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“The first half closed with one of the best performances of Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto that I have had the privilege to witness. Thies performs with no wasted motion- no flashy gestures, no dramatic gesticulations. Instead his quiet fingertips create cascading jewels in the softest sections. At the same time, his stillness at the piano camouflages great power. I can’t recall the last time a pianist was able to move me to tears with the beauty of their playing. Thies expressed the Largo with such aching tenderness, that I was deeply moved. The Allegro Vivace was executed with great grace and style. The audience responded with a resounding ovation.”
[Wendy Kikkert, Beverly Hills Outlook, April 5, 2004]

“Based on his victory in the 1995 Prokofiev competition and other local performances, we know that Thies has the chops to play any piece. Saturday night, he luxuriated in Chopin’s long, arching, spinning lines that came out in glistening strings of pearls. He never hurried, but the performance always moved forward with a purpose, that being simply beautiful music. Thies’s line of teachers stretches back to the great Russian romantic pianists Rosina and Josef Lhevinne; from across the ages, they must surely have been smiling Saturday night…as was Chopin.”
[Robert Thomas, Pasadena Star News, March 16, 2004]

“Thies played with a quiet grace, his many trills crystal clear and his sense of lyricism unsurpassed.”
[Karl Sayers, Daily Breeze, October 22, 2003]

“Thies gave a cohesive vision that was reflective, rhapsodic and graceful without being sentimental.”
[Andrew Buchanan-Smart, New Zealand’s Waikato Times, Sept 8, 2003]

“Thies produced a lush tone, fluid passage work and, most important of all, a fine sense of pacing and well-plotted drama.”
[Wayne Lee Gay, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, January 11, 2003]

“It was evident that Beethoven’s temperament was in his body and soul.”
[Kari Sayers, Daily Breeze, April 29, 2002]

“Pianist Robert Thies delivered these piano works with absorbing concentration...”
[Timothy Mangan, The Orange County Register, April 22, 2002]

“Compelling…wonderfully played by Robert Thies”
[Mark Swed, LA Times, April 19, 2002]

“Brilliant pianist took Pasadena by storm...reminding me of Vladimir Horowitz...Thies possessed a brilliant command of the keyboard and achieved his dazzling effects by fingers alone, using the pedal sparingly....” [Truman C. Wang, Pasadena Star News, April 17, 2002]

“He took all its difficulties in stride, brought all the appropriate colors to its realization and tamed its vehemence as commandingly as he revealed its poetry…Thies mastered the musical materials and gave them life and clarity. This was a splendid performance, Brahmsian in breadth as well as sincerity and depth.”
[Daniel Cariaga, LA Times, December 18, 2001]

“Clearly a favourite already, Thies displayed formidable technique
and precision-turned accuracy, with some enchanting colours and
turns of phrase.”
[Heath Lees, New Zealand Herald, October 1, 2001]

“Robert Thies flew in, and with only 48 hours' notice played Rachmaninov's Concerto No 2 with such assurance that it seemed as if he had been preparing for months. At times haunting, morose and foreboding, at others gentle and passionate, the music had a strong advocate in Thies.”
[Tara Werner, New Zealand Herald, September 24, 2001]

“By turns otherworldly, then full of life, Mr. Thies’s fingers literally flew around the keyboard, exhibiting an electrifying and technically brilliant performance of this witty, eclectic work.”
[Dorian, Beverly Hills Outlook, August 7, 2001]

“Thies’ flawless fingers danced up and down the keyboard throughout the work, blending fiery drama with tuneful lyricism.”
[Kari Sayles, Daily Breeze, May 21,2001]

“El punto culminante fue la actuación del pianista estadunidense Robert Edward Thies, quien tocó esplendidamente el Concierto; pero lo que definitvamente hizo que el publico se volcara en aplausos y en vivas, fue el encore que ofreció este pianista…”
[Ricardo Pacheco Colin, Crónica; Mexico City, April 24, 2001]

“En cuanto al solista Thies, quien ofreció una excelente actuación, Mester opinó: ‘Este señor es un genio, él no conocia esta obra hace tres semanas. Thies ha tocado con nosotros tres o cuatro veces, y todo mundo está enamorado de él.’ “
[Ricardo Pacheco Colin, Crónica; Mexico City, April 24, 2001]

“Thies gave an outstanding performance. He was in full control of the score from beginning to end, and even in the loudest passages he never pounded the piano. He really sang in the quiet sections, and his jazzy rubato in the second movement was just right.”
[Peter Bergquist, The Register-Guard, Eugene, February 24, 2001]

“Thies again demonstrated formidable technique and sensitive, subtle musicianship. As in the Copland Concerto, he projected the jazz elements with a flair, and he was no less effective in the songful passages, in which he drew a beautiful tone from the piano.”
[Peter Bergquist, The Register-Guard, Eugene, February 24, 2001]

“Thies took the higher artistic path, creating rich contrasting textures, while achieving an almost orchestral separation of sound through an exquisitely varied touch, transparent lines, and a rounded tone that could wail in the softest passages and whisper in the loudest.”
[Las Cruces Sun News, January 24, 2001]

“Thies plays with intensity, skill and sensitivity.”
[Sarah Bryan Miller, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 26, 2000]

"As an interpreter, Thies beautifully articulates the music with
clean-cut technical fluency and sort-edged tone. Everything is
meticulously controlled and there is a sense of serene confidence
and sensitive flair in his approach."
[Los Angeles Times, June 1, 2000]

"At the ['Emperor'] concerto's end, the audience rose to their feet in unanimous appreciation for Thies's characteristically intelligent pianism." [Leonne Lewis for Peninsula News, October 28, 1999]

"His 'Emperor' was also a thoughtful and intensely moving interpretation, especially the lovely adagio movement, which became a long,
intimate reverie."
[David Wallace, Daily Breeze, October 25, 1999]

“In a display of absolute perfection, Thies presented pianism without exaggeration. He showed his artistry in every category of his repertory…” [Frank J. Plash, San Bernardino County Sun, March 13, 1999]

“Thies played the [Shostakovich] concerto with a calm, streamlined assurance, and brought energetic punch, without forced harshness. Thies is a no-nonsense pianist: he plays the music without mannerisms. Thies played with homogenous purity…”
[Leonne Lewis, Peninsula News, January 28, 1999]

“And Thies was breathtaking. His technique was dramatic in the intense opening Allegro, meltingly tender in the elegiac Andante, and
brilliant in the finale.”
[David Wallace, Daily Breeze, January 26, 1999]

“…In a simply astonishing performance of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto… Thies delivered a commanding, big-boned, yet sensitive interpretation, tender in the concerto’s Andantino movement and displaying a blazing technique in the climaxes… The audience responded with a justified roar to what was certainly one of the most exciting performances of the season.”
[David Wallace, Daily Breeze, May 12, 1998]

"The glorification of the entire festival was without a doubt the USA pianist Robert Thies’s rendition of the gem of the music world, Peter Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto...The listeners in Liepaja applauded endlessly asking Robert Thies to sit again at the piano...”
[Fricis Plostnieks, Kursas Laiks, LATVIA, March 11, 1997]

“…he is a gifted and insightful interpreter in friendly communion with the music. The results are consistently lively, pointed, and propulsively directed. Note his name.”
[Timothy Mangan, LA Weekly, May 14, 1996]

“He played [Mozart] with unerring, warm-toned refinement. In a
self-contained, unpretentious solo, Thies revealed clean, thoughtful passages, full of muted shades, judicious glimmers of power,
and touches of playful contrast.”
[Susan Bliss, Los Angeles Times, April 30, 1996]

“…Thies made his enormous technique the servant of the music…this performance was one of the best Savannah Onstage has yet offered, presenting a superior musician on his way to a major career.”
[Sterling Adams, Savannah News-Press, March 11, 1996]

“The young musician seemed never at a loss for ideas, instilling every phrase with nuance, direction, and vitality. Though his presence was constantly felt, the performance was not about personal display; Thies projected his thoughts on the music and his physical involvement with it, creating a detailed narrative in the process. He phrased warmly, inflected buoyantly, voiced purposefully… Let’s hope we hear him again.”
[Timothy Mangan, Los Angeles Times, April 12, 1994]

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