"A knock-your-sox-off version of [Piazzolla's] Grand Tango (dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovich) found Sam Ou’s cello and [Tatyana] Dudochkin’s piano in dialogue. This single-movement composition’s three sections furnished the players opportunities they seemed to relish, and they conveyed the accented tango rhythms of the initial section with verve before launching into the libero e cantabile middle with lyrical phrasing, and the giocoso last to its bravura conclusion. Ou charmed with his electrifying mastery of the double-stop and glissando challenges."
–April 4, 2022 review from The Boston Musical Intelligencer of an April 3, 2022 Jordan Hall Piazzolla Centennial Concert
“Cellist Sam Ou highlighted the score’s lyricism through his expressive playing, and anchored the incisive string textures in von Flotow’s recitatives.”
–July 31, 2015 review from The Boston Musical Intelligencer of a July 29, 2015 performance of Friedrich von Flotow’s opera, Martha
“In Franz Liszt’s ‘Romance oubliée’ (Forgotten Song), an instrumental reworking of a song from 36 years earlier, cellist Sam Ou and Dudochkin played with expressivity and passion; the cello and the piano smoothly exchanged the solo and accompanimental roles several times. The work ended tenderly, high up in the range of both instruments.”
–January 28, 2015 review from The Boston Musical Intelligencer of a January 25, 2015 concert with Tatyana Dudochkin: 'A Remembrance of Things Dudochkin'
“Cellist Sam Ou was also featured prominently throughout the piece and received special recognition during the bows for good reason: Ou’s take on Rutter’s score imbued the work with an uncanny sense of gravitas, particularly in second movement, which opens with a particularly demanding cello solo. Ou negotiated that passage and others punctuated throughout the work with remarkable ease and clarity, while maintaining a graceful—if vociferous—line that fit well into the narrative.”
–March 17, 2014 review from The Boston Musical Intelligencer of a March 15, 2014 Rutter Requiem performance with Spectrum Singers
“Camille Saint-Saëns’ (1835-1921) 'Domine adjutor meus' (O Lord, my strength) featured mezzo-soprano, cello, and organ in a delicious song. Emily Marvosh’s vocal vibrato was measured, rich, and varied for color and dramatic effect; cellist Sam Ou matched hers in color while finding his own shadings in more soloistic passages, supported by Barbara Bruns on the organ. The three worked together with the elegant balance of a lustrous trio sonata.”
–November 4, 2013 review from The Boston Musical Intelligencer of a November 2, 2013 concert with Boston Cecilia
“…the 'Première Élégie,' for the sensuous combination of cello (Sam Ou), harp (Rebecca Bogers), piano (Dudochkin), and organ (Constantine Finehouse), sounded like the missing link between Wagner’s ‘Tristan’ and Fauré’s 'Requiem'; the ‘Romance Oubliée,’ with Ou and Dudochkin in another impassioned performance, similarly triangulated between, say, Chopin and Puccini.”
–February 1, 2011 review from The Boston Globe of a January 30, 2011 concert entitled 'Salute to Liszt!'
–April 4, 2022 review from The Boston Musical Intelligencer of an April 3, 2022 Jordan Hall Piazzolla Centennial Concert
“Cellist Sam Ou highlighted the score’s lyricism through his expressive playing, and anchored the incisive string textures in von Flotow’s recitatives.”
–July 31, 2015 review from The Boston Musical Intelligencer of a July 29, 2015 performance of Friedrich von Flotow’s opera, Martha
“In Franz Liszt’s ‘Romance oubliée’ (Forgotten Song), an instrumental reworking of a song from 36 years earlier, cellist Sam Ou and Dudochkin played with expressivity and passion; the cello and the piano smoothly exchanged the solo and accompanimental roles several times. The work ended tenderly, high up in the range of both instruments.”
–January 28, 2015 review from The Boston Musical Intelligencer of a January 25, 2015 concert with Tatyana Dudochkin: 'A Remembrance of Things Dudochkin'
“Cellist Sam Ou was also featured prominently throughout the piece and received special recognition during the bows for good reason: Ou’s take on Rutter’s score imbued the work with an uncanny sense of gravitas, particularly in second movement, which opens with a particularly demanding cello solo. Ou negotiated that passage and others punctuated throughout the work with remarkable ease and clarity, while maintaining a graceful—if vociferous—line that fit well into the narrative.”
–March 17, 2014 review from The Boston Musical Intelligencer of a March 15, 2014 Rutter Requiem performance with Spectrum Singers
“Camille Saint-Saëns’ (1835-1921) 'Domine adjutor meus' (O Lord, my strength) featured mezzo-soprano, cello, and organ in a delicious song. Emily Marvosh’s vocal vibrato was measured, rich, and varied for color and dramatic effect; cellist Sam Ou matched hers in color while finding his own shadings in more soloistic passages, supported by Barbara Bruns on the organ. The three worked together with the elegant balance of a lustrous trio sonata.”
–November 4, 2013 review from The Boston Musical Intelligencer of a November 2, 2013 concert with Boston Cecilia
“…the 'Première Élégie,' for the sensuous combination of cello (Sam Ou), harp (Rebecca Bogers), piano (Dudochkin), and organ (Constantine Finehouse), sounded like the missing link between Wagner’s ‘Tristan’ and Fauré’s 'Requiem'; the ‘Romance Oubliée,’ with Ou and Dudochkin in another impassioned performance, similarly triangulated between, say, Chopin and Puccini.”
–February 1, 2011 review from The Boston Globe of a January 30, 2011 concert entitled 'Salute to Liszt!'