Karina Canellakis Archives - North West End UK

12Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

First Night at The Hub – The Hub

And so, it begins. A couple of hours ago I heard this exact piece played by these exact musicians. So why does it suddenly sound completely different? Earlier in the evening, at the Usher Hall, conductor Karina Canellakis had put down her baton, picked up her violin and joined pianist Kirill Gerstein for the Blues movement from Ravel's Violin Sonata No. 2. It was beautifully played, but somehow this intimate little conversation struggled against the grandeur and ceremony of that enormous hall. Now they have hightailed it up the hill to The Hub, as have I, and everything has changed. The room is smaller. We are closer. The acoustic is different. Suddenly every inflection matters. The blues within Ravel's music seems clearer, the conversation between violin and ...

Gershwin and Bartok – Usher Hall

Sometimes during the Edinburgh festivals, you simply need a little space. After days spent rushing between Fringe venues, squeezing into small rooms and watching theatre at increasingly close quarters, there is something wonderfully restorative about walking into the Usher Hall and finding the stage filled by the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America. And I mean filled. Under conductor Karina Canellakis, this remarkable collection of young American musicians produces an enormous, confident and wonderfully optimistic sound. The scale of the string section alone is extraordinary, stretching seemingly endlessly across the stage. They look magnificent too. Black jackets sit above striking blood red trousers, the whole orchestra beautifully colour coordinated, whi...

Bernstein and Stravinsky – Usher Hall

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 con...