…the premiere of Emily Howard’s Magnetite, far from being overshadowed, stood out. This is music much concerned with the elemental and the crystalline, and it explores that region sure-footedly, relishing orchestral colour in the way the best contemporary Nordic composers do, with ear-catching harmonies commuting between the granitic and the silvery. No wonder Petrenko and the orchestra paid Howard the compliment of a finely chiselled, atmospheric performance.

David Fanning, The Daily Telegraph
11/12/07

…The evening had begun with the premiere of a ten-minute orchestral piece by the 28-year-old Liverpudlian Emily Howard. She describes Magnetite as a journey inside a crystal: musical material is shaped as though by magnetic fields attracting or repelling each other. It was a clever idea, boldly realised, and its series of shocks and aftershocks seemed happily auspicious.

Hilary Finch, The Times
10/12/07

…The world premiere of Liverpool-born Emily Howard’s Magnetite opened the concert. Here was a slow-moving but highly charged piece. She has always been a composer who uses the orchestra to great effect and this was no exception.

Glyn Mon Hughes, The Daily Post
10/12/07

…What the 28 year-old has crafted is a strangely beautiful and surprisingly melodious piece. It started with a rumble of kettledrums and a full orchestral blast before conjuring images of a slow sunrise over shimmering salt flats…

Catherine Jones, The Liverpool Echo
8/12/07