Winner of the 2016 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award, Karina Canellakis is internationally acclaimed for her emotionally charged performances, technical command and interpretive depth. She made her European conducting debut in 2015 with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in Graz, Austria, replacing the late Nikolaus Harnoncourt, returning the following June to conduct Concentus Musicus Wien in four symphonies of a Beethoven Cycle. She first made headlines in 2014 filling in at the last-minute for Jaap van Zweden in Shostakovich Symphony No. 8 with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, where she held the position of Assistant Conductor for two seasons.
Karina begins the 2017/18 season with her debut at the BBC Proms in London with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and a return to the Opernhaus Zürich to conduct Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Notable debuts this season include the Orchestre de Paris, Wiener Symphoniker, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Guerzenich-Orchester Köln, Bamberger Symphoniker, Orquesta Nacional de España, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, the Hallé Orchestra and Seattle Symphony; alongside re-invitations to the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, Danish Radio Symphony, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and Vancouver Symphony.