Mark Wigglesworth

"Under Wigglesworth’s incisive direction, the Philharmonia strings were in steely, razor-sharp form, their volant playing cutting the air with a surgical, ethereal exactness during the opening Allegro."

"Wigglesworth’s approach was meticulously measured and exhilaratingly enlightening in its unsettling brooding, digging into the score’s more menacing moods and the painful ache of unrequited love."

Seen and Heard International, March 2026

"Conductor Mark Wigglesworth kept up the momentum, maximising the contrast between the score’s muddiest, most overblown passages, where monumental slabs of lower brass were almost obliterated by the tolling of bells, and the light cast periodically by finely blended high woodwind... the strings were vital to this musical chiaroscuro, by turns fidgety and tender, roughly hewn and spun into a single, delicate thread."

The Guardian 4*, January 2026

"It was great to see Wigglesworth... return to the Covent Garden pit. Steeped in Russian repertoire, he really dug into Mussorgsky’s earthy orchestration, which paints the lower strings in rich oils... Wigglesworth’s pacing was unerring"

Bachtrack 4*, January 2026

"Mark Wigglesworth's vivid correspondence with Jones's taut vision... goes deep and ultimately, in tandem with Bryn Terfel's latest thoughts on the protagonist, moves us profoundly."

The Arts Desk, January 2026

"Conductor Mark Wigglesworth led the virtuosic players of Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera with deep understanding of Britten‘s musical language. The ocean, the wind, the ship and its movements were all clearly articulated as a backdrop of the human tragedy that unfolds, with dark percussion sounds, eloquent strings including memorable cello solos, chirping woodwinds and oppressive brass. Brief musical passages between scenes, especially in Acts 3 and 4, were conducted and played with impressive beauty and incisiveness."
Bachtrack, 5*, October 2024

“In the pit, the Philharmonia play quite wonderfully for Mark Wigglesworth, whose conducting is remarkable in its finesse, intensity and emotional depth.”
The Guardian, June 2023

“Wigglesworth finds all the delicacy in the second half while shaping its climax impressively well.”
The Telegraph, June 2023

“The director’s approach is also reinforced, stroke for stroke, by Mark Wigglesworth’s responsive conducting: zesty and bold in the prologue and then, in the opera proper, expansive before building up to a full-throttle climax. Here at last we can bathe in the brilliance of the Philharmonia’s plush sound.”
The Times, June 2023

“Combined with the kaleidoscopic colouring and painstaking detail supplied by the musicians of the Philharmonia Orchestra under Mark Wigglesworth – whose sensitivity to the score’s varied moods is constant and finely tuned – the finale is every bit as ecstatic as it should be.”
The Stage, June 2023

"The musical direction was under Mark Wigglesworth, who offered a brilliant reading of an opera that has a lot to conduct. He controlled the pit and stage perfectly and drew a great performance from the orchestra. The same can be said of the chorus."
Seen and Heard International, March 2023

"Conductor Mark Wigglesworth gave room for [the] solos, balanced the tuttis well, and kept the tightly integrated structure moving, never letting it sound like a theme and variations with voices. Unlike Britten, whose conducting could hurry through the Governess’ devastated final “Malo, malo”, embarrassed that he had written a Puccini dénouement, Wigglesworth allowed just the right amount of space for its catharsis to register."
Bachtrack, July 2022

"Mark Wigglesworth, a former English National Opera music director, leads the 13 players of the Philharmonia Orchestra in a triumphant performance, marking his Garsington debut. Through his passion and mastery of the score, he places it at the very core of the opera, promoting both soloistic freedom and a collective ratcheting-up of tension."
The Stage, July 2022

"Making his Garsington debut was conductor Mark Wigglesworth who drew wondrous sonorities from the thirteen players of the Philharmonia.  Alert to Britten’s resourceful and ever-changing instrumental palette, he turned the screw of each variation with much distinction allowing soloists their moments of glory, yet always scrupulously observing a fine balance."
Opera Today, July 2022

“The music-making last night was electrifying…”
The Telegraph, November 2021

“…world-renowned Mark Wigglesworth took charge of what can only be described as a barnstormer of a performance, presaging great things to come for players and audiences alike...The concert, heralding the conductor’s arrival, was an extraordinary, spine-tingling affair. Members of the audience knew they had seen something special. A wow start, a wow finish and magic in the middle.”
The Bournemouth Echo, November 2021

"What we should perhaps call “the Mark Wigglesworth Mahler Fifth” knew its mind from the start, moved decisively and often rapidly, hit the high points with infallible brilliance and brought a vintage roar with footstamping from a very full Albert Hall..."
The Arts Desk, September 2021

"That was apparent in every bar of this stirring performance, conducted with a necessarily cool head and a clear beat by Mark Wigglesworth."
The Times, September 2021

"Mark Wigglesworth took it all in his stride, dispensed with a score and trusted his musicians, and gave a real performance. He directed a traditional interpretation, without idiosyncrasy, but no lack of passion, and refined phrasing in the frequent lyrical passages."
Bachtrack, September 2021

"...these are powerful and illuminating performances, very well played and recorded; indeed, they confirm Mark Wigglesworth as one of the finest Shostakovich interpreters of our time."
Musicweb-international, August 2021

"The orchestra had the excellent direction of Mark Wigglesworth, who makes ring with clarity and precision an orchestra of modern instruments"
ResMusica, July 2021

Very attentive to the link between stage and pit, [Wigglesworth] is as caught as his singers in the emotions of the characters, guiding the musicians towards attentive listening. The orchestra is triumphant in the finale, animated by the energy of its conductor, and the ensemble is greeted by the cheerfulness of the public which crowns the artists with resounding bravi."
Olyrix, July 2021

"With Wigglesworth keeping the pace brisk but not hasty, bringing out the intricate inner string figurations and opting for the more delicate harpsichord continuo (rather than the meatier fortepiano), the orchestral playing had intensity and clarity, matching the staging itself."
The Guardian, May 2021

"The reason for this evening’s success lies in the vibrancy of the chorus, in conductor Mark Wigglesworth’s mastery of beauty and suspense."
iNews, May 2021

"Wigglesworth conveyed an inner, more domestic drama to the score that was not identical to Davis’s, Böhm’s, Muti’s, nor anyone else’s—how could it be?—but which spoke from ruins on and off stage. It kept going in the face of adversity, and did much more than that. Swifter than we may be accustomed to, it was yet never harried and found time to relax: to savour many moments of woodwind—not only clarinet—beauty; to express pulsating life in Mozart’s inner strings; to urge us on to a close uncertain yet necessary."
Opera Today, May 2021

"The best things are the playing of the ROH orchestra and the conducting of Mark Wigglesworth, whose combination of momentum and expressivity demonstrate the genuine quality of the score..."
The Stage, May 2021

"Wigglesworth draws some ravishing playing from his orchestra..."
Evening Standard, May 2021

"Mark Wigglesworth conducted a reduced orchestra, yet brought an amplitude of sound to the work. Speeds were sensible, and there was never any doubt about the style...."
Planethugill, May 2021

"Conductor Mark Wigglesworth is a musical figure who has been seen on a few occasions during the recent pandemic woes and the performance of the Royal Opera House Orchestra’s Mozart sounded idiomatically colourful, smooth and fluent and ever alert to the opera’s shifting emotions..."
Seen and heard international, May 2021

"It’s the anguish in those souls that galvanises Beethoven’s musical response, and the compelling thing about this performance is how tautly and intensely the music is conveyed. Central to that is the conductor, Mark Wigglesworth. He delivers an orchestral accompaniment that’s urgent yet punchy in all the right places, with some brilliant instrumental work constantly matching the singers in mood."
The Times, December 2020

"Under Wigglesworth’s direction, there is as much drama in the second act as anyone could ask for: the incisive sound of the reduced band makes an effectively Beethovenian impact here"
The Arts Desk, December 2020

"Conductor Mark Wigglesworth led a thoughtful overture with just the right mixture of transparent instrumental texture and a crisp tempo. His sense of timing for each musical set-piece was brilliant..."
Bachtrack, December 2020

"The ENO orchestra, however, responded well to Mark Wigglesworth’s impeccably paced and passionately led interpretation"
The Times, November 2020

"Principal credit for this went to the admirable Wigglesworth. His conducting combined a fine sense of scale with an instinct for dramatic immediacy...Wigglesworth’s approach had one constantly thinking about the new musical language and textures into which Mozart’s art was evolving just before his death."
The Guardian, November 2020

"He still communicated to his soloists, orchestra and a chorus further away from him, surely, than they’ve ever been before, to make this a straightforwardly moving hour of television."
The Arts Desk, November 2020

"Mark Wigglesworth had the Met Orchestra playing with period style in a first-rate reading"
Opera Magazine, February 2020

"The excellent British conductor Mark Wigglesworth, best known for his work with the English National Opera in London, drew out the warmth and refinement of Gluck’s score."
New York Times, October 2019

"Mark Wigglesworth led a tight, crisp reading of the score, drawing a sunny sound from the pit and a rich, colorful tone from the chorus. His brisk pacing never stifled the music’s natural grace even as it pushed ahead."
Classical Review, October 2019

"...conductor Mark Wigglesworth and orchestra delivered a spirited and cohesive telling of Gluck’s mythological work."
Operawire, October 2019

"Mark Wigglesworth’s lithe reading had both the gravity needed as well as the pleasing buoyancy the composer’s dance music requires. His orchestra played with spirit and transparency"
Parterre Box, October 2019

“Wigglesworth and the orchestra all responded to one another to make this an uncommonly fresh and exciting performance of a piece that can often sound like an old warhorse.”
The Telegraph, July 2019

“Wigglesworth's shaping was at the highest level of creative conducting throughout”
The Arts Desk, July 2019

“The selection was typical of Mark Wigglesworth, telling a grand, tragic tale with high seriousness, visceral attack and impressive continuity”
Classical Source, July 2019

"None of this would have been so effective without the inspiration – for this it clearly was – of Mark Wigglesworth. With his immaculate stick technique asserting complete control, and his ability to generate intensity of playing, his was an outstanding contribution throughout the concert."
Seen and Heard International, July 2019

"Played with ferocious power by the ROH orchestra under Mark Wigglesworth. The performance …is formidable. Wigglesworth, using John Tyrrell’s new critical edition, prises open every facet of the score."
Guardian, March 2018

"Yet it is Wigglesworth’s conducting of the orchestra, the chorus and his wonderful cast that transports the performance into the realms of greatness...  He is already the heir to Charles Mackerras in this astounding music."
Sunday Times, March 2018

"Wigglesworth drew dazzling playing from an enlarged ROH orchestra."
Observer, March 2018

"Mark Wigglesworth, already a superlative Janáček conductor on the evidence of his ENO Jenůfa, and the Royal Opera players sometimes defy belief."
Arts Desk, March 2018

"Those heights have already been reached by the evening’s conductor, Mark Wigglesworth, who propelled his reading of this exotic yet austere score with awesome command. His achievement here, as with his Jenůfa for ENO, was to make a large orchestra fizz with power even when the going got gentle. Then when Janáček unleashes his Sinfonietta-like screams of energy he had reserves in plenty: sonic steroids to bulk up the impact. It was a gut-wrenching, hard-boiled account – and, like the show itself, not for the faint-hearted."
WhatsOnStage, March 2018

"The Royal Opera House Orchestra is on its most dedicated form under the insightful baton of Mark Wigglesworth."
The Stage, March 2018

"The orchestra is on magnificent form, and every note is articulated in its raw intensity."
Telegraph, March 2018

"In the pit, Mark Wigglesworth relished every moment of humanising warmth."
Financial Times, March 2018

"I find it difficult to believe that the opera has ever been better conducted than by Wigglesworth, who inspired the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House to the very top of its form. The sound world was just right…it seemed to grow out of an emphasis upon specifics, upon details, upon those gnawing rhythmic and melodic cells. This was not an abstract ‘approach’ foisted upon the work, quite the contrary. Certainly one heard, or fancied one heard, the intimacy of connection between language(s) and music."
Seenandheard International, March 2018

The UK premiere — a one-off performance and bafflingly belated, given that Dead Man Walking was first performed 18 years ago — had an overwhelming, devastating impact. That was in part down to the conductor Mark Wigglesworth, who brought electrifying energy to Heggie’s tonal score.

The Times, [Five Stars], February 2018

The music direction of Mark Wigglesworth, grabbed us by the throat and never let go.

The Independent, [Five Stars], February 2018

Mark Wigglesworth ensures a tight, expertly driven performance.

The Stage, February 2018

"It was the most authoritative conducting, instantly masterly, I’ve witnessed so far at these Proms, Bernard Haitink’s appearance apart. And Wigglesworth seems close to Haitink’s level...

It was the conductor from whom I couldn’t take my eyes in this concerto rendering. The opening orchestra stretch was a passionate mini symphony, draining in itself. One knew all would be right about this account because Wigglesworth’s intensity was unanswerable.”
Paul Driver, The Sunday Times, August 2017

“When I wrote about wanting to encore the scherzo of Haitink's out-of-this-world Schumann Second Symphony with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe several weeks back, I didn't think I'd be feeling the same again so soon when it came to Haydn's outer movements. Music-making doesn't get any classier than in either Prom - and if that puts Wigglesworth on a level with Haitink, then so be it. Let's hope a world-class orchestra realises as much and puts our greatest British conductor in charge some time soon.”
David Nice, The Arts Desk

"At ENO, [the score] is most sensitively and lovingly conducted by Mark Wigglesworth, who draws playing of echt Viennese creaminess from his orchestra, making it sound as good as any in London."
Daily Telegraph, November 2016

"The seal is set on a fine performance by the subtle and wellbalanced playing of the ENO Orchestra conducted by Mark Wigglesworth, who holds back so as not to drown the singers. Words and music work as one."
Financial Times, November 2016

"The ENO orchestra was on exhilarating form, journeying through Berg’s tone rows, palindromic twists and cryptograms with finesse, under the confident guidance of the conductor, Mark Wigglesworth."
Guardian, November 2016

"William Kentridge’s staging has been seen already in Amsterdam and New York, but now with Mark Wigglesworth on the podium affords ENO a triumph both musically and dramatically...

With Wigglesworth spearheading a cogent and wonderfully lyrical performance by the orchestra, this is a tremendous company achievement."
Evening Standard, November 2016 

"It’s good to hear ENO’s orchestra on superb form throughout, with Wigglesworth’s ear for intricate detail ensuring a consistently fascinating listen."
The Stage, November 2016 

"[Mark Wigglesworth] gives us a taut, dramatic account of this great score. He has inspired the orchestra and singers to produce one of the most gripping ENO Mozart performances in living memory."
Sunday Times, October 2016 

"Mark Wigglesworth, a conductor kissed by greatness."
What's On Stage, October 2016

"Mark Wigglesworth has form in Mozart at ENO, with the best of Cosis way back and a bewitching revival of The Magic Flute this year. Last night he and the ENO Orchestra put no foot wrong."
The Arts Desk, October 2016 

"Mark Wigglesworth conducts with elegance, drama and warmth, making some unusual tempo choices that are insightful."
The Guardian, October 2016 

"The winds’ introduction to Brünnhilde’s first line here were beautiful, such detailing representative of Wigglesworth’s approach: he worked with the orchestral tapestry like a master craftsman...

Wigglesworth’s mastery of the score [Tippett] was never in doubt, the pacing perfect, and that way of his with linear clarity was heard to full impact."
Classical Source 

"What [Wigglesworth] offers is a deeply humane performance... This is Janáček done slowly and lyrically, with the emphasis placed on the score’s dark poetry and depth of musical and psychological detail. The opera’s passion and compassion burn fiercely yet lingeringly: this is an interpretation that seeps under your skin rather than hits you in the solar plexus and is unquestionably all the more powerful for it."
Guardian

"[Wigglesworth] gives an unbearably moving account of the score."
Independent, five stars

"The fourth unqualified triumph for Mark Wigglesworth this season... The ever more amazing players of the ENO Orchestra under Wigglesworth capture the best of all possible worlds... Wigglesworth makes infinite distinction between the quieter dynamics, summed up by his subtly escalating emphasis on the two heart-surging violin phrases launching the final scene. But there's also the sheer, well-earthed power... with curtains to all three acts as electrically charged as Mackerras used to make them."
Arts Desk

"Mark Wigglesworth shapes a taut account of the score. Right from the searing, bittersweet opening, the music’s warmth and humanity speak directly."
Telegraph

"Wigglesworth has an extraordinary grasp of this score and the orchestra play their hearts out for him... But what Wigglesworth also realises so successfully is the accumulating tension of the act, through to a chilling final curtain."
Evening Standard, five stars

"I cannot recall hearing a finer performance from the ENO Orchestra. Mark Wigglesworth’s conducting... was the most intense I can recall in this work, perhaps in any Janáček opera. It grabbed one by the throat, just like the work of a great conductor in Wozzeck, and never relinquished its grip. It was not all fierceness, though; the open, sympathetic humanity of Janáček’s score shone through all the more warmly in the context of such an agón."
Seen and Heard International 

"Mark Wigglesworth finds a dark lyricism and an immense sadness in the music."
Times

"Mark Wigglesworth and the ENO Orchestra played out of their skins, not only extracting every ounce of beauty from the music but also every ounce of meaning... Unmissable."
Bachtrack five stars

"Thanks to Mark Wigglesworth and a glowing ENO orchestra... it’s a true company achievement, and a life-enhancing, gloriously creative example of what opera in the 21st-century West End can be."
Spectator, February 2016

"Mark Wigglesworth’s buoyant, elegant beat...Wigglesworth’s Mozart is sublime."
The Times, February 2016 

"It has been transformed by ENO’s new music director Mark Wigglesworth into something rich and deliciously strange....

[The] visual charge is nothing to the heat coming off Wigglesworth’s orchestra. From the nervy, dangerously swift Overture to the final chorus, he keeps the pace up throughout, while still finding space for moments of musical contemplation all the more ecstatic for their rarity."
The Arts Desk, February 2016

"Mark Wigglesworth conducts with fizzing authority."
Independent, February 2016

"The real hero of the evening is the conductor Mark Wigglesworth. In a raised pit, he draws buoyant and shapely playing from the orchestra, bringing to the score a glowing beauty and warmth."
Daily Telegraph, February 2016

"An evening of joy that's wonderfully conducted by Mark Wigglesworth.

Spotlit throughout, English National Opera's music director fashions a performance of great charm and visible delight that makes the ideal balance and momentum seem effortless."
What’s on Stage, February 2016

"I’ve seldom heard the ENO orchestra sound so thrilling: under Mark Wigglesworth’s inspired direction, it rose to all the challenges of this wonderful score."
Independent, November 2015

“Wigglesworth’s highly energised approach suits the unflinching directness of the staging – orchestrally and chorally the performance is high-class.”
Guardian, November 2015

"Wigglesworth, English National Opera’s new music director, has hit the ground sprinting. After his coruscating account of Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk in September, he now inspires incandescent playing and singing from the company’s orchestra and chorus in one of Verdi’s most problematic masterpieces, The Force of Destiny... it is worth catching, above all for Wigglesworth on galvanising form, his wonderful orchestra and chorus."
Sunday Times, November 2015 

"The chorus and orchestra sound fabulous, the company’s new music director Mark Wigglesworth offering an interpretation that lives, breathes and is full of heart.”
Critics’ Circle, November 2015

“It falls to Mark Wigglesworth, ENO’s new music director, to hold everything together. The climaxes from hell that he unleashes and the ENO Chorus’s highly charged singing are what really fire up the opera.”
Financial Times, November 2015

"As a musical showcase of what we can expect from a Wigglesworth Coliseum it’s another sign of exciting times ahead for the company."
New Statesman, November 2015

“Mark Wigglesworth, in conjunction with his superb choral and orchestral forces, contributes hugely to the compulsive effect of the drama.”
*****, Evening Standard, November 2015

“And the last word on the music belongs to Mr. Wigglesworth, for whom it represents a second triumph in his new job, after a decisive opening of the season with Shostakovich’s “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.”

His mastery of the score was total, and his leadership clearly inspiring from the way the orchestra and chorus played and sang."
New York Times, November 2015 

"Under the inspired direction of ENO’s new music director Mark Wigglesworth, and with an on-fire orchestra and chorus ferociously pumped up by extra brass bands, Lady Macbeth emerges as one of the 20th century’s greatest operatic scores… I could go on for pages. Just hear it.”
Times, 5 stars, September 2015

"Incoming Music Director Mark Wigglesworth conducts them in a masterly interpretation marked by extreme contrasts between silken sensuous pianissimi and boilingly thunderous fortissimi. The playing is as good as anything in London."
Telegraph, September 2015

Wigglesworth was fearless in driving the music to its every extreme. The interludes, pumped up with extra brass in the side boxes, fairly blew the roof off the Coliseum… This was a performance of crushing musical power and plain emotional truths. For ENO, an auspicious new beginning.” 
Financial Times, September 2015

"Appropriately enough, it’s Wigglesworth’s performance, and those he inspires from the company’s chorus, orchestra and soloists that are so memorable in the new show... There’s a tremendous theatricality to the orchestral playing, which carries over into the wonderfully secure and vivid choral set pieces. Wigglesworth leaves no doubt as to just how extraordinary so much of the score is, and how seditious it." 
Guardian, September 2015

The ENO Orchestra’s stupendous playing under its new Music Director Mark Wigglesworth... a noise so loud it set me on the brink of tears with sheer terror. Solos, from first violin down to contrabassoon, manage to sound unlike the instruments in question, which is a compliment.” 
Arts Desk, 5 stars, September 2015

"Conductor Mark Wigglesworth revelled in every note, bringing out a dazzling range of colours from ENO’s orchestra, soft and nuanced when wanted, blisteringly intense in the loud climaxes... This production launches Wigglesworth’s career as Music Director of ENO, and he could not have wished for a better vehicle with which to impress us." 
Bachtrack, September 2015

“There is aching tragedy and desolation and playing from the ENO orchestra that finds real beauty in the bleakness. It is a tremendous and angry tour de force and could hardly throw down the gauntlet for ENO’s future with more defiance."
Edward Seckerson, September 2015

"Mark Wigglesworth and his ENO Orchestra kick the ancien régime into touch with music making of such power and immediacy that it doesn't just communicate, it excoriates. An expanded ENO Chorus in fine voice, helps turn Wigglesworth's personal triumph into an unforgettable company achievement." 
What's on Stage, September 2015 

“There are many big orchestral beasts still to appear in this Proms season, but when the summer’s highlights are recalled this superlative performance of Elgar’s First Symphony by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Mark Wigglesworth will surely be near the top. It had everything.”
The Times, five stars, August 2014 

“For Wigglesworth, conducting from memory, the symphony is something altogether more troubling – a work with deep turmoil at its core, in which both tranquillity and exaltation must be fought for and won. A powerhouse performance of great integrity, it was superbly played and often overwhelming in its impact.”
Guardian, August 2014

“The score is full of fractured fanfares, bitonal unease and eerie textures, and the excellent Britten-Pears Orchestra brings out all this aural neurosis in a precise, perfectly paced performance under Mark Wigglesworth… It’s great, too, to hear a cast enunciating English so clearly without surtitles: an encouraging sign of Wigglesworth’s priorities when he becomes music director at English National Opera.”
The Times, June 2014 

“Wigglesworth’s Peter Grimes from Glyndebourne is the deepest I know on disc, Britten’s own Decca version included, and here he puts not a foot wrong. The young Britten-Pears Orchestra musicians, capped by a trumpeter playing a characteristically uncompromising, barbed part as fanfarer, are simply stupendous.”
The Arts Desk, June 2014

“The great strength of Wigglesworth’s interpretations lies in the keenly articulated response to every inflection, without ever sounding cerebral or lacking in emotional heft. Wigglesworth adopts expansive speeds for the outer movements of the Fifteenth, but he keeps a tight grip on the structure, building up climaxes of awesome power in the few passages where Shostakovich unleashes the full might of the orchestra.”
BBC Music Magazine, five stars, August 2014 

“Everything from slapstick to melodrama is embraced and vividly chronicled in Wigglesworth’s performance… this Wigglesworth performance, with cracking playing from the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, must be one of the best.”
Gramophone, July 2014 

“Wigglesworth built them [the great climactic moments] with such skill that just when you thought the intensity had peaked and couldn’t go any higher, he would pull back on the tempo and draw even more power from the orchestra.”
South Florida Classical Review, December 2013 

“I've always been impressed with British conductor Mark Wigglesworth… This new issue of the powerful Symphony No. 11 is among the finest you will ever hear, and the intense reading and superlative playing by the Dutch orchestra are captured with remarkable fidelity by the BIS engineers.”
Classical CD Review, November 2012 

“A Wagner conductor of distinction, Wigglesworth held it together skilfully, finessing its changes of tempo perfectly. With the BBC strings and brass on wonderful form, the last 30 minutes were Wagnerian bliss.”
The Guardian, October 2012 

“Wigglesworth digs so much deeper than most, and sometimes it’s as if we’re hearing this music anew… I’ve rarely heard this symphonic edifice built so carefully, brick by brick, but the effect is utterly compelling… that’s Wigglesworth’s way; he really does know how to balance out the banalities in Shostakovich and get the mood of this music just right.

There’s just so much to engage with – and marvel at – in these performances that I must do the same here. The artistic and sonic virtues of this new recording simply blaze forth. It’s a triumph for all concerned and proof, if it were needed, that Wigglesworth’s almost complete Shostakovich cycle is one of the finest – and most consistently satisfying – in the catalogue.”
Music Web International, April 2012

“This is an exquisitely musical and splendidly atmospheric disc… This is yet further proof that he is an exceptionally special talent. Indeed, I would place these performances of The Lark Ascending and FlosCampi as far and away the most exquisite, deeply felt, I would even say spiritual performances of these works I’ve ever heard. Wigglesworth draws such extraordinary playing out of the Sydney Symphony that one is left speechless in trying to describe its effect.”
Fanfare, November 2012 

“Apart from Britten himself, the central figure of the evening was Mark Wigglesworth… Wigglesworth's culminating achievement, though, was his compelling grasp of Britten's problematic Spring Symphony … Wigglesworth supplied a control, conviction and coherence that surpassed any previous rendering of the piece in my experience.”
The Guardian, August 2011 

“[Sinfonia da Requiem] was the concert’s highlight, in part because of the tight control exerted over the BBC Symphony Orchestra by the conductor Mark Wigglesworth… Tension built inexorably, further raised in the central movement’s brittle fury, sharply garnished with tutti shrieks and the dry bones of the rattling xylophone (superbly played). Then came the finale’s slow retreat, with a consoling hand offered and wounds licked: very moving.”
The Times, August 2011

“I find it almost impossible to believe that Mark Wigglesworth has never conducted Parsifal before - in this revival of Nikolaus Lehnhoff’s 1999 production, it sounded as though he’d been soaked in the score all his life and thought of nothing else… The orchestra was inspired to playing of a smoothness and security which would not have disgraced the Berlin Phil. To ENO’s Wagnerian pantheon, occupied only by Reginald Goodall and Mark Elder, the name of Mark Wigglesworth must now be added.”
The Telegraph, February 2011

“Mark Wigglesworth’s lovingly-crafted Wagner conducting is one of the revelations of recent years, and the ENO orchestra and thrillingly augmented chorus perform brilliantly.”
The Times, February 2011

“Mark Wigglesworth, like the production, is playing a long game and conducts Weill’s score like a true successor to the great line of German music dramas. This Mahagonny… is a highly professional, eyecatching night in the theatre.”
Financial Times, March 2015 

“Mark Wigglesworth has shown his mettle on numerous occasions, and his accurate yet expressive beat inspired the Covent Garden Orchestra to one of the finest performances I have heard... Wigglesworth’s tenure at ENO begins in September this year. It would appear we have much to look forward to.”
Seen and Heard International, March 2015