Review: Spellbinding performance as symphony conductor combines Russian music and ballet

The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra’s chief conductor, Alexander Prior, has a deep grounding in Russian music. Despite having a Scottish twang to his accent, his mother is Russian and he studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, graduating with distinction at the age of 17.
In his first season in his new post, he has already shown his affinity to Russian music in his approach to such works as Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 and Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 2. Last Thursday evening, he