Pacho Flores will be artist-in-residence of La Virée Classique (The Classical Spree) 2022, the summer festival organized by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra during the month of August. The broad presence provided by his status as artist-in-residence, with three different programs as a soloist, will allow him to also show himself as a conductor and composer, two facets that have become increasingly important in the development of his career. On August 10, on the Esplanade of the Olympic Park with the Montreal Symphony conducted by Rafael Payare, Pacho Flores will perform the Concerto Venezolano, by Paquito D’Rivera, a concerto commissioned and premiered by the Minería Symphony Orchestra (Prieto), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (Hindoyan), Valencia Orchestra (Hernández-Silva) and San Diego Symphony (Payare).
On August 13, at the Théâtre Jean-Duceppe, Pacho will play and conduct a brass and percussion ensemble with a program featuring works by Copland and Joan Tower, originals for that group, as well as Musas y Resuello, by Pacho himself, along with others by Gershwin, Sarasate, PIazzolla and another of Pacho’s works, Labios Vermelhos, arranged for this format also by Pacho Flores himself. In this concert he will have the participation as a guest soloist of Paul Merkelo, OFM’s principal trumpeter. And finally on August 14, again at the Théâtre Jean-Duceppe and under the baton of Rafael Payare conducting the Ensemble de la Virée (Ensemble made up of 15 string instrumentalists: winners of the OSM Competition, CMIM, members of the OSM and the Obiora ensemble and guest soloists), Pacho will play Piazzolla’s Revirado and his own work Cantos y Revueltas, for trumpet, Venezuelan cuatro and strings. Therefore, three concerts as a soloist, one of them also as conductor and three works of his authorship plus the arrangements of another three is the balance of his presence as resident artist in the 2022 edition of this Virée Classique.
He will then travel to Mexico for the American premiere, together with the Minería Symphony and Carlos Miguel Prieto, of Historias de Flores y Tangos, by Daniel Freiberg, co-commissioned by Minería itself, the Oviedo Filarmonía (Macías), Arctic Philharmonic (Hernández-Silva) and Walla Walla Symphony (Bergman), and for the presentation of his most recent recording on Deutsche Grammophon, ESTIRPE, recorded precisely with Minería and Prieto in August 2019 and which includes the Concierto de Otoño, by Arturo Márquez, Latin American Chronicles by Daniel Freiberg, Concerto Venezolano by D’Rivera, Mestizo by Efraín Oscher and a short piece by Pacho himself, the Venezuelan waltz, Morocota. This is Pacho’s fifth recording for Deutsche Grammophon after Cantar, Entropía, Fractales, and Cantos y Revueltas.
José Luis Gómez returns to the podium of the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra to conduct the orchestra in the XVII Villa de La Orotava Chamber Music Festival on July 8, 2022. On the program, Beethoven’s Overture of The Creatures of Prometheus and Symphony No. 7 and Mozart’s Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra, for which he will feature Maximiano Martín as soloist. For José Luis Gomez it is always a pleasure to return to the Tenerife Symphony, an orchestra in which he was a member as a second violin soloist until, after training as an orchestra conductor, in 2010 he won the First Prize at the 5th International Conducting Competition Sir Georg Solti unanimously by the jury that launched his career as a director internationally.
Following the competition he was immediately appointed assistant conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, a position created especially for him by Paavo Järvi. José Luis Gómez was also Principal Conductor of the 1813 Teatro Sociale di Como Orchestra between 2012 and 2015 and in 2016 he was appointed Music Director of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, with which he recently renewed his contract through the 2023/24 season. Since he took command in Tucson, there has been a significant increase in the number of subscribers and patrons, he has introduced new outreach activities and deepened the orchestra’s existing educational projects, as well as promoted an expansion of the orchestra’s repertoire with special attention to Latin American composers, such as the commission for the new trumpet concerto by Arturo Márquez, whose US premiere took place in 2019 with Pacho Flores and the Tucson Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Gómez.
He has worked with European orchestras such as RTVE Symphony, Weimar Staatskapelle Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra, Hamburg Symphony, Karlsruhe Staatstheater Orchester, Basel Sinfonietta, Orquestra Sinfônica do Porto, Castilla y Leon Symphony , Pomeriggi Musicali of Milan, Warsaw Symphony, SWR Radio Sinfonie-Orchester Stuttgart or Tenerife Symphony Orchestra; and Americans such as the Houston Symphony, the Ottawa National Arts Center Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony, Colorado, Grand Rapids, Winnipeg, Alabama, Rochester, Louisiana, Pasadena, the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Orchestra of Peru. He recently conducted a tour of Belgium with the Flanders Symphony and Johannes Moser as soloist.
In the operatic arena, highlights include La Bohème at the Frankfurt Opera and a new production of Rossini’s La Cenerentola at the Stuttgart Opera, La Forza del Destino in Tokyo with the New National Theatre, Don Carlo and Norma at The State Opera in Tbilisi, Georgia, La Traviata in concert version with the Sacramento Philharmonic, or Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni at the Teatro Sociale di Como, where he also closed the season with a spectacular production of Cavalleria Rusticana. He has recorded Bela Fleck’s Concerto No. 2 for banjo and orchestra ‘Juno Concerto‘ with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and conducted the Hamburg Symphony and the talented young clarinettist Vladimir Soltan in the release of an album for MGD that collects the concertos for Nielson, Françaix and Debussy clarinet.
Manuel Hernández-Silva returns to the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires to lead once again the Philharmonic Orchestra with a program that includes Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus, Op. 43 and Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 19, by Beethoven, and Symphony No. 6 in C major, D. 589 by Franz Schubert. The concert, the tenth of the subscription series, will take place on July 8, 2022 at 8:00 p.m. and will feature the Latvian pianist Arta Arnicane. Hernández-Silva made his debut at the Teatro Colón in June 2019 and his stay was extended for a week to replace another director who canceled his commitment, for which he directed two consecutive subscription programs. The excellent public and critical reception of his presentation at the Buenos Aires Coliseum resulted in a re-invitation for August 2021 that had to be canceled for reasons related to COVID-19 and that has finally been recovered.
Hernández-Silva has conducted orchestras such as the Wienner Symphoniker, WDR Rundfunkorchester, Rheinische Philharmonie, Orchester National Bordeaux-Aquitaine, São Paulo State Orchestra, Wuppertal Symphony, Israel Symphony, Prague Radio Symphony, Janacek Philharmonic, Nord Czech Philharmonic, Olomouc Philharmonic, Biel Symphony Orchestra, Mulhouse Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic, Hradec Králové Philharmonic, National Symphony of Mexico, Puerto Rico Symphony, Buenos Aires Philharmonic, National Symphony of Chile, Venezuela Symphony, Caracas Symphony or the Simón Bolívar Orchestra . In Spain, he has conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia, the Valencia Orchestra, the Oviedo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Principality of Asturias Symphony Orchestra, the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, the Euskadi Symphony Orchestra, the Navarra Symphony Orchestra, the Barcelona and National Symphony Orchestras of Catalonia, the Symphony Orchestra del Vallés, Murcia Region Symphony Orchestra, Granada City Orchestra, Córdoba Orchestra, Málaga Philharmonic Orchestra, Extremadura Orchestra, Castilla y León Symphony Orchestra, RTVE Symphony Orchestra, Community of Madrid Orchestra, National Orchestra from Spain, the Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra and the Balearic Islands Symphony Orchestra; and in important Festivals such as the Donostiarra Musical Fortnight, the Granada International Music and Dance Festival, the Úbeda Festival or the Cemski-Krumlov Festival in the Czech Republic.
As an opera director, he has received great reviews for his work on titles such as Die Zauberflöte, Cosí fan tutte or Don Giovanni, by Mozart, Fidelio, by Beethoven, and La Boheme, Gianni Schicchi, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, or more recently Manon Lescaut, of Puccini. Among his recent and upcoming commitments, important debuts with the Orchester National Bordeaux-Aquitaine, Orquestra do Estado de São Paulo, Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Sinfónica de Galicia, National des Pays de la Loire or the National Symphony of Cyprus stand out, as well as his returns to the Orquesta de Valencia or Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia.
After her concert at the Palacio de Carlos V within the Granada Festival on June 22 with the premiere of the show ArteSonao, Marina Heredia returns to Germany as Martha Argerich’s guest. For the fourth time since 2018, the Hamburg Symphony organizes the already legendary Martha Argerich Festival in the Laeiszhalle from June 20 to 29, 2022. Artists such as Martha Argerich herself, Daniil Trifonov, Renaud Capuçon, Marina Heredia, Mischa Maisky, Sylvain Cambreling , Leonora Armellini and Sergei Babayan, as well as the legendary jazz fusion band Aka Moon, will perform six concerts in the Gross Hall and three in the Chamber Hall. The performance of the company of Marina Heredia will take place on June 28.
Tireless creator, great lady of today’s ‘cante’, Marina is one of the best things that has happened to Granada and the flamenco in the last century and is one of the most demanded singers internationally. One week after this presentation at the Granada International Music and Dance Festival, Marina, who made her debut this spring at the Berlin Philharmonie with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, returns to Germany as she will be one of the great Argentine pianist’s guests.
Later this summer MArina will appear at the Lausitz Festival in Görlitz, in eastern Germany, in September she will return to the Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla and will open the season of the Navarra Symphony Orchestra with its new director Perry So with El Amor Brujo by Manuel de Falla, in November she will visit the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin as a special guest of the mandolinist Avi Avital, and throughout the 2022/23 season Marina will be resident artist of the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra also in Germany, with two performances with orchestra and two flamenco shows. During this residency she will once again sing Falla’s El Amor Brujo, together with the orchestra’s Music Director Axel Kober, and will star in the world premiere of a new work commissioned by the orchestra from José Quevedo ‘Bolita’ and Joan Albert Amargós under the direction of Josep Pons.
Pacho Flores premieres the Concierto Mambí, trumpet concerto No. 1, by the Cuban composer Igmar Alderete with the Córdoba Orchestra and its Chief Conductor, Carlos Domínguez-Nieto. It will be at the Gran Teatro de Córdoba on June 16 and 17, 2022 and the program also includes the Concierto de Otoño by Arturo Márquez. Concerto No. 1, Mambí, for trumpet and orchestra, composed in 2010 for trumpet in B flat, revised between 2021 and 2022 and specially adapted for Pacho Flores and the variety of four-piston instruments he uses: trumpet in C, flugelhorn , high cornet in A, trumpet in B flat and piccolo trumpet in D. With a marked chamber character and reduced orchestration, its melodic and harmonic treatment is transparent, requiring great precision and balance. In the richness and rhythmic variety is where the author exposes with greater clarity the fundamentals of the concert, entitled Mambí (rebellious slave who fought against Spanish colonialism in the 19th century), it is a work of great virtuosity for the soloist, brilliant passages and difficulty technique, at the same time of deep expressiveness and lyricism in its second movement to the rhythm of Bolero in its central part, two cadenzas and moments of freedom for improvisation.
Igmar Alderete is a total musician, composer, classical and jazz violinist and arranger, born in Havana, Cuba, in 1969, he has been a violinist with the Córdoba Orchestra since 1994. His music gathers feelings and experiences that integrate new sonorities of great richness rhythmic, in a syncretism of resources that clearly reflects its roots: Afro-Cuban music, contemporary art music and popular music. Within its extensive catalog, his two concerts for marimba stand out, both premiered by Carolina Alcaraz, Concert No. 1 for clarinet, La Leyenda del Cimarrón, Nostalgia del Sur, Symphony No. 1 Influences, commissioned by the AEOS author foundation and the Córdoba Orchestra, directed by Manuel Hernández Silva, Esquemas Rotos or Bailando con arcos. His production of chamber music is also prolific with works such as Sones de America, for marimba, vibraphone and string quartet, Desafío concertante, for violin and saxophone quartet, the Suite Mosaico, for vibraphone, string quintet and piano, Introducción y Guajira for clarinet and string quartet, Aires del Sur, for solo clarinet, quartets, trios, etc. Soloists such as Paquito D’Rivera, Matthias Schorn, Vasko Vassiliev, Carolina Alcaraz, Katarzyna Mycka, Javier Nandayapa, Cuarteto de La Habana or the Trio Brouwer have premiered and recorded their works in forums such as the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, Lincoln Center in New York , Cycle of Contemporary Music of Córdoba, Poland or Mexico.
This is the last of the lavish series of premieres that Pacho Flores has carried out throughout the course that is ending. The season began with the London premiere of Invocation, by Eleanor Alberga; in Bilbao he offered the premieres of the concerts by Arturo Sandoval and Arturo Márquez in their version for band, whose arrangements he himself made; the first premiere of Historias de Flores y Tangos by Daniel Freiberg with the Oviedo Filarmonía and Lucas Macías took place in Oviedo; then he premiered the Concerto Venezolano by Paquito D’Rivera in the United Kingdom with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Domingo Hindoyan, which shortly after had its Spanish premiere by Manuel Hernández-Silva and the Valencia Orchestra and later closed its cycle with the US premiere with the San Diego Symphony and Rafael Payare. Shortly after, the Brazilian premiere of Salseando, by Roberto Sierra, with the OSESP and Carlos Miguel Prieto took place, the cycle of which closed just a few days ago with the French premiere with the Orchestre National de Bordeaux and, once again, Manuel Hernández-Silva. Previously he had premiered his own flugelhorn concerto, Albares, with the Tenerife Symphony and Christian Vásquez; and, although on this occasion as a conductor and not as a soloist, he premiered with the Murcia Region Symphony the Concierto del Mar, for four Venezuelans and orchestra, by Leo Rondón, with the author in the solo part. In total, there are eleven premieres throughout the season, which continue this summer with the American premiere of Historias de Flores y Tangos, by Freiberg, with the Minería orchestra and Prieto, together with which he will also present his latest recording release in Deutsche Grammophon. Next season the two remaining premieres of Freiberg will take place, with the Arctic Philharmonic of Norway and Hernández-Silva, and the Walla Walla Symphony and Yaacov Bergman; and the process of premiering the new concert by Gabriela Ortiz begins, with the Spanish and British premieres, the Galician Symphony and Hernández-Silva and Royal Liverpool and Domingo Hindoyan respectively, orchestras for which he will be Artist-in-Residence throughout the season. This summer he will also be a resident artist at La Virée Classique, the festival of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, where he will offer three concerts, two as a soloist under the baton of Rafael Payare and another as a soloist-conductor leading the brass and percussion ensemble of the festival.
