The prestigious award is given to young American conductors and includes professional mentoring, introductions to two prestigious performing organisations in Chicago, and a grant of USD25,00 (€22,165).
The Solti Foundation (US) has announced Karina Canellakis, currently in her second season as assistant conductor of Dallas Symphony Orchestra, as the recipient of The Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award for 2016.
New York born Karina Canellakis has received glowing critical endorsements of her performances since first making headlines in 2014, when she stepped in for Jaap van Zweden with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in Shostakovich’s 8th Symphony. She made her European conducting debut last June with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe at the Styriarte Festival in Graz, Austria, replacing the late Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and has been reinvited to Graz this coming June to conduct his orchestra, Concentus Musicus Wien, in four symphonies of a Beethoven Cycle.
Said Penny Van Horn, board chair of The Solti Foundation US: ‘It gives us great pleasure to bestow Karina Canellakis, who we recognised just last season with a Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award, with this year’s Solti Conducting Award. It is especially exciting to witness her continuing development in both orchestral and operatic fields. The Foundation extends the legacy of Sir Georg by ensuring that talented young American conductors get the opportunity to demonstrate their musicianship, leadership and full potential to the broadest possible audience.’
Currently in her second season as assistant conductor of DSO,Canellakis conducts more than 30 concerts per season with the orchestra, including innovative programmes on the Remix Series, standard repertoire on the “DSO On the Go” series and Youth and Family concerts for the community.
Throughout 2016-17 season Canellakis will make her European debuts with the Swedish Radio Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lyon, Trondheim, Kristiansand and Malmo symphony orchestras, as well as North American debuts including the Toronto, Vancouver, Milwaukee, Florida and Jacksonville symphony orchestras, and the Louisiana Philharmonic.
She will also conduct opera projects including the world premiere of David Lang’s new opera The Loser at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Peter Maxwell Davies’ new opera The Hogboon with Luxembourg Philharmonic, and Verdi’s Requiem at the Zurich Opera. In addition, she has been reinvited to conduct subscription programs with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony and North Carolina Symphony.
A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music (violin) and of The Juilliard School (conducting), Canellakis was winner of the 2013 Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship and served as a conducting fellow at the Boston Symphony’s Tanglewood Music Center in 2014 summer.
