Pacho Flores launches ESTIRPE, his new record for Deutsche Grammophon label and the fifth on the yellow label, available from July, 29th on. Taking advantage of its presence in the summer season of the Minería Symphony Orchestra and Carlos Miguel Prieto for the American premiere of Historias de Flores y Tangos, by Daniel Freiberg, he presents this recording, which was made with the same protagonists in September 2019 at the Churubusco studios in the Mexican capital. This album features two outstanding guest artists, the Cuban clarinetist and saxophonist, Paquito D’Rivera, and the Argentine pianist, arranger, and composer, Daniel Freiberg, and already includes some of the concerts resulting from the project of shared commissions for new concerts for trumpet to outstanding composers that Pacho and his agency ACM Concerts have been managing in recent years and that has already added six new concerts to the repertoire and with a seventh in the process of composition.
The album opens with the Concierto de Otoño by Arturo Márquez, the first concerto of the project, premiered in September 2018 by the National Symphony of Mexico under the baton of Carlos Miguel Prieto. Along with the OSNM, the other orchestras participating in the commission were the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, which premiered it with its head José Luis Gómez; the Orchestra of the Performing Arts Center of Hyogo, Japan, with maestro Michiyoshi Inoue, and the Oviedo Filarmonía, with Lucas Macías. Next we find Crónicas Latinoamericanas, by Daniel Freiberg, a commission from the WDR Sinfonieorchester of Cologne, originally conceived for clarinet, which Freiberg adapted for trumpet as soon as he saw Pacho on stage.
The third concert on the album is the Concerto Venezolano by Paquito D’Rivera, also resulting from the project of shared commissions. In this case, it was the Minería Symphony Orchestra itself, again under the direction of Prieto, who starred in the Mexican premiere and participated in the commission together with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic orchestras, which premiered it with its current Music Director, Domingo Hindoyan, the Orchestra of Valencia, with Hernández-Silva, and the San Diego Symphony, with its head Rafael Payare. The last of the four concerts included on the album is Mestizo, by Efraín Oscher, which has a special meaning: Commissioned by the Children and Youth Orchestra System of Venezuela and premiered in Caracas in 2010 with the Simón Bolívar Orchestra and the direction of Domingo Hindoyan, it is the true antecedent of everything that came later with this project of shared commissions, as it was the very first concert composed for various instruments of the trumpet family, which later became a constant and a distinctive feature of Pacho Flores’s performances. The album ends with Morocota, a Venezuelan waltz by Pacho Flores originally composed for trumpet and guitar and included on ENTROPÍA, his second album for Deutsche Grammophon, with guitarist and cuatrista Jesús ‘Pingüino’ González, and later also orchestrated by Pacho himself.
After so an exciting summer that took him to Mexico with Alondra de la Parra’s Impossible Orchestra, to the Brass Festival Stuttgart, the Italian Brass Week, to Montreal as resident artist of La Virée Classique, where he played and conducted his own and other repertoire in three concerts with different formations; back to Mexico to Freiberg’s and to present ESTIRPE, Pacho Flores kicks off a sensational season with the Singapore Symphony with concerts by Haydn and Arturo Márquez. A 2022/23 season that brings important debuts for Pacho with orchestras such as the San Francisco Symphony, with Carlos Miguel Prieto; Los Angeles Philharmonic, with Gustavo Dudamel; Galicia Symphony, with Manuel Hernández-Silva; National Symphony of Colombia with Christian Vásquez; Quebec Symphony, with Anu Talli; Buffalo Philharmonic, with JoAnn Falletta, National of Cyprus, with Hernández-Silva; Belgrade Philharmonic, with Felix Mildenberger; as well as his return to the San Diego Symphony, with Rafael Payare; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, with Domingo Hindoyan; or Tucson Symphony and Arctic Philharmonic, in both again with Hernández-Silva. In Liverpool and Galicia Flores will be artist-in-residence. He also continues with his project of commissions and premieres of new trumpet concertos, with the completion of the series of premieres by Daniel Freiberg with Arctic and with the Walla Walla Symphony; and the beginning of a new cycle with Altar de Bronce, by Gabriela Ortiz, which will premiere the orchestras of Galicia and Liverpool and whose premieres will continue in the 2023/24 season. In Liverpool he will also record a new album that will include, among others, the concerts Salseando, by Roberto Sierra, and the aforementioned Altar de Bronce by Gabriela Ortiz. He will also return to the Bogotá Philharmonic, National Philharmonic of Chile, and will maintain his presence in metal forums and meetings all over the world, as well as his didactic and pedagogical activities, among which his participation stands out, within their respective residences, with the Youth Orchestra of the Galician Symphony, and with the In Harmony program of the Liverpool Philharmonic.
Pacho Flores premieres Caballos mágicos, the new concerto for trumpet and orchestra by Christian Lindberg, next Thursday, May 27 with the Real Filharmonía de Galicia. The orchestra commissioned this piece together with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra in Turkey, and another ensemble yet to be determined. This is the third absolute premiere by Pacho Flores with the Real Filharmonía de Galicia (RFG), and the second within the Project of Shared Commissions for New Trumpet Concertos. Pacho Flores and the RFG premiered in January 2018, under Manuel Hernández-Silva, Pacho’s composition Cantos y Revueltas, in a concert tour that included Santiago, Vigo and A Coruña. The concerts were recorded and gave rise to the eponymous double CD / DVD for Deutsche Grammophon. In November 2019 and with the same conductor, Pacho and the RFG premiered Danzas Latinas, by Efraín Oscher. On this occasion, Paul Daniel, Principal Conductor of the orchestra, will be in charge of the new premiere.
Lindberg is also the author of Akban Bunka, one of the concerts that are part of Pacho Flores’ usual repertoire and that he has played all over the world, as well as of Un Sueño Morisco, a double concerto for trumpet and trombone that was commissioned and premiered by the RTVE Orchestra in March 2019, with Ximo Vicedo on the trombone and Lindberg himself on the podium, and that Pacho and Ximo have played this past 1 May at the ADDA in Alicante. Caballos mágicos will be the fifth concert premiered by Pacho Flores within this project of shared commissions after those by Arturo Márquez, Paquito D’Rivera, Roberto Sierra and the aforementioned Efraín Oscher. These two first rounds of commissions will be closed with the premiere of a sixth concert by Daniel Freiberg, and the project will soon be completed with a third round by three new composers.
Orchestras from all over the world participate in this project of commissions, and despite all the delays and inconveniences caused by the pandemic, many of the premieres, since the first one in September 2018, have already been carried out. What’s more important, these concerts become then part of Pacho Flores’ usual repertoire. This is the sequence of premieres by composer: Arturo Márquez: Orquesta Nacional de México, Carlos Miguel Prieto, September 2018; Tucson Symphony Orchestra (USA), José L. Gómez, January 2019; Hyogo PAC Orchestra (Japan), Michiyoshi Inoue, May 2019; and Oviedo Filarmonía, Lucas Macías, August 2019; Paquito D’Rivera: Orchesta de Minería (Mexico), Carlos Miguel Prieto, September 2019; Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (UK), Domingo Hindoyan, November 2021; Orquesta de Valencia, Manuel Hernández-Silva, February 2022; San Diego Symphony (USA), Rafael Payare, February 2022; Efraín Oscher: Real Filharmonía de Galicia (RFG), Hernández-Silva; November 2019; Roberto Sierra: Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (United Kingdom), Domingo Hindoyan, January 2020; Symphony of the Region of Murcia, Hernández-Silva, December 2020; Simfònica do Estado São Paulo (Brazil), conductor to be determined, March-April 2022: Orchestre National de Bordeaux Aquitaine (France), Manuel Hernández-Silva, June 2022; and some Daniel Freiberg premieres are also planned: Oviedo Filarmonía, Lucas Macías, October 2021; Arctic Philharmonic (Norway), Manuel Hernández-Silva and Orquesta de Minería (Mexico), Carlos Miguel Prieto, on dates to be determined.
Christian Lindberg has also been the director of Fractales, Pacho Flores’ third album for Deutsche Grammophon, and they recently recorded duets by Mozart and Bach’s inventions in an arrangement for trumpet and trombone for the European Grammophon label.
Cantos y Revueltas will be presented by the Extremadura Symphony Orchestra with its original cast of soloists and conductor —Pacho Flores, Leo Rondón and Manuel Hernández-Silva— on March 11 and 12. After its premiere in Santiago, Vigo and A Coruña with the orchestra Real Filharmonía de Galicia, and the recording of the concerts that led to a double CD/DVD released by Pacho’s label, Deutsche Grammophon, Cantos y Revueltas has been performed, always with this trio of artists, in Murcia (Murcia Region Symphony), Andalusia (Malaga Philharmonic Orchestra), and Pamplona (Navarre Symphony Orchestra).
Cantos y Revueltas had its American premiere in Miami with the Bolívar Philharmonic Orchestra and cuatro soloist Héctor Molina under Carlos Riazuelo, and later in Mexico, with the Jalisco Philharmonic led by Jesús Medina and Héctor Molina again. After this presentation with the Extremadura Symphony Orchestra, Cantos y Revueltas will be performed again in Colombia, Mexico, Canada, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as in other Spanish cities yet to be announced.
Copyright RFG
In parallel to Cantos y Revueltas, Pacho Flores continues with his project of shared commissions for new trumpet concerts to distinguished composers such as Arturo Márquez, Paquito D’Rivera, Roberto Sierra, Christian Lindberg, Efraín Oscher and Daniel Freiberg. New premieres are scheduled both for the current as well as for next season, before starting a third phase of commissions that will be announced in due course. After these concerts with the Extremadura Symphony Orchestra, Pacho Flores and Manuel Hernández-Silva will meet once again in Colombia with the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra, an event that will include a new American presentation of Cantos y Revueltas as well as the premiere of one of Pacho’s latest works, a Divertimento for brass ensemble, showing the growing attention that Pacho Flores is paying to his composer facet, and which will soon bring new important news.
The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Pacho Flores and Domingo Hindoyan will offer the premiere of Roberto Sierra’s new trumpet concerto, Salseando, next Thursday, January the 9th of 2020 at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. Its next premiere will be about the summer by the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra and Giancarlo Guerrero and it will have its Spanish and French premieres at the end of the year by two orchestras to announce. Salseando is composed in three movements: Salseado (tempo of Salsa), Tempo di Bolero, and Veloz (fast), and demands four different instruments, trumpets in C and Bb, piccolo in A and flugelhorn. Together with Roberto Sierra’s premiere, Pacho will also play the British premiere of Arturo Márquez’s Concierto de Otoño. Both concertos are part of a large and ambitious project of co-commissions of new trumpet concertos to outstanding composers as Sierra and Márquez themselves, Paquito D’Rivera, Efraín Oscher, Christian Lindberg and Daniel Freiberg, involving orchestras form all around the world.
Arturo Márquez’s Concierto de Otoño was commissioned and premiered by the National Orchestra of México and Carlos Miguel Prieto, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and José Luis Gómez, the Hyogo PAC Orchestra of Japan and Michiyoshi Inoue, and the Oviedo Filarmonía in Spain and Lucas Macías; Paquito D’Rivera’s Concerto Venezolano was premiered by the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería with Carlos Miguel Prieto and is going soon to have its USA and Spanish premieres by the San Diego Symphony Orchestra with Rafael Payare and Orquesta of Valencia in Spain with Vicent Alberola. Recently it was also premiered Efraín Oscher’s Danzas Latinas by the Real Filharmonía de Galicia with Manuel Hernández-Silva. Daniel Freiberg and Christian Lindberg commissions and premieres will be announced soon.
Besides this project os shared commissions of new trumpet concertos Pacho is also premiering new works dedicated to him as the double concerto for trumpet and trombone Un Sueño Morisco, by Christian Lindberg, premiered this year by the Spanish National Orchestra of Radio and TV conducted by Christian Lindberg himself and with Ximo Vicedo at the trombone; or its own piece Cantos y Revueltas, premiered by the Real Filharmonía de Galicia and Manuel Hernández-Silva in 2018, which is the main piece of Pacho’s last recording for Deutsche Grammophon launched recently.
On November 21 at the Auditorio de Galicia, Pacho Flores and Manuel Hernández-Silva, together with the Royal Galician Philharmonia, will perform the absolute premiere of Danzas Latinas by Efraín Oscher, a new trumpet concert commissioned by the Royal Galician Philharmonia and dedicated to Pacho Flores. The same protagonists, Flores, Hernández-Silva and the RGP also with Leo Rondón, premiered at the same place in January 2018 Cantos y Revueltas, a ‘Fantasia concertante’ composed for trumpet, Venezuelan cuatro and strings, which will be presented these days in CD and DVD by Deutsche Grammophon, Pacho Flores’ label.
Danzas Latinas is a concert in five movements that, following its title, presents five corresponding dances of different origins: Bomba from Puerto Rico, an Argentinian Zamba, Samba brasileira, Bembé from Cuba and Milonga from Uruguay. For the performance of this concert Pacho will also use five different instruments: Soprano cornet in Eb (Bomba), Flugelhorn (Zamba), C Trumpet (Samba), D Trumpet (Bembé) and F cornet (Milonga). This work is part of the project of shared commissions for new trumpet concerts by important composers such as Arturo Márquez, Paquito D’Rivera, Roberto Sierra, Christian Lindberg, Daniel Freiberg and Oscher himself, that was launched by Pacho Flores with the aim of expanding the solo trumpet and orchestra repertoire and involves orchestras from around the world such as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Orquestra do Estado de São Paulo, Orquesta Nacional de México, Hyogo PAC in Japan, Royal Galician Philharmonia, Oviedo Filarmonia, Orchestra of Valencia, etc.
Efraín Oscher, Venezuelan flute player and composer of Uruguayan origins who currently lives in Bremen, knows very well what it means to compose for Pacho Flores’ trumpets, being the author of Concierto Mestizo, premiered in Caracas in 2010 by the Simón Bolívar Orchestra and Domingo Hindoyan -a work that Pacho has played more than thirty times all over the world-; of Barroqueana Venezolana nº 2, part of a series of four concerts in the style of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerts but from a Latin American point of view; or of Apex, double concert for clarinet and orchestra, premiered in August 2018 by Pacho together with clarinet player Matthias Schorn, the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock and maestro Marcus Bosch.
Efraín Oscher on Danzas Latinas
Dances are generally associated with joy, happiness and merrymaking, just as dancing is synonymous with partying. The title Danzas Latinas instinctively evokes carnival scenes, couples dancing salsa, tango or merengue, but the reality is that dances and their respective dancing are an artistic medium to express a wide variety of feelings and emotions. In Latin America in particular, dances are present at all levels of society and associated with religious, political, romantic and intellectual aspects, thanks to the profound miscegenation that has taken place in the continent.
If we go back to the Baroque period we can find evidence of how dances, which have their roots in popular music, were developed by academic composers and taken to sublime levels, usually gathered in Suites. It is noticeable here that certain dances convey deep feelings, in contrast with those intended for the entertainment of the court: the sarabande or the pavane, for example, are used for funerary purposes.
Latin America has an enormous richness of dances. There is a great variety of folk dances that accompany the sumptuous and colorful dancing in processions, parades, parties, funerals as well as other dances intended for couples. Their ramifications according to the subject of their lyrics are incalculable and vary from the fiery political protest to the painful “resentment”, going through satire, romanticism and melancholy. A special mention must be made of the great influence that the music brought by the Africans during colonial times had in the development of dances throughout the continent.
Danzas Latinas for trumpet and orchestra was specially composed for Pacho Flores, who uses different instruments of the trumpet and cornet family, assigning a voice with a particular color to each of the pieces he plays. The work consists of five dances and each one of them is performed with a different instrument: Bomba de Puerto Rico with a cornet in Eb, Zamba de Argentina with the flugelhorn, Samba de Brasil with a C trumpet, Bembé de Cuba with a D trumpet and Milonga del Uruguay with an F cornet.
Bomba is one of the native rhythms of Puerto Rico whose origin dates back to colonial times and was created by slaves in sugarcane plantations. In its traditional form, this dance is characterized by the intricate conversation between the dancer, the drummer and the singer, which is reflected in the counterpoint of the first movement, Bomba de Puerto Rico. The chorus‑proclamation pattern can be heard towards the end, when the orchestra repeats a motif to which the soloist responds with an improvisation.
The gaucho is the protagonist of the second movement, Zamba de Argentina, whereas nostalgia is the predominant feeling. The immensity and loneliness of the pampas as well as the gaucho’s suffering expressed in the verses of Martín Fierro were the source of inspiration for this movement. The tempo of the Zamba is generally slow; it is an elegant dance for couples where both use a handkerchief. In this movement the beautiful sound of the four-piston flugelhorn, an instrument specially built for Pacho Flores with a wide and loud low range, can be fully appreciated.
One of the most internationally recognised Latin American musical genres is samba. Created in Brazil by African slaves, it is a syncopated rhythm accompanying a colorful dance that is the center of the biggest carnival celebrations in the world. Samba de Brasil, the third movement, offers the soloist not only the opportunity to show his technical skills but also his creativity by improvising on the harmonies.
The fourth movement, Bembé de Cuba, is a special tribute to Afro-Cuban music, which has had such an influence on the popular music of the Caribbean countries. The bembé encompasses ancestral African cultural elements that are still present in the Cuban culture nowadays, such as Santeria and the Yoruba language. The ostinato rhythm of bembé produces some sort of trance in the participants of Santeria rituals and this mystical element characterizes this movement. The improvisation on the choir‑proclamation pattern is also present in this dance, an expressive resource of which Pacho Flores knows how to take advantage.
Milonga de Uruguay closes the piece and provides the touch of humor that characterizes this native dance from Río de la Plata. A relative of tango and candombe, milonga shows the African influence in its rhythm, as well as the outgoing character of the Montevidean citizens in its playful melodies and virtuous passages. This movement offers a cheerful and festive ending, suitable for a work that travels with virtuosity through the emotions along the rich geography of Latin American dances.
