"Ms. Nonken is a pianist from music's leading edge... always precise and poetic at the keyboard."
— Paul Griffiths, The New York Times
"'Dedicated exclusively,' it says in Marilyn Nonken's artist's bio, 'to music of this century.' Does this have a reader's eyes glazing over already? If so, please un-glaze them at once! No two ways about it, what we have here is a remarkable young pianist by any standards, and those other centuries' loss is very much our gain.... In addition to being the possessor of a first-class technique, not so unusual a thing these days, Nonken summons up a passionate identification with just the sort of music that would most seem to resist any such identification.... When she returns -- soon, please -- may there be a crush to hear her. She's that kind of pianist."
— Richard Buell, The Boston Globe
"These pieces are difficult for both the body and the intellect, but her technique is in place and her feeling for these pieces is so heartfelt, so sincere, that one is constantly engaged. In an odd way, her role may have been that of a preservationist, a determined protector of important music that history embraces in the abstract and...one day may take to heart."
— Bernard Holland, The New York Times
"Although Nonken’s allegiance is very much with the avant-garde, she reveres traditional music. Her passion for such a broad sweep of piano literature is immediately apparent, and the establishment desperately needs individuals like her to make modern music relevant."
— International Piano
"The work is absolutely electrifying, and there are very few people other than the incomparable Marilyn Nonken who could pull it off with such power."
— Ira Byelick, American Record Guide
"In an environment that has nurtured many fine pianists who are sympathetic to new music (Oppens, Kalish, Hamelin, etc.), Marilyn Nonken stands out among American pianists for her intense devotion (she plays new music exclusively) and the enormous scope of her technique."
— Peter Burwasser, Fanfare
"You can rest assured that in Marilyn Nonken we are hearing a musician of outstanding qualities. It is evident that she knows, strongly characterises and loves this music. She has performed it and many other 'difficult' contemporary works all over the world and is a pianist in whom we can trust."
— Gary Higginson, Musicweb
"Nonken lived up to her considerable press. There's nobody like her out there, from her attractive stage presence (think Bebe Neuwirth in Broadway's Chicago) to her lack of self-serving ostentation.
— David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer
"She is a supreme interpreter of new music who blends audacity with sensitivity."
— Donald Rosenberg, The Cleveland Plain Dealer
