William Hennessy, for 30 years one of Australia’s leading violinists and musical educators… The Age - Arts & Culture 18th May, 2006
The piece is dedicated to William Hennessy and the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra. It is also a testament to William Hennessy’s lifelong commitment to excellence as a player and as a teacher, a life that has been an inspiration to our Australian profession, and that has touched so many lives Richard Mills on his string octet, ‘Lachrymae, Chorales and Postlude’ (2014)
William Hennessy is one of the finest musicians Australia has produced. Musical America - October 1986
This technically polished and musically most absorbing performance was due, to a considerable extent to William Hennessy’s inspiring, but at the same time unostentatious leadership Jerusalem Post 7th Oct, 1977 - Robert Pikler Quartet
spellbinding The Guardian – London Sept ’78 - Purcell Room recital
...such purity and focus of sound that the music flashed like some finely cut jewel, dazzling in its brilliance. This was a performance fashioned by thorough craftsmanship, informed with a deep love of the score.. Sydney Morning Herald July ‘83 - Beethoven Concerto with Sydney Symphony Orchestra – Sydney Opera House
...an intense lyricism and unconditional precedence to sheer beauty of tone... immaculate in technique, gloriously songful. Sydney Morning Herald February ‘84 - Beethoven Concerto with Sydney Symphony Orchestra – Sydney Town Hall
He combined elegance and vigour in a highly charged performance which carried all before it Adelaide Advertiser – Adelaide Festival 1984 – Mozart Concerto K218 with TSO
..a mighty showing.. Melbourne Herald Feb ’87 – Brahms Concerto with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
…so many of the attributes of the true thoroughbred…superbly accomplished…fit for export to the world’s hallowed centres of fiddle tradition… The Australian – May ‘87 - Mendelssohn Concerto with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
The Australian String Quartet was formed in 1985 under the inspired leadership of William Hennessy. Among its many recordings is one of the most inspired accounts of Mozart’s G Minor Quintet ever heard by this writer. Tully Potter – The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet - Cambridge University Press
(playing that was) reaching up for the sunshine Sydney Morning Herald July, 1997
This was early romantic playing at it finest” Malcolm Gilles The Australian, Brisbane 26th March 1999 - Mendelssohn Concerto with QPO.
William Hennessy was soloist in this concerto, and he produced a cogent reading The Age 25th Sept 1998
... astounding unanimity of style and sound….Hennessy’s leadership obviously has a profound effect on the players The Australian 11th December 2001 Directing Soirées Musicales Orchestra from the violin
...led by William Hennessy, (the Soirées Musicales Orchestra) is composed of a stellar ensemble of leading senior instrumentalists and sparkling young talents….. This refreshing combination produces a sound that is glistening with verve and grounded in precision Herald Sun 18th October, 2000
William Hennessy’s violin solo at the end of the Quartet to the End of Time was greeted with hushed awe The Australian - Brisbane 9th Sept 2002
Hennessy’s poised and delicate line for the violin concerto was as finely shaped as anything I have heard from this particular player, either large scale or chamber music. The opening melody had a sensitive urgency that made an ideal opening gambit, and the touching modesty of Hennessy’s understated Andante drew something fresh out of a set of well-known pages The Age 8th September, 2002
Hennessy’s finely spun line made an excellent partner for Collins….handled with reliable panache by both artists The Age 24th September, 2003 - Strauss Sonata
...refined elegance and perfect sense of the music’s proportions: classic hallmarks of their tutor William Hennessy” on the TinAlley Quartet winning the 2005 Australian National Chamber Music Competition. The Australian 5th July 2005
The performance bore ample witness to Hennessy's powers of inspiration and tuition in the most effective manner The Age 17/8/05 - Melbourne University Chamber Orchestra – Directed by William Hennessy
...exceptional playing of leader William Hennessy… The Australian 23rd May 2006 - Australia Pro-Arte Orchestra (now MCO)
Right from the opening, Mendelssohn's early Symphony no 9, the APA (now MCO) string body made a splendid impact, its playing typified by absolute security and unanimity of voice and purpose." The Age 1st November, 2006 - APA Chamber Orchestra directed from the violin by William Hennessy
With the violin front desks featuring William Hennessy, Cameron Hill, Elizabeth Sellars and Kristian Winther and members of the Flinders Quartet lending their aid, this final event of the year testified to the rich depth of talent - senior and junior that currently resides in this first rate ensemble. The Age 1st November, 2006 - APA Chamber Orchestra (now Melbourne Chamber Orchestra)
...lingering over expressive details and pouring into secondary passages the maturity and sensitivity of a lifetime’s musical endeavour... Beethoven Concerto - The Australian 16th June, 2015
This concentrated chain of recitals featured gripping examples of music-making at every turn…… Hennessy's cleanness of line informed Mozart's B flat Sonata with a fine polish and his collaboration with Breen in the Brahms D minor Sonata offered a refresher course in re-appraising a very familiar masterpiece. The Age 6th September 2015
The links between the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra and the Australian National Academy of Music run deep, not least on account of the prominent role played in each by string pedagogue and mentor William Hennessy. Both organisations have proven durable in the face of funding uncertainty and defied scepticism about their contributions to the nation’s crowded musical education and performance landscapes. Eamonn Kelly – The Australian 9th June, 2014