Pianist Vanessa Perez performs Chopin with passion, sensuality
Perez dove into the Preludes as if discovering them for the first time, flinging them out into the hall with a kind of wild intensity that was often breathtaking, as if she were forcing these delicate hothouse flowers into the fresh air for the first time....
Washington Post, May 2012
Complete Review

This is exceptional Chopin Playing...Prelude ( Op 45) sings with dark Passion . One of the most compelling performances since Michelangeli's ..... ( Perez) has a natural feeling for rhythm, she rarely pauses to make a point, but when she does she never sounds mannered. There is a keen sense of cumulative buildup and an awareness of the works overall architecture.....This is emotionally bold yet finely nuanced playing, the combination you need in this repertory. Personal as these readings are, they don't seem self indulgent, rather, they make you aware of the originality of Chopin's Music.

After listening to this you know exactly what Liszt meant when he said that the Chopin Preludes " modestly named, are nonetheless types of perfection in a mode he himself created, and stamped, as he did with his deep impress of this poetic genius"
American Record Guide, July/August 2012
Complete Review

Her approach to the Preludes is to invest each and every one with an immediate presence combined with the most crystalline clarity, as if this were to be her final word on the subject. That contrasts to the initial confusion many of Chopin’s contemporaries experienced when he published the Preludes in 1839. Robert Schumann’s reaction was typical: ....“They are sketches, beginnings of etudes … ruins, individual eagle pinions, all disorder and wild confusion.” That bewilderment is excusable in an age when the synthesis of all the arts had progressed so far that listeners would have expected Chopin’s Op. 28 to be a set of “characteristic” pieces, each with its own implied watercolor sketch or “programme.”.........

The diversity of the Preludes is remarkable. For instance, Prelude No. 13 in F-sharp may be in a major key, but it has a pronounced minor-key mood, with a connotation of sorrow or loss. Perez does some of her best work when capturing the essence of each piece in terms of its tonal center. No. 15, the “Raindrop,” one of the best known of the Preludes, is also one of the most satisfying in terms of a beginning, middle, and end. Perez does a great job of defining its violent contrasts (portentous, stormy and dramatic in the outer sections, enchantingly beautiful and tender as a lovers’ tryst, in the middle) and its abrupt key changes. No. 24, with its formidable technical demands including a pervasive thundering five-note pattern in the left hand as the right plays trills, arpeggios, and rapidly descending chromatic scales, closing with three booming single notes in the lowest D on the piano is clearly one of her favorites, and she throws herself into it with abandon.........
Atlanta Audio Society, June 2012

"As we listen to Chopin's music, we are convinced that we hear a powerful narrative drama," read the CD booklet notes for this release of Chopin's preludes by Venezuelan pianist Vanessa Perez. Perez did not write the booklet notes, but they seem to reflect her approach to the preludes, for which "narrative" is not normally the first word that would come to mind.....Perez is not a product of Venezuela's famed Sistema music education system, but her fiery, fearless preludes she matches the fresh, charismatic readings that have been coming from other Venezuelan musicians. The album is unorthodox at both the micro and macro levels. Consider the opening shot, the Prelude in C major, Op. 28, No. 1, where the usually dreamy, lyrical melody with which the piece trails off turns into a sort of ominous mutter. Perez takes it from there with intense contrasts, unusual although not unheard-of tempo extremes, and in general rethinkings of almost all of the famous preludes. This is welcome in the case of chestnuts like the Prelude in C minor, Op. 28, No. 20, where Perez plays down the funeral-march aspect with a slow tempo that turns the piece into a much more personal piece of tragedy. She leaves little space between the individual preludes, and the overall effect is indeed to produce one large narrative....Chopin collectors will want it on their shelves and hard drives. Telarc's sound, which picks up what seem to be foot taps from Perez, is as intense and almost confrontational as her playing.
All Music Guide, May 2012

Vanessa Perez counts on having a prodigious technique, but many pianists of her generation and hereafter that achieve an extremely high technical level, do not have the capacity to communicate and move that this outstanding pianist possesses. If one would summarize in two words the interpretative qualities of this remarkable pianist I think it would be sensitivity and temperament ....
El Comercio (Lima, Peru)

Concert No. 3 for piano and orchestra, Sergei Prokofiev's Op. 26 is of extreme virtuosity for the soloist as well as for the orchestra... and so was demonstrated by pianist Vanessa Perez with an impressive technique serving an interpretation distinguished by its clear and direct phrasing, very appropriate to the modernist attitude of the Russian composer...the pianist, whom the audience wouldn't let abandon the stage without the prior performance of an encore of a charming and dazzling Venezuelan joropo
EL NUEVO DIA (Puerto Rico)

....showed clear evidence of an exquisite artist, who gives her knowledge with devotion and unlimited generosity, in the manner of the most eminent artists in the history of the keyboard.
La Nacion ( Argentina)

MOZART WITH A WILD HEART AND A TENDER HAND.
Matinee with Vanessa Perez and the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra Dortmund’s Concert House
...The Lucerne Orchestra always makes an effort to highlight the details of a work. In Mozart's Piano Concerto in D-minor KV466 they were much more than a careful accompanying body for the soloist Vanessa Perez. Axelrod made audible how the solo voice and the orchestral sound blend and penetrate each other. An ideal partner was the recipient of a stipend of the Mozart Society, because she combined in her playing a lot of spontaneous freshness and gentle poetic expression. A virtuosa with a wild heart and a gentle touch of her hand is Vanessa Perez. She deeply felt the dramatic Don Giovanni World of the beginning; then she conveyed great calm to the Romanze, with little of the sentimental coating, which many other pianists pour over this movement, which belongs to the most beautiful slow movements which Mozart wrote...
Ruhr Nachrichten : Dortmunder Zeitung

....the concerto opened quietly, but merely for a few measures before the orchestra turned into a stately, grand theme and transported us in imagination to a regal court for an important function. In another moment we knew what it was when soloist Vanessa Perez began to play with astonishing clarity and finesse. Not only was her every turn crystalline and pristine, but at the same time she had one passage after another overflowing with emotion. This was lush Beethoven...
Connecticut Post

Vanessa Perez was the evening's soloist in the Russian composer's not unfamiliar Piano Concerto No. 2.... brought enviable youthful fire to Rachmaninoff's keyboard warhorse.. the Adagio had a wonderful rapt lyricism, Perez floating the main theme with poetic elegance enhanced by the dark, burnished MSO strings. Marturet and the orchestra provided well-upholstered accompaniment for Perez's high-adrenaline solo work, and the sumptuous climax of the finale made a grand and thrilling impact.
Miami Herald

Venezuelan American Pianist is spirited, Hot Blooded pianist, with considerable talent .She has an intuitive musical intelligence that hold’s one interest. Her wide-ranging expression can go inward, and she can unleash a torrent of Passion..
American Record Guide

Perez can hold her head up high in the most distinguished company in this repertoire.( Ref Chopin Ballades) If anything her Albeniz is even more impressive- impassioned, rich toned and seductively coquettish where appropriate....Perez is on top form and the recording is superb..
International Piano Magazine

Venezuelan American pianist Vanessa Perez is not to be taken lightly. She stormed through some beautiful works, most of them nearly unpla yable, at the Venezuelan Embassy on Thursday, her fiery impetuosity proving her technical prowess in works by Villa-Lobos, Albéniz, Ravel and Rachmaninoff....Even Mozart's Sonata in F, K. 332, had muscular energy as she raced through the Allegros. The Adagio was pure grace...
Washington Post, USA

"Enchanting and supercharged, the words to describe the Venezuelan pianist Vanessa Perez."
La Provincia, Como, Italy

"It is no wonder that Claudio Arrau was so moved by the technique, musicality and intelligent style of Venezuelan pianist Vanessa Perez; who played at the Kammermusiksaal of the Beethoven's House in the International summer festival "Bonner Sommer" in Bonn. She has incredible virtuosity that you could hear in the Beethoven Sonata op.31 in D minor and the Schumann Symphonic Etudes. Beethoven was interpreted with great musicality, and she does not let the "Tempest" pass you by. Very few times do you hear such a perfect and virtuoso Allegro..."
Bonner Rundschau, Bonn, Germany

"Breathtaking! Her interpretation of Mozart's piano concerto K466 in D minor was impeccable; her version of it was passionate and diaphanous. I have to emphasize the complexity of the cadenza in the first movement of the concerto that took me by surprise, due to her creativity. From the point of view of her expressiveness, I have to thank this pianist's way of playing which moved me in every moment."
El Norte, Monterrey, Mexico

"...the two works by Franz Liszt that ended the evening were unquestionably brilliant. The Mephisto Waltz No.1, which is a veritable encyclopedia of Liszt' s technical innovations, was breathtaking in her hands. The standing Ovation the audience enthusiastically gave her was well deserved"
Fresno, California, USA

"The Chopin Piano Concerto in e minor with Vanessa Perez at the piano, was interpreted with great finesse, brilliant sounds, she was able to achieve the continuous flowing movement and clarity so characteristic of this music."
El Mundo, Caracas, Venezuela

"...warm applause at the Bratuz for the Venezuelan Pianist. Vanessa Perez has proved to be an accomplished artists in her interpretations of the works performed tonight. The Beethoven Sonata ( in e flat major) was majestic, followed by Schumann Symphonic Etudes which besides the great virtuosity which this great work demands, one could follow the complex melodic plot, full of light and shadow, which mirrored the tormented soul of this German composer. The Chopin Fantasie op.49 performed with a diamond touch, never lacked full expression and feeling."
Messagero Veneto, Gorizia, Italy

"...she is an intense pianist, who becomes one with her instrument, physically and spiritually, reaching that strange fusion where composer and interpreter identify. In her recital, she displayed enviable charisma and great virtuosity."
El Nuevo Herald, Miami, Florida, USA

I was very impressed by her genuine talent, musicality, technical ability, but most of all by her sensitivity and temperament, qualities rarely present so together. She should go very far.
Tamàs Vàsàry

A pianist gifted with great talent, technical mastery, and remarkable performance personality.
Lazar Berman

Her level of musical perception and artistic awareness impressed me as much as her total command of the keyboard.
Zubin Mehta

Vanessa possesses a rare gift: irresistible charisma. Her playing is warm, passionate, colorful, combined with superb technique.
Peter Frankl

A pianist whose technique, musicality, and intelligent approach to the music she plays made a profound impression on me. It is not possible to find a young artist today better equipped with all of the necessary qualities that my school of pianists requires from a performer.
Claudio Arrau