I think that your performance of Incarnation is very wonderful. This work was refreshed by you. And your performance is deep. I wish to express my gratitude on your wonderful performance.
Somei Satoh, composer, December 2007
I think you have something of incredible potential...absolutely stunning! ... You deserve major success.
Andrew Keeling, composer, on the new release for 2009
...the real heart of the album is to be found in Blue Dawn... seven solo piano pieces touchingly played by Steven Wray ... With a luminous clarity, [composer] Keeling probes for that startling, fresh beauty residing within the mundane, and which leaves us breathless when we find it. Magnificent.
Sid Smith, Postcards from the Yellow Room, November 2007
...something rather rich and strange.
Dominy Clements, MusicWeb INTERNATIONAL, November 2007
So tough is the competition for places in the Park Lane Group’s annual series that a specially high standard can generally be relied upon. On Monday night at the Purcell Room, the level was uncompromisingly maintained...Steven Wray was intrepid and direct in Tippett’s Second Piano Sonata, and gave a convincing, cogent performance of Judith Weir’s An mein Klavier, a piece of taut, richly imaginative piano writing.
Geoffrey Norris, Daily Telegraph, London, 13 January 1988
Steven Wray gave an impressive performance of Judith Weir’s formidably difficult An mein Klavier, music of real substance. Robert Sherlaw Johnson’s Asterogenesis, equally well played, was longer, texturally even more dense.
Stephen Pettitt, The Times, London, 12 January 1988
...almost expressionistically flamboyant [Robert Sherlaw Johnson’s Asterogenesis]
Paul Driver, The Financial Times, London, 13 January 1988
I very much enjoyed working with you, and I hope it will happen again.
Judith Weir, composer, January 1988
new music
classical repertoire
A gifted pianist ... I wish him well in the future
Louis Kentner, Liszt Society, London, February 1983
His playing has a refinement of dynamic variety which is rare...highly unusual poetic feeling and interpretation...shimmering colours...a highly attractive and intelligent pianist
Yorkshire Post, Leeds, 7 March 1983
The artist created considerable impressions with his account of the works’ dynamic contrasts and the quick, gentle fingers revealed a tonal variety of great beauty
Huddersfield Examiner, 6 March 1985
Steven Wray is a sensitive, highly musical and technically gifted pianist. His interpretations are always interesting and rich in fanstasy.
Professor Hans Graf, Chairman, Beethoven Competition, Vienna, 1986
His style is very close to my ideal: no unnecessary stressing of the technical side of playing, but a lot of inner feeling and a full understanding of style
Petr Pokorny, composer, critic and festival director, Prague, May 1991
Your conception and range in [the Emperor Concerto] is absolutely fantastic as well as being rhythmically very precise in following the composer’s indications. You showed a complete understanding of Beethoven’s intentions and style.
Bretislav Novotny, conductor (also leader of the Prague Quartet), 1992
South Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra subscription concerts
Steven Wray’s playing is technically brilliant, but the technique is not paraded before the listener’s ears for its own sake. His lyricism is coupled with a firm grip on structure, engaging both the mind and the heart – a pleasure to listen to.
Karel Janovicky, Journal of the Dvorak Society, 1999
I sense astute programme planning throughout, and I hope to hear this commanding and sensitive artist soon in live recital.
Bill Newman, Music and Vision CD reviews, 2000
Steven Wray was the accomplished soloist in the buoyant second piano concerto of Saint-Saens. From the Bachian arpeggios of the opening to the cheerful wit of the scherzo and the incisiveness and verve of the finale, conductor and soloist worked together with evident rapport to secure a performance that was clearly enjoyed by audience and orchestra alike.
Lancaster Guardian, February 2003
A highly enterprising and imaginative series
Jeremy Siepmann, editor, PIANO magazine, 2004
