Karina Canellakis        conductor
Benjamin Grosvenor  piano

Sibelius                          En Saga
Mozart                           Piano Concerto No. 21
Tchaikovsky                 Symphony No. 4

An inspirational game-changer, Karina Canellakis has blazed a trail for female conductors since winning the Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award in 2016, being the first woman to conduct the First Night of the BBC Proms in 2019 and becoming the Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2020. She begins her first visit to Nottingham in this role with Sibelius’s En Saga. Although he described it as the ‘expression of a state of mind’ rather than a mythical adventure, there’s no shortage of action in this powerful ‘psycho-drama’. There’s an altogether more serene mood in Mozart’s most popular Piano Concerto, particularly in the ethereal central movement which gained the nickname, the ‘dream andante.’ It’s performed here by the exceptional British pianist, Benjamin Grosvenor, a perfect match for Mozart’s light-touch lyricism.

Bringing the concert to an emphatic close is Tchaikovsky’s fiery Fourth Symphony. Emerging from the wreckage of his short-lived marriage, it bares its soul in a maelstrom of emotions, opening up with an arresting fanfare signalling the malign forces of fate. But there’s also heartfelt poignancy and some delightfully deft play between the separate sections of the orchestra before it all ends exuberantly with a whirling folk dance finale.

Free pre-concert talk, 6.00pm in the auditorium: Elena Dubinets, Artistic Director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in conversation.