Bernstein & Stravinsky
Bernstein & Stravinsky
Conductor Karina Canellakis returns to the Festival and leads the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (SSO) through a monumental programme featuring Messiaen, Stravinsky and Bernstein.
The in-demand Karina Canellakis returns after making her International Festival debut in the 2023 Closing Concert. She leads this monumental programme with the Edinburgh Festival Chorus and the BBC SSO, characterised by thrilling sounds and ideas of love, divine or human.
The moving symphonic work Les Offrandes Oubliées made Olivier Messiaen's name aged just 22, his devout Catholicism driving this three-part meditation on eternal mysteries and human sin.
When the Dean of Chichester Cathedral commissioned Leonard Bernstein to write the Chichester Psalms in 1965, he hinted they'd be delighted if it had ‘something of the West Side Story’ about it. Bernstein came through. Its jazzy inflections promise a thrilling workout for the Festival Chorus and emotive countertenor Hugh Cutting.
For the finale, Igor Stravinsky's dazzling 1911 ballet Petrushka is brilliantly reorchestrated by the composer in 1947 for the concert platform.
Rising Stars of Voice programme joins this performance. Rising Stars gives the world’s most promising young musicians a chance to shine on an international stage.
This concert will be recorded for broadcast by our partners BBC Radio 3. Find out more.
She retained fine sculptural control over her fully amassed forces
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This performance features the Edinburgh Festival Chorus. In 2025, the Edinburgh Festival Chorus celebrates 60 years at the heart of the International Festival. Listen to a special episode of The Warm Up, where Festival Director Nicola Benedetti and Chorus Director James Grossmith reflect on 60 years of incredible dedication and stirring performances.
Supported by Pirie Rankin Endowed Fund
Programme
A keepsake freesheet is available at the venue for this performance.
Full programme
Messiaen Les Offrandes oubliées
Bernstein Chichester Psalms
Sung in Hebrew with English surtitles
Stravinsky Petrushka (1947 version)
Performers
CloseOpen
- BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
- Karina CanellakisConductor
- Edinburgh Festival Chorus
- James GrossmithChorus Director
- Rising Stars of Voice
- Hugh CuttingCountertenor
BBC Scottish Symphony OrchestraCloseOpen
- First ViolinCellerina Park (guest leader)
David Routledge (section principal)
Iona McDonald (principal)
Tom Hankey
Jane Mackenzie
Elita Poulter
Alastair Savage
Olivier Lemoine
Gent Koço
Emily Ward
Mireia Ferrer Yabar
Katrina Lee
Amy Cardigan
Michelle Dierx
Cheryl Crockett
Scott Bryant - Second ViolinLise Aferiat (section principal)
Jamie Campbell (principal)
Liza Johnson (string sub-principal)
Brigid Leman
Julia Norton
Alex Gascoine
Julia Carpenter
Barbara Downie
Alice Rickards
Ben Norris
Ana do Vale
Fiona Stephen
Julia Lungu
Wen Wang - ViolaAndrew Berridge (principal)
Morag Robertson (string sub-principal)
Carol Ella
Rik Evans
Mary Ward
Martin Wiggins
Rhoslyn Lawton
Liam Brolly
Shelagh McKail
Marsailidh Groat
Yvette Berridge
Emma Connell-Smith - CelloRudi De Groote (section principal)
Alison Lawrance (principal)
Nick Byrne (string sub-principal)
Sarah Oliver
Gill De Groote
Anne Brincourt
Naomi Pavri
Sonia Cromarty
Feargus Egan
Elias Rooney - Double BassGyunam Kim (section principal)
Iain Crawford (principal)
Genna Spinks (string sub-principal)
Tom Berry
Lynette Eaton
Olaya Garcia Alvares
Mhairi Simpson
May Halyburton - FluteMatthew Higham (section principal)
Brontë Hudnott (principal)
Luke Russell (principal) - OboeStella McCracken (section principal)
Mary James
James Horan (principal) - ClarinetYann Ghiro (section principal)
Lesley Bell
Robert Digney - BassoonLuke Tucker (guest principal)
Graeme Brown (principal)
Peter Wesley (principal) - HornChris Gough (guest principal)
Stephanie Jones
Lauren Reeve-Rawlings (principal)
Jamie Shield
Helena Jacklin - TrumpetMark O’Keeffe (section principal)
Mark Calder
Hedley Benson (principal)
Mark Addison - TromboneMerin Rhyd (principal)
Tom Berry - Bass TromboneAlexander Kelly (principal)
- TubaCraig Anderson
- TimpaniGordon Rigby (section principal)
- PercussionElliott Gaston-Ross (guest principal)
David Lyons
Alasdair Kelly
Kate Openshaw
David Kerr
Chris Edwards
Paula O’Malley - HarpHelen Thomson
Sharron Griffiths - PianoLynda Cochrane
- CelesteMichael Bawtree
Edinburgh Festival ChorusCloseOpen
- Chorus DirectorJames Grossmith
- Soprano 1Carol-Anne Burnett
Louise Cameron
Simona Cenci
Annette Chapman
Katherine Craig
Lisa Dawson
Maggie Gilchrist
Clare Hewitt
Lorna Holl
Talitha Kearey
Andrea Kocsis
Natsuko Mortimer
Louise McGregor
Morag Michael
Kat Preston-Hynd
Ros Sutherland
Jennifer Swan
Lesley Walker - Soprano 2Julie Aaquist
Emma Aitken
Anne Backhouse
Rhona Brown
Susan Bowden
Deborah Buckingham
Rachael Cartwright
Kathryn Coad
Margaret Cumming
Rosamund Davidson
Dorothy Fairweather
Jane Gilhooly
Carol Haley
Leila Inglis
Lesley Johnston
Maggie Kinnes
Janet McKenzie
Emily McLeish
Kathy Miller
Katharine Oyler
Karen Traill - Alto 1Moira Allingham
Ruth Bowen
Barbara Brodie
Susan Crosby
Catherine Dunlop
Caroline Dunmur
Kirstie Fairnie
Rona Gray
Anne Grindley
Fiona Milligan
Jane MacLeod
Tatiana Malikova
Stephanie Omari
Nicola Stock
Mary Taylor
Kirsty Weaver
Susan White - Alto 2Jeanette Bell
Anna Borbely
Dinah Bourne
Sally Cameron
Wendy Colquhoun
Helen Coskeran
Ann Firth
Tori Graham
Linda Hunter
Caroline Low
Carol Madden
Frances McDevitt
Catriona McDonald
Lucy O'Leary
Judith Robertson
Penny Stone
Morag Watson - Tenor 1Joanna Bleau
Brendan Glen
David Leaver
David Lee
Gio MacDonald
Martin McKean
Matt Norriss
Ian Phillips
Alex Rankine
Mike Towers - Tenor 2Malcolm Bennett
Andrew Binnian
John Burnside
Graham Drew
Richard Hellewell
Michael Jamieson
Stuart Mitchell
James White - Bass 1Derek Calder
Peter Cannell
Malcolm Crosby
Martin Gray
John Halliday
Nick Harding
David Hewitson
Andrew Hyder
Ivor Klayman
David Mack-Smith
Tom Marshall
Andrew Moore
Graham Naysmith
Roger Robertson
Graham Scott
Andrew Williams - Bass 2Mark Adams
Ken Allen
Felix Boecking
Philip Coad
Peter Hillier
Stephen Lipton
Sandy Matheson
John McLeod
Neil Ryrie
Martin Scott
David Traill
Rising Stars of VoiceCloseOpen
- SopranoMaryam Wocial
- Mezzo-SopranoCamilla Seale
- TenorEuan McDonald
- BassPeter Edge
Dive Deeper
Listen to The Warm Up: your audio introduction to the performance.
One thing which inspired me about all the great conductors... was the idea that a human being can internalise a piece of music to such a degree that it seems as if the sound of the orchestra is actually flowing right out of that person’s body.... All the studying I did was, and still is, just an attempt to understand this mysterious art formKarina Canellakis