Canellakis leads night of dance-accompanied music in Dallas


The Dallas Morning News called it the season’s most fun concert, and referred to Karina Canellakis as “both authoritative and musically expressive.”

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra‘s Remix series presented two nights of music September 11 and 12, accompanied by members of Dallas Black Dance Theatre II.

Scott Cantrell of the Dallas Morning News described the program as framing “two introspective pieces with two sassy and often frenetic ones.” The frenetic included Paul Hindemith’s Kammermusic No. 1 and Jacques Ibert’s Divertissement. Hindemith’s piece calls for not just the traditional ensemble, but also instruments such as accordion and even a siren, where Ibert’s number includes a 17 players in what Cantrell calls “a madcap suite drawn from music for a French farce.”

The more introspective center of the program included a piece by living composer Marc-Andre Dalbavie, Melodia, composed in 2008, and Claude Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun.

Throughout the night, the dancers offered visual accent to the music.

Cantrell says, “it gave the music a physicality that probably aided audience engagement, and the dancers’ supple athleticism amazed.”

Canellakis programmed the evening, and conducted the night with great prowess. The only real complaint in Cantrell’s review was with the tiny print in the program’s booklet.

Read the review in The Dallas Morning News.