Evening Standard
The young, Israeli-born pianist Inon Barnatan is a true poet of the keyboard: refined, searching, unfailingly communicative...
His exemplary reading of the Sonata is invested with world-weariness and automnal resignation, but he responds to the brighter moments of the third and fourth movements with keenly articulated, meticulously phrased playing... His handling of the Impromptus is second to none: this is musicianship of the highest calibre.
Evening Standard
The New Yorker
Barnatan was naturally poetic; he has an instinctive understanding of Schubert's fragile, deep world... he obtained a hypnotic tone from the piano... he made sounds that might have won the approval of Schnabel himself.
Alex Ross - April 2004
Washington Post
The evening’s undisputed star was Barnatan… He displayed the widest variety of touch and dynamics that I’ve ever heard from the library’s aging, balky Steinway. From barely audible, feathery trills to heaven-storming thunderbolts, Barnatan orchestrated every phrase with sovereign mastery… [This was] fine music-making wedded to astounding technique.
Houston Chronicle
If the Houston Symphony's managment team has a slot to fill in its 2008-09 season, it fount an option in the two electric debuts Friday at Miller Outdoor Theatre... Barnatan [is] born to play Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 22 with the elegance and intimacy that makes Mozart's music sparkle so much
Houston Chronicle
The New Yorker
A player of uncommon sensitivity
Alex Ross, January 2010
San Francisco Chronicle
Barnatan obviously possesses tons of technique…His sensitive phrasing of the lyrical passages was always expressive... The audience cheered the performance to the rafters, complete with standing ovation.”
Dallas Morning News
This young Israeli, only 27, has had some great teachers and won some important prizes — who hasn't these days? But he really might be on the level of an Artur Schnabel or Leon Fleisher.
New York Times
Mr. Barnatan’s feel for Schubert was immediately evident in the stormy ascent and gentle cascading fall of the sonata’s opening bars. Schubert’s writing struck a balance between Mozart’s amiability and Beethoven’s heaven-storming quest for transcendence. Mr. Barnatan gave full measure to both impulses, contrasting a firm hand in turbulent flights with a tender touch and ruminative flexibility in more wistful passages.
Santa Fe New Mexican
[An] insightful artist who beautifully mixes imagination and technique”
La Presse, Montreal
Barnatan gave an inspired and utterly convincing performance of this program… This newcomer can clearly play anything.
New York Times
Though there are too many fine performers to cite, special mention goes to the fearless young pianist Inon Barnatan
Gilmore Festival Review
One of the most rewarding innovations of the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard organization has been its Rising Stars Recital Series... Sunday night’s artist was 25-year-old Israeli pianist Inon Barnatan, who performed a dazzling program that had me stretching for the highest tier of accolades… He exhibited blazing technique throughout the program – an ability he shared with many previous "rising stars." But additionally, his musical intelligence led to wholly individual musical identities for the five composers whose works he played.
Kalamazoo Gazette
San Francisco Sentinel
Poetic and passionate music making, communicative performances and engaging programming
Gramophone Magazine
Sensitivity, poise and focus; Barnatan is a born Schubertian.