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What the Critics Say
| “a pianist of integrity, with lovely sonorities and total clarity of line.” | |
| Piano and Keyboard | |
| “deserves laurels and more for her intense, shapely and technically outrageous playing of Mendelssohn’s Op. 104 Preludes and Etudes.” | |
| The Boston Globe | |
| “Canadians Elizabeth Dolin and Bernadene Blaha perform these works with technical finesse and just the right level of delicacy that Mendelssohn, poised between Classicism and Romanticism demands. In the D Major Sonata (Mendelssohn) Blaha’s effortless tossing off of rapid arpeggios between left and right hands in the first movement, and the fast runs passed between cello and piano in the Molto Allegro Finale, which goes at breathtaking speed, are particularly notable.” | |
| The Strad | |
| "Brahms was plagued by self doubt. After his String Quartet in F minor was given a lukewarm reception by trusted friends, he recast it as a Sonata for Two Pianos. If he could have heard Piers Lane and Bernadene Blaha's engaged and dedicated delivery, the composer's self esteem would have soared as the pair travelled through the mercurial and challenging score with insight, stamina and intensity." | |
| Townsville Bulletin, Australia | |
| "Barber's stormy Cello Sonata played by the American-based Bernadene Blaha and English cellist Louise Hopkins sprang to life in the hands of this duo. Blaha's articulation was brilliant in its variety and deft exectuion. Her fingers spoke in crisp, smooth, stuttered and bold articulations. With one feathery tone she lifted a mood." | |
| Townsville Bulletin, Australia | |
| “From her first note one senses the magnetism that she radiates.” | |
| La Voz de Michoacon, Mexico | |
| “Blaha demonstrated a crystalline, almost diamond-edged virtuosity, particularly in the dazzling finale.” | |
| Santa Barbara News | |
| “a display of superior talents.” | |
| Montreal Gazette | |
| “Blaha was a powerhouse, exhibiting a stunning technique and a love of grand Romantic gesture. Most impressive was the brilliance and clarity of her sound.” | |
| Times-Colonist, B.C. | |
| “amazed the audience with her convincing temperament and interpretation, absolute master of the instrument and excellent performance” | |
| Bergamo-Oggi, Bergamo, Italy | |
| “keyboard sonorities with winning élan, whether in delicate passages or in the stirring finale, brimming with chordal splendor.” | |
| San Diego Union | |
| "This sound and approach was most effective in the undoubted highlight of the evening, the performance of Grieg's Piano Concerto by Brantford native Bernadene Blaha. She was more than a perfect match to make intimate chamber music with the BSO under Sarabura's confident guidance. Blaha, had all the power and musicality required to present the grander parts of this very popular work, but she was most charming in the perfect interplay with the various woodwind and horn solos that colour this work." | |
| The Brantford Expositor | |
| “fine technical sophistication and sensitivity to the profusion of Mozart’s inventions.” | |
| Calgary Herald | |