Some quatations from the international press on Alexander Rahbari:

"Only 33 years old, this conductor has some great successes in store for him."
La Suisse

"The young Persian is not only a spirited conductor, but has developed into a technically higly-skilled and aware orchestral director. He has personality and offers thoroughly individual interpretation of works."
Vienna-Wiener Zeitung

"A top-class conductor with excellent technique. One who makes music with much felling and dedication."
Vienna-Kronen Zeitung

"Alexander Rahbari´s account has all the thrust you need for an ambitious work which owes more to Beethoven than to the French tradition."
London-Guardian

"A real conductorial star emerges: Alexander Rahbari is an Iranian who worked under Karajan and his leadership is sensitive, intelligent and totally idiomatic."
London-Pulse

"And what this version has in abundance is a real sense of drama, with some ravishing orchestral work and some finely judged tempi from Alexander Rahbari, an Iranian who conducts as though he were the most full-blooded of Italians."
London-Classic CD

"All this would not have been possible without the strong guiding hand of the conductor, Alexander Rahbari, who perfectly reflects Puccini’s tempi, the orchestra providing the most superb playing."
London-Opera

"But the real stars are the Brussels Radio and Television Orchestra and conductor Alexander Rahbari, who made a number of recordings for Naxos before helping found Discover. Rahbari conjures ravishing tone without descending to the banal and makes one realise why the deeply religious composer was so committed to it."
Today Newspaper-London

"A conductor of invincible strength and great extention!"
Svenska Dagbladet - Sweden

"Rahbari has a real rapport with the despondent realism of the opera. The opening orchestral music gives an unusually precise intimation of the tragedy about to unfold. He is carried along by the lyric urgency of the duet, refusing to indulge expressive detail in the manner of so many conductors who end up crippling the score’s native dynamism."
Opera Now-London

"The BRTN Philharmonic Orchestra of Brussels, conducted by Alexander Rahbari is excellent musical scene painters and accompanists, unerringly providing the diverse and vibrant colours of Puccini’s score and deftly underpinning the points of high drama."
BBC Magazine-London

"...Rahbari proves a more discerning and lively conductor than the phlegmatic Bartoletti. Rahbari is not only more adept at pointing up Puccini’s wonderfully apt orchestration but also more successful in maintaining dramatic interest."
London-Opera

"Conductor Alexander Rahbari draws excellent playing from the English Northern Philharmonia."
Daily Telegraph

"The Golden Cockerel is played with all the magic inherent in it by the English Northern Philharmonia, conducted by Alexander Rahbari."
Sheffield Morning Telegraph

"A further share of the laurels must go to the orchestra, whose continual high standards we should never allow ourselves to take for granted. Alexander Rahbari has his players eating out of the palm from the start."
Yorkshire Post

"… highest quality from the Opera North’s renowned chorus and orchestra conducted by Alexander Rahbari. It all adds up to a marvellous evening’s theatre."
The Guardian

"Alexander Rahbari’s conducting of the Orchestra and Chorus of the Belgian Radio and Television has plenty of punch in the public scenes, welcome delicacy in the intimate exchanges in which the opera abounds. He is clearly a man who knows his theatrical business."
Los Angeles Times

"Another bargain issue from Discover. Rahbari again shows his affinity with Verdi. Rahbari´s vital direction persuades his Barcelona choir and orchestra to great deeds…. Recommend this exiting, faithfully recorded set."
London-Daily Telegraph

"…The orchestral performance is first-rate in the assured hands of Alexander Rahabari."
London-Daily Telegraph

"Alexander Rahbari gets the most from Verdi’s music, drawing confident playing from the orchestra and lusty singing from the chorus."
London-Daily Express

"Alexander Rahbari’s conducting is crisply exciting… a fine and convincing staging…and there’s impressive singing to match."
London-The Sunday Telegraph

"… Most enjoyable operatic performance. It beats most of the others."
The State Columbia-USA