"The LSSO had the right conductor to propel it like a stampede across the pampas — the whippy young Venezuelan Carlos Izcaray. He also encouraged fierce, joyous playing.” THE TIMES, LONDON 2012

"Carlos Izcaray led the show with a great sense of buoyancy and wit.” OPERA NEWS, NEW YORK 2012

“From the downbeat, the orchestra under Carlos Izcaray set the bar very high indeed with a glowing, breathless prelude that was not only characterized by virtuosic playing from the winds, but also rich playing from the banks of strings. Maestro Izcaray displayed a fine command of the comic pacing and the overall propulsion of the piece, and he elicited a beautifully filigreed succession of instrumental details that imparted substantial delight.” OPERA TODAY 2011

”The young Venezuelan conductor Carlos Izcaray sends the overture shooting upwards like a rocket, and the piece stays high in the air all evening.” GEORGE HALL. THE GUARDIAN, 2011

“Chorus and Orchestra of the Wexford Festival Opera were led by the young conductor Carlos Izcaray with eye-winking charm from the score.” KIELER NACHRICHTEN, GERMANY, 2011

“Carlos Izcaray conducts the opera with enthusiastic verve”

IRISH INDEPENDENT, 2011

“Conductor Carlos Izcaray is a willing co-conspirator. He conducts with lots of fizz” THE IRISH TIMES 2011

“Beautifully shaped by the young Venezuelan conductor Carlos Izcaray.  He led the performance with an unstingting command of pace, superbly capturing the score’s dramatic fire while allowing the singers’ voices to ride over the orchestra. The climaxes - and there were many of them - never fizzled.”

OPERA NEWS, NEW YORK 2011

“That leaves the festival’s serving of red meat, here fulfilled in Saverio Mercadante’s lurid 1850’s thriller, Virginia. Mercadante fits into Italian opera somewhere between Donizetti and Verdi... his music is just as red-blooded, as is Carlos Izcaray’s conducting.”

THE TIMES, LONDON 2010

“Wexford’s performance boasted a lively conductor in Carlos Izcaray.”

FINANCIAL TIMES, LONDON 2010

“Idiomatic conducting... Izcaray supplies the necessary dramatic propulsion”

THE SUNDAY TIMES, LONDON 2010

“Venezuelan conductor Carlos Izcaray took the music at face-value, dealing out its thrills and spills with the same care and commitment as its passages of effective pathos.”

THE IRISH TIMES, 2010

“Marvelously conducted by the young Venezuelan Carlos Izcaray, the opera makes a thrilling opening night”

THE STAGE 2010

“Venezuelan young conductor Carlos Izcaray is one to watch, exciting and accurate.”

JOHN AMIS 2010

“Carlos Izcaray’s conducting was well attuned to the drama, and he was very singer-friendly as one must be in opera”

CLASSICAL SOURCE 2010

“Control and elegance... consistency and cleanliness of gesture that felt very much intended for the orchestra and that marked the interpretive route”

GAZZETTA DI PARMA 2009

“Energetic and cantabile... showing also the features of an impetuous mind and rock-like lucidity regarding the score”

LIBERTAD DI PIACENZA, 2009

“Carlos Izcaray is really talented and on the podium he communicates very well with the orchestra. He is confident and has clear interpretative ideas, which enable him to transmit his concepts of style, sound, balance, and phrase. His enthusiasm for the music inspires the performers as well. I believe in Carlos Izcaray as a conductor, and can highly recommend him.” DAVID ZINMAN