It is a very long time since I have heard Mozart’s score played with as much insight, sensitivity, and careful forethought as it was by Mark Wigglesworth and the ENO orchestra…Wigglesworth consistently aims for fineness and transparency of texture. There is no hint of post-18th-century sentimentality or traditional Viennese whipped creamery…”
Rodney Milnes, The Times

“Mark Wigglesworth’s conducting is simply the best I’ve heard at the Coliseum this year…the overall freshness, ease and spontaneity is exhilarating – this is music that seems born today…Wigglesworth proved wonderfully considerate of the singers, who took full advantage of the freedom he offered.”
Rupert Christiansen, The Daily Telegraph

“To get detail across clearly in this acoustic [Coliseum] is hard enough. To communicate it, warm it, weave it in to the texture, shape the larger arc, make each repeated note add to its predecessor’s argument, and colour the whole is as near to ideal as you can get. He’s [Wigglesworth] a terrific accompanist too; carefully accommodating dips in register and volume while propelling rhythmic drive…astonishingly aware and exciting conducting and worth the ticket price alone. An altogether wonderful evening.”
Anna Picard, The Independent on Sunday

“Mark Wigglesworth conducted very well. There was Mozartean light and shade in [his] musical direction: expressive, emotionally responsive suppleness within basic tempos; dynamic contrasts observed; plenty of soft playing; careful winds-strings and stage-pit balances that allowed everything to be heard.”
Andrew Porter, Opera Magazine

“superb, pulsating conductor in Mark Wigglesworth ”
Anthony Holden, The Observer

“…this show is cast from strength, and with conducting by Mark Wigglesworth that is always lithe and lively, and keeps the drama focussed…”
Andrew Clements, The Guardian

“…given the quality of the singers and Mark Wigglesworth’s conducting – supple tempi, orchestral sound with a discreet ‘period’ lightness – it [the production] could hardly fail.”
Paul Driver, The Sunday Times

English National Opera at The Barbican

“The other great news of the evening was Mark Wigglesworth’s conducting. Cosi has long been one of his specialities, but here he surpassed himself with an interpretation of dazzling spontaneity, whipped up with a master chef’s lightness of touch. there was none of the prissy precision that many people mistakenly think of as good Mozartian style: the music seemed fresh-minted and urgent, youthful and headstrong – full of the spirit and personality of the real Wolfgang Amadeus, in other words.”
Rupert Christiansen, The Daily Telegraph

“Mark Wigglesworth’s evident love for this music shining forth in quieter moments, sadly much of the dramatic impetus of the music was lost. He is such a sensitive Mozartian however that he still managed to shape many of the crucial moments with telling detail, and this was especially true of the two lovers’ duets.”
Melanie Eskenazi, Musicweb-International

Opera Factory, London

“…boosted by the hyper-sensitive, magisterial conducting of Mark Wigglesworth…Wigglesworth brushed away all difficulties with an affectionate, supportive, and totally fresh musical interpretation that had connoisseurs of Mozart’s most ambivalent and intriguing score on the edge of their seats in admiration. Clearly this conductor has opera in his blood, and is totally committed to the vital process of staging. His preparation and his attention to the fluctuating opportunities of the production revealed him with that essential operatic gift of enabler. His conducting style seems to me especially apt for Mozart. he is not in the least flowery with his actions, indeed extremely economical at times. He watched the singers like an eagle for every nuance…Above all his speeds release the natural lyrical purity of the vocal lines in a completely unpretentious and unstrained way.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Guardian

 

Le Nozze di Figaro

 

The Metroplitan Opera, New York

“Wigglesworth led an engaging account of this Mozart masterpiece.”
Anthony Tommasini, New York Times

Opera Factory, London

“At the top of the credits list is Mark Wigglesworth..Not dancing for the audience but usefully communicating millions of intricate musical nuances to his orchestra. At times he appears hardly to be moving at all, just twitching the tip of his stick one millimetre to the left and one to the right. the effect of his new style on The Marriage of Figaro proved quite electric.”
Alexander Waugh, London Evening Standard