John Zirbel

The San Francisco-based music critic Joshua Kosman commented that Zirbel's arrival in 1998 had been "among the most exciting personnel developments in years"; writing that he had made a "spectacularly forceful" impression in his debut performance with the orchestra, and later gave "magnificent" versions of the French horn concerto staples.

[12][13] In 2015, he gave the first performance of Cor et Âme by Denis Gougeon, described as a "high-speed technical catalogue of French horn sounds", with the Montreal Symphony under Bramwell Tovey.

[10] Zirbel played the same concerto in 1998 with the Montreal Symphony under Charles Dutoit; Ilse Zadrozny comments that he was "in top form" negotiating the "enormously difficult" part, delivering "fine tone", which was "especially ingratiating" in the second movement, and showed "enviable agility" in the finale.

"[18] In a 1987 review of Mozart's Horn Concerto, with the Montreal Symphony conducted by Charles Dutoit, McLean describes Zirbel's work as "a beautifully controlled performance, with the kind of nicely shaped phrasing that makes it sound easy ... which it is not!

"[19] In a 1985 review of Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante in E flat, with the Montreal Symphony under Andrew Litton, McLean writes "I was particularly struck by the way Zirbel played the French horn part, which calls for – and got – a true virtuoso.

4, with the Montreal Symphony under Dutoit, Carl Urquhart comments on the "fine resonance" to Zirbel's tone in the Andante, and compliments the "technique and the maturity of his ideas" in the fast movements.

[21] In a 1985 review of a chamber concert, Urquhart writes that Zirbel "drew on an extraordinary array of spatial and coloristic effects" in his performance of Vitaly Bujanovsky's Sonata for Solo Horn, and likens his playing in Saint-Saens' Romance to a "graceful dolphin".

[22] Kaptainis describes Ligeti's Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano as a vehicle for Zirbel's "breath supply and tonal control at pianissimo", in a review of a 2002 performance.

[24] Reviewing a brass-focused chamber concert in 1998, Kaptainis writes that Zirbel gave an "ideally mellow" though "not quite note-perfect" performance of Schumann's Adagio and Allegro Op.