“Few audience members, who remember the concerts given by Cork Symphony Orchestra under its founding conductor Aloys Fleischmann, could imagine the musical treat that was to come at the initial concert given by the re-named City of Cork Symphony Orchestra. It is now officially sponsored by the office of the Lord Mayor, and Cork City Council.

Prior to the concert, the Lord Mayor Cllr Dara Murphy unveiled a plaque in the foyer of the Cork City Hall marking this official city recognition, an important development in the cultural life of the city.

Even the whirlwind performance of Mozart’s overture to the Marriage of Figaro, under the CCSO’s conductor Keith Pascoe, gave little hint of what was to follow, good as it was. Pascoe handed the baton to oboist/conducting student at CIT School of Music, Michael Craig while he took up his violin to perform Mendelssohn’s beloved Violin Concerto. Craig’s accompanying, and the orchestra’s sensitive support, allowed Pascoe’s intensely musical, deeply personal, and wonderfully moving account of the concerto to match, at times even surpass, the playing of the best international soloists it has been my pleasure to hear.

He then returned to the podium to direct a performance of Dvorak’s New World Symphony that must have been as good as any given by an amateur orchestra”. Irish Examiner 24 April 2010