"Cheng's mastery lies in his perfect tone, which was evident even in pianissimo passages, and his instrument's captivating sound was present, even in collaboration with his fellow cellists, as the composer intended. The cello section, or a portion of it, is pulled into the phenomenal sound. Cheng makes the cello sing, and his expression is deep and suggestive. Like Don Quixote, he is bewildered and lost, but, along with the composer, he is kind to the story's main character. In dialogue with individual orchestra members and the other soloist, violist Martin Ruman, he communicates with artistic passion and understanding."
Viera Polakovičová, Opera Slovakia Magazine, October 2023 - about Bryan Cheng's performance of Richard Strauss' "Don Quixote" with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Daniel Raiskin
"After the intermission, the symphonic poem "Don Quixote," Op. 35, an iconic orchestral work by Richard Strauss inspired by the legendary chivalric novel by M. de Cervantes, was performed...the soloist was the twenty-six-year-old Canadian instrumentalist Bryan Cheng, a laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels in 2017 and currently a guest artist with many significant orchestras. He handled his part with remarkable elegance. It was a true pleasure to watch his long, melodically arched passages, especially in the fifth variation, " The knight's vigil," and in the playful sixth variation, " The Meeting with Dulcinea "
Ivan Marton, klasikaplus.com, October 2023 - about Bryan Cheng's performance of Richard Strauss' "Don Quixote" with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Daniel Raiskin
"The 2nd Cello Concerto by Camille Saint-Saëns from 1902, which sounds so seductively light, casual and ingenious and is rightly finally finding its way into concert halls, features the young Canadian Bryan Cheng, whose slender and cultivated tone - flexible, firm, sonorous - should not only delight Saint-Saëns fans like me. Cheng performs the solo part with virtuosity, meandering between short tutti blocks. In the intervening Andante sostenuto, the gifted youngster plays so delicately sensitive and blissfully cantabile that every piano sounds wonderfully nuanced."
Schlatz, Opern- & Konzertkritik Berlin, June 2023 - about Bryan Cheng's performance of Saint-Saëns' Cello Concerto No.2 with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under Alpesh Chauhan at the Berliner Philharmonie
“A great cellist: What was very good about the Pouliot-Cheng-Hewitt trio is that, as soon as Bryan Cheng spoke, we were reassured, because this interpretation was placed in the perspective of dialogue (the almost mischievous playing between Pouliot and Cheng) and reason...In this trio we really have to mention Bryan Cheng, the one who set the tone. The more we hear this cellist, the more we like this simplicity, this art of not forcing anything. And the 1699 Stradivarius cello lent to him by the Canimex Foun- dation is a marvel.”
Christophe Huss, Le Devoir (Montréal), November 2022 - about Bryan Cheng’s performance of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with pianist Angela Hewitt, violinist Blake Pouliot, and conductor Laurence Equilbey leading the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
“the evening’s three soloists brought phenomenal energy and commitment to the Triple Concerto. Cheng’s passionate lyricism was a standout.
Ian Cochrane, Bachtrack.com, November 2022 - about Bryan Cheng’s performance of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with pianist Angela Hewitt, violinist Blake Pouliot, and conductor Laurence Equilbey leading the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
“Cheng shaped his performance with a constant sense of narrative, rising elatedly to match the first violin for a goosebump-inducing duet with the concertmaster to end the third movement [of the Dvorak Cello Concerto].”
The Strad (UK), June 2022 - about Bryan Cheng’s performance with the Brussels Philharmonic in the finals of Queen Elisabeth Competition
“In Brussels, he distinguished himself with powerful, solar and cultivated playing, enveloped in opulent sonorities.”
La Libre (Belgium), May 2022 - about Cheng’s performances at the Queen Elisabeth Competition, Brussels (including with the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie)
“A full and elegant sound at the service of an easy and clear articulation, continuously attentive to the main line. Elegant, nuanced and gentle, an artist whose impulses always remain at the service of the true intention. Constant mastery, without pretentiousness, of technical demonstration”
La Soir (Belgium), May 2022 - about Cheng’s performances at the Queen Elisabeth Competition, Brussels
“The third to take the stage at Victoria Hall is 24-year-old Canadian Bryan Cheng...A beautiful performance, with a bit of late-romantic sentimentality and melancholy but no more than strictly necessary, without unnecessary flourishes and with very controlled dynamics. In the end he is the most applauded by the audience that fills the Victoria Hall.”
ARCHI Magazine (Italy), October 2021 - about Cheng’s performance with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in the finals of Concours de Genève
“...he is a fine artist, distinguished, of great class...Bryan Cheng made a brilliant debut in the amphitheater.”
Christophe Huss, Le Devoir (Montréal) - about Cheng’s concert at the Festival de Lanaudière with Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Québec
“brilliant...appear[ing] in fresh colours and afford[ing] much pleasure.”
The Times (United Kingdom)
“Bryan Cheng [recipient of the 2017 Michael Measures Prize] has shown a depth of sensitivity and maturity that will secure him a distinctive place in the world of classical music.”
Canada Council for the Arts, Summer 2017 - about his performance with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada
“Cheng sings the melancholy without schmaltz; the bitterness he gets exactly. Thus de Falla’s “Siete canciones” become razor-sharp character pieces and Cassadó’s solo suite an affair of austere, severe, yet dreamy beauty.”
Harald Eggebrecht, Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany)
“...Bryan Cheng on his Tassini cello achieves powerfully contoured bass tones and the finest, tenderest heights with stupendous dynamics, sounding always cantabile, always beautiful, always perfectly in tune, and absolutely captivating.”
Pizzicato Magazine (Luxembourg) - about his albums with audite
“Bryan combines a dark, robust tone with jaw-dropping bravura...”
The WholeNote (Canada)