Caitlin Tully

• Violinist

Reviews

Caitlin Tully press reviews

Tully is an astonishing young musician who provided an immensely satisfying performance of Mozart’s Concerto.  She played with complete assurance… her characterful bowing and tasteful vibrato were fully idiomatic.  However, it was the way she shaped Mozart’s music that was most impressive and gratifying.  Tully was full of personality and energy, yet her individuality brought nothing extraneous or mannered to Mozart’s notes.  Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

The girl with the scarlet dress and auburn hair strode onto the Folly Theatre stage, raised her violin bow and produced a tone so limpid that you sat up… Her gifts were on display in a rich program designed to show pretty much the whole range of what she could do.  She is a major talent. Kansas CityStar

Like violinist Hilary Hahn, Tully already appears to possess all of the technical prowess of a veteran artist—spot-on intonation, solid bowing and a string tone that’s achingly sweet.  But what’s really impressive is the interpretive depth of her playing and the overarching shape of her phrasing.  One got the impression that she understood every nuance of this intimate and lyrical work [Beethoven’s Violin Concerto], which is both simple and profoundly difficult.  Santa Rosa Press Democrat

In the Mozart concerto, Tully impressed right off the bat with her big, well-structured tone, which was equipped with both toughness and warmth.  It soon became clear that she is more than just another pretty sound. She is an intelligent and thoughtful musician… She distended nothing, overstated nothing, yet every line bore a personal stamp in subtleties of instrumental color or articulation. Her melodic lines were direct and closely argued, but also expressive and unfailingly musical.  San Antonio Express

Say what you will about the piece,  but the player was exquisite.  At the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra concert Saturday night, violinist Caitlin Tully tackled the very abstract Chaconne from the movie The Red Violin and towered.  She beat up her bow in the process and managed to show the crowd just how skilled she was with all aspects of the instrument.  Her high notes were impeccable.  Her passion, unimpeachable.  Sioux City Journal

Tully, 17, played the Mozart with a relaxed air and grace, spinning out singing sustained passages, particularly in the concerto's middle movement, as well as nimble, playful arpeggios.  Dressed in a blue-violet gown that set off her elbow-length, light red hair, Tully played with her lips compressed, but a twinkle in her eye reflected the seeming ease and enjoyment with which she handled the concerto.  Waco Tribune

While Lalo’s Symphonie was ‘fiendishly difficult for a mere mortal,’ according to one description, Sibelius’ concerto offered a third movement that one writer called ‘a polonaise for polar bears,’ because of its intricacies and vigorousness.  Tully was a match to fiends before and bears now, offering a superb, assured performance, whetting the appetite for her next appearance with Maestro Bay and company.  Austin Chronicle

Caitlin Tully looked like an angel and played like a demon…She plays effortlessly, working the instrument with great intensity and beautiful intonation, flying through double-stops and pizzicato parts with equal dexterity.  The Day (New London, CT)

When she plays, everyone just sits there and their jaws drop...such presence.  It was just enthralling. Times Colonist (Victoria, BC)

The only difference between Tully and the average ‘infant phenomenon’ performer is that she is a musician...the silvery tone...the stunning technique...far more important was the sense that she was performing the music as an equal partner, that the head and heart were engaged as well as the fingers.  We shall hear more of this young lady.  Times Colonist (Victoria, BC)

The wonderful tone...was of a quality that many professionals would be envious of and the technical control was superb...a maturity of sound that far exceeds her tender age.  For the Love of Music

She plays with more integrity than any young violinist I have ever heard.  Yehudi Menuhin

Caitlin Tully has it all—a fantastic feel for whatever she is playing, a technique one can only dream of having, the ability to communicate and connect with an audience, and a wonderful personality to top it off.   Peter Bay