Valery Gergiev with the Mariinsky Orchestra
"The opening concert of the festival was an ear-opener, with Valery Gergiev and his Mariinsky Orchestra playing a programme both challenging and absorbing. Henri Dutilleux's Correspondences is a gem of a work for soprano and orchestra... Shostakovich's 'Leningrad' Symphony reflects a turbulent, difficult time in Russia's history, writ large on a grand orchestral canvas." News Letter

Polish Passions
"It is an orchestral tour de force, and in this fine performance under Dworzynski it pulsates with energy, vitality and brilliance. Rarely are we afforded the chance to hear such an expansive - and expensive - array of forces in such stirring, exciting and approachable twentieth century music. What an excellent bookend this concert makes, in contrast to the opening Gergiev concert." Culture NI

Fascinating Aida
"They encore with a little pre-planned song about Belfast which manages to fit in the Waterfront Hall, Twelfth of July and Nuala with the Hula. They didn't need to endear themselves any further, but it is this last, skilful manipulation that induces a standing ovation. With nary a dry eye in the house by this stage, it's as effusive and spontaneous a reception as you'll see at this year's Belfast Festival." Culture NI

Warsaw Village Band
"The Spiegeltent is the ideal setting for this raggle-taggle army of laments, percusssive grooves, oompah chic and outright party stompers that this defiantly modernist traditional outfit deliver with considerable warmth and charm... The number of Polish people in the audience is a reassuring reflection of the increasingly diverse make-up of Belfast society and especially the city's burgeoning Polish community, which pleasingly seems to have developed in confidence in recent years." Culture NI

The Table
"When the four men from Karbido take their seats at the wooden table which gives the show this title, there are few signs - on the surface at least - that it's anything other than the common or garden kitchen variety. In fact, it is fairly thrumming with amplifiers capable of transforming the brush of a finger tip and the swipe of a blade into electrifying sounds... This avant garde concert lasts just an hour - the sheer inventiveness and brio the musicians bring to the table makes every minute a revelation." Belfast Telegraph

Macbeth
Polish company Biuro Podrozy's outdoor drama is one of the highlights of this festival - an exhilarating blood-and-thunder spectacle of flickering flames, acrid smoke, revving motorbikes, stiltwalkers and singing... Poetry takes a back seat to pyrotechnics. But there's no difficulty in following the rise and fall of the Macbeths which is told here with daring and - at times - subtlety." Belfast Telegraph

Terminus
"Dublin has come north in Mark O'Rowe's soaring, exuberant, heartbreaking tale of loneliness and isolation that explores the ache for connection and redemption... Engaging and provoking, Terminus is a pulsating and effervescent piece of theatre that could send you out into the Belfast night listening for the beat of leathery wings." News Letter

Colm Tóibín
Hand-in-hand with Colm Tóibín's status as a literary heavyweight, it was an unassuming and extremely witty individual who entertained a packed auditorium at the Baby Grand last night... It was like a master class in novel writing as he told how he warned his Texan students to avoid back story, facial descriptions, adverbs and too many adjectives." Belfast Telegraph

Seamus Heaney and Michael Longley with the Ulster Orchestra
"Combining the poetry of Seamus Heaney and Michael Longley with excerpts of classical music in a 70th birthday celebration for the two great bards on Saturday night at the Waterfront was inspired." Belfast Telegraph

James Hunter
"Backed up by an impressive line-up of drums, upright bass, keyboards and dual saxophones, Hunter proved to be a force to be reckoned with on electric guitar... We were treated to a set of vintage covers, original material and jazz standards, boasting tight ensemble musicianship, all held together by Hunter's soulful vocals." Belfast Telegraph