The Edinburgh International Festival welcomed the return of conductor Karina Canellakis, who lit up Usher Hall with her energetic presence on the podium. Following her stunning debut at the closing concert of the 2023 Festival, her comeback was highly anticipated – and she more than lived up to expectations. BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Edinburgh Festival Chorus director James Grossmith created an evening of music that was both dazzling and deeply emotional.
The 95-minute piece, performed with one interval, started with the vulnerability of the violin voice, expanding incrementally out to the full forces of the orchestra before the chorus entered. The uncomplicated layering of massed choral voices over instruments gave an intimacy merged with something divine. The performance conveyed an unmistakable quality of the divine, love and humanity themes at the centre of Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms. Lines such as “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” resonated with the public, as I saw many of them were wiping away tears.
The Edinburgh Festival Chorus was on top of its game, its sound radiant and in concord, and the Rising Stars of Voice, young singers provided a respite to sing under the international spotlight, performed with freshness and authority, worthy of their time in the spotlight.
The second half then revisited the excited vigor of Stravinsky’s 1947 version Petrushka ballet, played here with enthusiasm and accuracy. Canellakis drew from the BBC SSO a bright, coloured performance, invigorating both the folk vitality and the fiery modernity of the music.
Together, the two works formed a perfect pairing of sacred contemplation and orchestral fireworks. With the last notes, the crowd was standing in a richly deserved ovation. This was, in a word, one of this year’s Festival unmissable highlights – a night when music, with Canellakis’s inspired leadership, spoke to the soul.
Reviewer: Saira Kunjuvalappil (Saira ks)
Reviewed: 21st August 2025
North West End UK Rating: