"The joy of playing and lively freshness depict Ulrike Northoff's organ soirée on Sunday evening in the Chapel of Solitude Castle. She demonstrated these qualities above all in her performance of a work entitled 'Floeten-Concert fuer die Orgel' ('Flute concert for the organ') by the lesser known master, Christian Heinrich Rinck... Northoff masterfully used the possibilities of the not-so-abundant disposition. She proved herself to be extraordinarily versatile: Northoff created an excellently performed and exceedingly diversely registered organ spectacle full of the joy of playing. At the end of the flashingly performed Rondo, she rightfully received an extra 'applause-between-the-scenes'... The sprightly presentation of the echo effects in the e-minor Sonata of Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach became a seldomly heard experience. In the Allegro, Northoff let both manuals vigorously compete with rapid runs and dotted chords... Once more she presented the public with pure listening pleasure in the Toccata by François Clément Dubois... Northoff brought a rare freshness and liveliness to the organ. She worked with fine aural shadings and played with dazzling bravura."

Stuttgarter Nachrichten/LKZ

"The first recital, entitled 'German Baroque and Romanticism', belonged wholly to the German organist, Ulrike Northoff, and the music included works by Dietrich Buxtehude, Johann Sebastian Bach, Robert Schumann, Max Reger and Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. The artist gave a superb performance and made imaginative use of the registers".

Translation of an extract from the report
on the 2007 International Organ Festival at Brünn in the Czech Republic
in the music journal "Hudebni rozhledy" - Music Aspects.

"... The organ festival opened with Ulrike Northoff, who comes from Heidenheim in the southern German state of Württemberg. Ms. Northoff had chosen a programme steeped in tradition – a cross-section of the German musical landscape (Buxtehude, Bach, Reger und Mendelssohn-Bartholdy). It was no accident that the artist invited to a concert entitled "German Baroque and Romanticism" was a lady from the country where this music originated and in which the aforementioned Buxtehude held sway for the longest time. The artist astounded her audience with an inspired extemporization of works from the Baroque period and her imaginative use of the registers, which lent rich colour to the music. Among the most interesting pieces were Max Reger’s rarely played choral preludes, "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern", opus 67/51, and "Sollt ich meinen Gott nicht loben", opus 67/38. The high point of the concert came with a brilliantly rendered Mendelssohn "Sonata in B Flat Major", opus 65/4. Ulrike Northoff' put dramaturgy to excellent use in her staging of the programme, and the appreciation of the audience was obvious from the lengthy applause and their requests for an encore."

Translation of an extract from the report
on the 2007 International Organ Festival at Brünn in the Czech Republic
in the music journal "Opus musicum".

"Two prominent musicians were to be heard in the cathedral. Ulrike Northoff, who is also Artistic Director of the celebrated "Music in the Castle" series, demonstrated the many different, rich nuances of her ability, both in her solo performances and as an accompanist. She gave a very beautiful rendering of Vivaldi's "Concerto in A Minor", transcribed for the organ by Bach. The organist played the adagio enchantingly and with great feeling, segueing perfectly into the lively allegro. The duets by the two musicians were equally impressive, being superbly played and in perfect harmony. Both the opening piece, Bach's "Prelude in E Major", and Josef Blanco's "Concerto de dos Organos" - a dialogue between the harp and the organ - were an absolute delight, as was Gustav Mahler's "Adagietto in F Major". The audience in Meldorf obviously appreciated the experience of a summer concert with music so moving as to go straight to the heart."

Dithmarsche Landeszeitung

High-spirited, then gentle, sometimes plaintive and at times mercurial
By Sophia Bernhardt

Bad Homburg. At the concert in the "Music in the Castle" series on Saturday night, organ and orchestra established an entrancing symbiosis. The Beethoven Academy Orchestra from Krakow, directed by Pawel Przytocki, performed with youthful verve and masterly precision and played their way right into the hearts of the audience. Ulrike Northoff shone at the organ and on the cembalo. To play both instruments, however, she had to cover great distances, walking the length of castle church and negotiating the 18 steps to and from the queen of instruments. This put a brief halt to the proceedings each time - but the audience was richly rewarded for their patience.

Although seated with her back to the conductor when at the organ, Ulrike Northoff still played in perfect coordination with the orchestra. Transmission via a video camera allowed her to keep Prytocki's baton in her sights the entire time.

During the "Concerto in G Major" for organ and orchestra by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Northoff showed off the jewel of the castle church in all its glory - the Bürgy Organ. And although the organ was still the instrument most favoured by the father, Johann Sebastian Bach, his second son only wrote two concerts for organ and orchestra - but in doing so, Emanuel opened up new horizons in music (early classicism). The few works that he penned for the organ reflect the change of direction in the musical taste of the times, when the organ was being forced to take a back seat to the pianoforte. A development in music that is almost impossible to comprehend these days when one listens to Northoff on the organ.

The queen of instruments and the orchestra embarked on a sparkling and colourful dialogue, with Northoff's rendition alternating between different moods - high-spirited, then gentle, sometimes plaintive and at times mercurial. And again and again, her amazingly dynamic and fresh playing was impressive in its ability to lend a fascinating liveliness to the organ. The audience was also treated to a veritable feast for the ears by the young talents of the Krakow Music Academy Chamber Orchestra playing Antonio Dvorák's "Serenade for Strings in E Major", opus 22. A thrilled audience simply revelled in sounds that radiated a gentle cantability, high-spirited gaiety and unbridled passion. The end of the concert was greeted by lengthy applause in appreciation of an extraordinary musical event.

Frankfurt Neue Presse 2007

"Johann Sebastian Bach's Prelude and Fugue in e-minor (BWV 548) formed the entrance: it was flowing, unpretentious and rhythmically distinct... Max Reger's Fantasia on the chorale 'Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme' Opus 52, No. 2 ... the powerfully performed fugue ... perceptible joy of playing ... Her personal identification with the work was also apparent in Olivier Messiaen's 'Apparition de l'Eglise éternelle' from the year 1931. Messiaen achieved the impression of a remote 'manifestation' by means of the so-to-speak meditative repetitions of well-defined chord patterns, which the organist from Heidenheim competently performed with the appropriate tranquility. As a brisk, totally 'anti-meditative' counterpoint, Ulrike Northoff then presented Alexandre Guilmant's 'Scherzo symphonique' Op. 55, No. 2 ... the positive impression of a stirring, effective Scherzo-gesture."

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

"Ulrike Northoff is an inspiration on the organ."
"Even the rustic memorial organ was thrilled to have her practiced fingers and feet on its keys and pedals. The audience was spirited away by her masterful performance. The program included Baroque, classical and romance pieces. ... A concerto by the great Johann Sebastian Bach was both stirring and animated with its lively allegro, gentle Adagio cantabile and difficult registered allegro... The pastorale by César Franck revealed intriguing acoustic possibilities.
This was followed by expressive and wonderfully harmonic melodies in the "Monologues for organ" by Josef Rheinberger. At the end of the concert the Suite Gothique quartet by Léon Boellmann impressed with its lively exchange of many-voiced fortissimo passages and rhythmically tense harmonies, as well as its introverted cantabile part.

Fuldaer Zeitung 09/2009

"Two notable soloists stood to one side of the internationally renowned orchestra and enhanced the evening with their characteristic sounds rich in nuance and their virtuoso finesse on each of their instruments: Ulrike Northoff on the organ not only participates in and interprets the music consistently in the concert series but is also responsible for the overall artistic management. Her performance was characterized by her exquisitely adapted registration and technically accomplished precision. Rainer Kussmaul on the violin belongs to the great technicians of his trade and he too devoted himself to Baroque music as his main focus. There was no end to the applause after his solo piece and he obliged his audience with an encore. The Bach soloists altogether shined in their concert with their stylistic unity, superb interpretations and their thoughtful program. A wonderful evening."

Frankfurter Neue Presse

"Organist Ulrike Northoff and saxophonist Koryun Asatryan impressed on Sunday with their virtuoso performances. The concert series "Music in the Castle" has established itself brilliantly. Firstlyl, it fills a gap over the summer for music fans ... Secondly, it affords the experience of a traditional concert as well as an evening beyond the well-worn music path. Sunday was one such evening with organist Ulrike Northoff and the young Armenian saxophonist Koryun Asatryan. ... Ulrike Northoff did a first-rate job of adapting the registration to the sensitive wind instrument. She delivered a synergy of sounds that is hard to imagine."

Frankfurter Neue Presse 8/2009

Regal entertainment of the highest standard
Organ and pan flute in dialog
Oberursel. The two instruments, organ and pan flute, are not so very different. They both belong to the "aerophones", i.e., to musical instruments that generate notes using vibrating air.
The pan flute itself is indisputably more manageable than its royal counterpart. The fact that the two instruments are capable of making music together was expertly demonstrated on Sunday by Ulrike Northoff on the Bürgy organ at St. Ursula and the Swiss pan flutist Philippe Emmanuel Haas.

Their entrée at the first concert of the "Music in the Castle" sessions outside Bad Homburg was a roaring success. The popular "Prince of Denmark's March" by British Baroque composer Jeremiah Clarke was superb and left nothing to be desired technically.

The two interpreters presented another delightful and sensitively colorful piece in the first sonata in G major by Venetian Benedetto Marcello.
A composite suite of short dance movements by Michael Praetorius and Etienne du Tertre for soloist pan flute was conveyed with courtly elegance and exquisite noblesse by Haas. In the smallest of spaces the pan flutist unfurled a rich palette of nuances which were an absolute pleasure to listen to. The same applied to the "Suite galante" by Esprit Philippe Chédeville; Regal entertainment of the highest standard.

In Hochtaunuskreis there are three organs from pipe organ builder Johann Conrad Bürgy's (1721-1792) workshop: in Bad Homburg castle, Weinheim and St. Ursula. The fourth run of «Organ Summer in Hochtaunus» means to introduce these instruments. The two toccatas BWV 538 and 565 in D minor by doyen Johann Sebastian Bach proved to be the most suitable for the task. The music melted into the gothic nave, creating an acoustic-spatial experience. The final piece, a toccata from the symphony for organ no. 5 in F minor Op. 42 by Charles Marie Widor, proved not so favorable. The movement, which was conceptualized for acoustics in prodigious French cathedrals and for the formidable romantic organs they contain, appeared somewhat constricted and disproportional despite its musical accuracy.

Baroque compositions, such as Purcell's suite in D major and the variations on the 17th Century "Greensleeves", again demonstrated the versatility and wealth of color of the epochs as well as the visualization possibilities of both instruments. Altogether it was a fascinating dialog between two (dis)similar sisters. (bol)

Frankfurter Neue Presse, 07.21.2009

"In her local program one could read her versatility."

Schwaebisches Tagblatt, Tuebingen

" ... the soloist presented compositions which thoroughly corresponded to the character of the organ and stylistically perfectly fit into the ambience of the wonderfully restored Castle-Church."

Bad Homburger Woche

" ... with works of 2 of Bach's sons ...: The Sonata No. 4 in a-minor by Carl Philipp Emanuel with its bright sound won as much in poignancy as the Variations on 'Morgen kommt der Weihnachtsmann' ('Nicholas is coming tomorrow') by Johann Christoph Friedrich won in merriment. ... High points were Northoff's formally well thought-out improvisations on the Advent chorales, 'Die Nacht ist vorgedrungen' ('The night is advanced') and 'O Heiland, reiss die Himmel auf' ('O Redeemer, fling open the heavens'), which linked freely atonal with quite consonant sections."

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

""The church music director from Bad Homburg, Ulrike Northoff ... intonated an accompaniment on the English Walker organ, which sensitively suited the vocal fluidity of Laurie Reviol. The solo pieces by John Stanley were successfully light and cheerful."

Frankfurter Rundschau