Cornet Tour, Lisbon, May 7, 2015
Elysium
Dan Franklin Smith and Gregorij H. von Leitis
Dan Franklin Smith, Elysium’s Music Director (left) and Gregorij H. von Leitis, the Founder and Artistic Director of Elysium: Between Two Continents
photo: Tassilo von Poschinger-Bray
Impressive Musical-Literary Collage
The Ensemble “Elysium” performs in Coburg
The collaboration between the reader Gregorij von Leitis and pianist Dan Franklin Smith was remarkably close, the former with polished articulation and always appropriate expression, the latter as authoritative, technically superior and carefully-shaping master of the keys, who bore the main burden of the evening…..
—Gerhard Deutschmann, Coburger Tageblatt, June 29, 2009
Kind Forces and Cruel Fates
In all his solos as well as in his accompaniments, Dan Franklin Smith brought a precise sensitivity to the pieces by Paul Dessau, Hanns Eisler as well as the premieres of contemporary composers, and thus matched the recitation of texts written by victims of the Nazi dictatorship….
—Dr. Peter Mueller, Neue Presse, June 29, 2009
Elysium Ensemble
Gregorij von Leitis is able to imbue even the most bitter words with dignity and even beauty. In perfect adaptation to this, pianist Dan Franklin Smith develops musical gems.
—Münchner Merkur, Munich
A small sensation.
—Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich
Excerpt from Elysium Newsletter
A landscape flooded with sunshine, a blue lake, smooth as a mirror, and mighty old trees in the park surrounding the monastery: This view presented itself on Sunday afternoon through the window of the Baroque Music Hall. With this fantastic scenery, our festival guests were able to experience the great concert “After Mozart” from our music director and pianist Dan Franklin Smith.
[Many artistically renowned guests] were deeply touched by this concert, which presented “great music in the shadow of Mozart,” as the Süddeutsche Zeitung noted. “This was,” as the reviewer continued, “a showcase for the internationally renowned pianist Dan Franklin Smith, who had in the past already unearthed a number of long-forgotten composers.”
Many people who came to Smith’s first solo concert in Bernried two years ago, became aware of his excellence and have returned…. [At the post-concert reception] the people from the audience expressed their enthusiasm and joy over this wonderful experience.
—From Elysium’s online newsletter, 2006