GERMAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ("DSO")
"... Jay Campbell's playing is so present, so confident and expressive, that he knows how to effortlessly assert himself against the excited nagging of the orchestra. In the encore, Ravel's duo for violin and cello, he also electrified violinist Andrea Obisio with his tremendous energy."
DER TAGESSPIEGEL (Berlin)
LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC
"[John] Adams was referring to two Berkeley teenagers he once mentored: composer Gabriella Smith...and cellist Jay Campbell, who was the evening’s soloist and co-curator....In Eric Wubbels’ 'gretchen am spinnrade' for cello and piano, Campbell and the composer angrily pounded out repeated patterns...The performance was staggering."
LOS ANGELES TIMES
SOUTH BEND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
"The soloist for the Elgar concerto, Jay Campbell, was quite a gift to Harada. Campbell is among the most exciting young cellists in the world, and he's already made significant recordings, both as a soloist and as a member of the JACK Quartet. His crystalline tone on the concerto was a marvel in itself, and he wandered through the long solo passages with a cerebral intensity."
SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE
WEILL RECITAL HALL
"Throughout the adventurous program, it was clear that the prodigious 26-year-old cellist Jay Campbell performs music of our time not out of obligation but because it excites him so much ... Mr. Campbell has a robust sound, though the delicacy in his playing was just as captivating." [Elliott Carter "Figment I"]
NEW YORK TIMES
KENNEDY CENTER RECITAL
"Campbell seized the audience’s attention in a grip that never let go ... once Campbell wraps himself around the cello, you’re willing to follow him anywhere."
WASHINGTON POST
CARNEGIE HALL RECITAL
“The cellist Jay Campbell is part of a generation of young musicians with a fresh center of gravity in its repertory.”
NEW YORK TIMES
ALABAMA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
“Jay Campbell tackled Samuel Barber's Cello Concerto as if born to it. Campbell is already a fine technician, but he left no doubt of his expressive prowess. With a clear, full, transparent sound, he draws in listeners not only with his virtuosic gifts but his ability to closely commune with conductor and orchestra.”
ARTSBHAM (Alabama)
ARGENTO CHAMBER ENSEMBLE
“Cellist Jay Campbell had a spectacular moment in Lesson 2 [of Fausto Romitelli’s Professor Bad Trip] when he put down his acoustic instrument, took up an electric cello and made like Jimi Hendrix.”
LOS ANGELES TIMES