Karina Canellakis conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Photo by Chris Christodolou
“The London Philharmonic Orchestra has appointed the American conductor Karina Canellakis as its principal guest conductor from September,” writes Imogen Tilden in Monday’s (4/6) Guardian (U.K.). “Canellakis, 38, began her career as a violinist, performing as soloist, chamber and orchestral musician … with the Berlin Philharmonic [and] with the Chicago Symphony…. She began conducting professionally in 2013,” the year she was named an assistant conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. “Last summer she conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra for the opening night of the Proms…. After two years in the Juilliard School’s conducting program, in 2016 she won the prestigious Georg Solti conducting award…. She has appeared as a guest with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the symphony orchestras of San Francisco and Minnesota, and the Munich Philharmonic. ‘My role models were the inspiring people I played under: Boulez. Rattle. Haitink … and my teachers … Alan Gilbert and Fabio Luisi,’ she says. ‘I’ve never been at the receiving end of comments about my gender. I’m part of a generation who doesn’t need to worry about it. I have only ever thought about conductors in terms of what they brought to the sound.’ ”
