“What are the odds the Delaware Symphony Orchestra would find a cellist with a penchant for filmmaking to perform a concerto by a composer famous for his film scores in a program titled ‘Roman Hollywood?’ ” writes Christine Facciolo on Friday (5/17) at public radio/TV station WHYY (Philadelphia/Delaware). “The DSO has beaten the odds and tonight … full-time cellist and sometimes filmmaker Nicholas Canellakis will solo in Miklos Rozsa’s Cello Concerto…. Canellakis is delighted to have the opportunity to learn and present to an audience a piece of music that neither he nor his colleagues knew existed.… Rozsa, best known for his nearly one hundred film scores, composed the work for fellow Hungarian-American Janos Starker, who premiered it … in 1970…. ‘There’s definitely a theatrical element to the music,’ said Canellakis. ‘You also hear his Hungarian background and some old-school Romanticism…. I also hear a lot of Shostakovich.’ … Canellakis … has written, directed, produced and acted in short films that he posts on his website…. ‘Conversations with Nick Canellakis’ features Canellakis and [pianist Michael] Brown conducting quirky interviews with … musical luminaries…. Canellakis plans to play Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Cello Concerto over the summer.”
Posted May 22, 2019
