“His playing is simply extraordinary. This was a night when a good view of the soloist’s hands was worth extra money. It was a performance worth recording of a work worth hearing.”
— The Atlanta Journal Constitution
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"Pohjonen's account of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 1 was positively electrifying, the ideal blend of poise and passion...the pianist brought virtuosity in spades, flitting through the music with a touch that was steely and bright." — The Plain Dealer
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"Pearly touch, singing tone and sensitivity.... [Pohjonen] demonstrated his elegant musicianship throughout the program." — The New York Times
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"At the Hollywood Bowl, Juho Pohjonen became the first pianist after Bronfman to tackle the concerto [Esa-Pekka Salonen's Piano Concerto]. Pohjonen, who is a fraction of Bronfman's size and who still looks like a gawky teenager, knocked off this incredibly difficult solo part with calm, almost cavalier confidence. His fingers flew and occasionally his long hair flapped. But otherwise he remained unflappable, displaying little expression other than determination. He was deadly accurate."
— The Los Angeles Times
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"Pohjonen proved himself to be a singularly luminous Mozart interpreter. Spontaneous, stylish, and well-paced, he seemed to conjure the notes from thin air, breaking fresh, verdant ground." — Chicago Classical Review
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"Pohjonen has both impeccable technique and a cleareyed approach to music... Complete confidence, a superb performance." — The Washington Post
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"The programme included Grieg’s Piano Concerto, with a fast-rising Finnish star, Juho Pohjonen, as the delightfully unassuming but bewitching soloist." — The Guardian
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"Everything about his recital was formidable. One reason his debut demanded attention was that his adventurous program made news from first (a rhapsodic Fantasy in C minor attributed to Mozart but completed by Maximilian Stadler) to last (two stunningly difficult works by the Finnish composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen). Mr. Pohjonen gave a bracing account of Bartok's daunting Sonata (1926), sailing through the propulsive final movement. He gave breathtaking performances of both works. When the audience broke into an ovation, the young pianist finally cracked a slight smile."
— The New York Times
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“He constantly adjusted his keyboard touch and drew an impressive range of nuanced tonal variety from the piano, infusing his phrasing with a refined, poetic sensibility.” — Chicago on the Aisle
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"That his technique was more than up to the enormous demands of this complex music was a given; that a performer this early in his career should play with such confidence and insight is remarkable."
— The Vancouver Sun
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"Juho Pohjonen performed Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 with sparkling bravura. The tuneful first movement, endowed with immaculately fluid playing and matched by Willen's high energy direction of the BSO, bowed out to Pohjonen's poetically inspired Larghetto with a delicious and raptly romantic ambience. Again, in the finale, his liquid finger work packed effortless grace into a brilliant conclusion."
— Daily Echo
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"If we needed proof that exciting new talent is in the pipeline, there was the marvelous American debut of Juho Pohjonen at Weill Recital Hall. Mr. Pohjonen, a painfully shy and skinny 24-year-old Finn who could pass for 14, offered a formidable mixed program, topped by thrilling accounts of two fiendishly difficult works by a fellow Finn, Esa-Pekka Salonen"
— The New York Times
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"[The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's] reading of the Piano Concerto No. 3 was refreshing and wholesome, thanks largely to Finnish pianist Juho Pohjonen, making his ASO debut. Pohjonen plays with a luminous virtuosity and detailed, crisp ideas. He shaped phrases delightfully in the finale."
— The Atlanta Journal Constitution
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"This very humble young man just dazzled with his incredible talent and thoughtful interpretation" — Daily Echo
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"Juho Pohjonen played the fiendishly difficult piano part brilliantly, conquering its technical challenges and highlighting myriad colors, as well as contrasting the exuberant elements with moments of introspective clarity."
— The New York Times
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"With remarkable concentration, flexibility, color and nuance, Pohjonen brought out their (Beethoven Bagatelles, Op. 26) contrasting character, from dreamy ambiguity to fiery assertiveness, leaving an impression of superior pianism and communicative power."
— New York Concert Review
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"Pohjonen gave a quite outstanding reading of the concerto, a concerto in which the soloist is hardly ever silent. The difficulties of Prokofiev's writing were handled with panache, the wit was relished and, when the few such opportunities came along (notably in the larghetto) he played with real lyricism. Handling the syncopation of some passages with ease and assurance, playing by turns percussively and delicately, richly dancing in the fifth movement finale, Pohjonen's was a remarkable performance, full both of intimacy and sweep."
— Seen & Heard
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