Helyard is an eminent scholar and a superb executant in this repertoire:
we are blessed to have him back in Australia.”

Limelight 2016

“… led from the harpsichord by the ebullient Erin Helyard, who holds both audience and performers in the palm of his hand, before tossing them all in the air until they are almost out of breath.”

— Daily Review, 2015

Conducting with signature exuberance, Erin Helyard shapes the music like you’re watching and
hearing it being created fresh on the spot for the first time as he builds orchestral excitement and harvests the unique sounds of the individual instruments. All the while, a near-at-hand, commanding sensitivity pervaded throughout as Helyard crafted to perfection the orchestral and vocal interplay.”

—  Opera Critic, 2016

"But it is Helyard who must take the evening’s highest honours, for musical direction that lends clarity to every word, bends supply with the speech rhythms of the recitatives, lets his excellent instrumentalists breath and articulate as one, has the dramatic pace of a good thriller, and walks the tightrope between laughter and tears with consummate grace."

- Financial Times, 2013