Vincent van Gelder

"Ardenuir: The Stone in the Sword"

World Premiere, May 20, 2022. Virginia Somerville Sutton Theater, WellSpring, Greensboro, NC.

"The Stone in the Sword is a memorable multi media event. Imagine Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition ....with a plot along the lines of [Tolkien's] Lord of the Rings. Natalie's art is a winning combination of graphic novel art and phantasmagoria. Vincent's music was a marvelous mix of styles. From folk-like, frolicking music that depicts the market, to dramatic outbursts that take place in some battle scenes; from lyrical, romantic music ..to dreamy impressionistic cascades. Vincent's playing brought the artwork alive. He is a powerful performer, and his virtuosic chops were often employed in impressive rapid octaves, shimmering cascades of scales, and occasional glissandos. His lyric playing is admirable as well, with some lovely tunes emanating form the middle of the rich texture.

Timothy H. Lindeman - The Classical Voice of North Carolina.

Carnegie Hall debut

"Dr. Vincent van Gelder is a formidably equipped, no-nonsense virtuoso, his interpretative and temperamental style is remarkably redolent of what I would have expected from a stereotypical “Dutchman”. In fact his playing at this concert made me recall Cor De Groot, a splendid artist whose Philips LP recordings from the 1950s (released in America by Epic) gave me much pleasure."

     New York Concert Review

"Vincent van Gelder’s performance of Gaspard de la nuit made light of all the extraordinary difficulties, and got straight to the nub of the work in three musical portraits of deep imagination, with the ability to tell three stories, conjure three scenes to perfection, and even manage, amid its legendary complexities, to find a great deal of wit in ‘Scarbo’."

       London Musical Opinion

"Despite the severe demands on the stamina of the performer, Vincent van Gelder remained a proudly sensitive performer to the end, and even found the energy to add his own thrilling and original Fantasy on the Miller’s Dance from Falla’s ‘The Three-Cornered Hat’ as an envoi.

Leslie Howard-British Liszt Society      newsletter

[performance of the four Chopin Ballades]:  “He brought out the different layers with the precision of a brain surgeon”.

         St. Louis Post

"The result was really good at the concert. The music was magnificent and magnified the atmosphere of the artwork, and the artwork always put the piano in the right context. The result was definitely fun"

          -Frettabladid-

           Concert at Harpa, Reykjavik, Iceland

"To describe this evening as good playing is a complete understatement; the illustrations by Natalie were an essential part of the enjoyment".

            -Classical Voice of North Carolina

             Concert at East Carolina University