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.
After her concert at the Palacio de Carlos V within the Granada Festival with the premiere of the show ArteSonao, and her debut at the Martha Argerich Festival at the Laieszhalle in Hamburg, Marina Heredia performs at the Lausitz Festival in Görlitz, east of Germany, on August 31, with a flamenco recital, along with artists such as Martha Argerich, Mischa Maisky, Il Giardino Armonico, John Zorn, Barbara Hannigan, etc.
Tireless creator, great lady of today’s cante, Marina is one of the best things that has happened to flamenco in the last century and is one of the most demanded singers internationally. Shortly after this presentation at the Lausitz Festival, Marina, who made her debut this spring at the Berlin Philharmonie with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, returns to the Seville Biennale and opens the season of the Navarra Symphony Orchestra with her new Music and artistic Director Perry So with El Amor Brujo by Manuel de Falla.
In November Marina will visit the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin as a special guest of the mandolinist Avi Avital, and throughout the 2022/23 season she 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 sing El Amor Brujo de Falla again, together with the orchestra’s head Axel Kober, and will star in the world premiere of a new work commissioned by the orchestra from José Quevedo ‘el Bolita’ and Joan Albert Amargós under the direction of Josep Pons.
Pacho Flores stars in a new premiere of Historias de Flores y Tangos by Daniel Freiberg with the Minería Symphony and Carlos Miguel Prieto on August 19, 20 and 21. This concert is the product of a shared commission between the Oviedo Filarmonía orchestra, which premiered it on October 23, 2021 at the Príncipe Felipe Auditorium in Oviedo under the direction of Lucas Macías; the Minería Symphony Orchestra; the Norwegian Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra, which will premiere it on March 16 and 17, 2023 under the baton of Manuel Hernández-Silva; and the Walla Walla Symphony will close the cycle of premieres under the direction of its Chief Conductor Yaacob Bergman on May 2, 2023. Along with Historias de Flores y Tangos, Pacho will also play his own work Cantos y Revueltas, which has the participation of co-soloist of Leo Rondón playing the Venezuelan Cuatro.
This concert is part of the project of shared commissions that Pacho Flores, together with his agency ACM Concerts, launched in 2017 with the aim of expanding the solo trumpet repertoire with orchestra with concerts that offer a greater range, both in register, as well as sound and color, and therefore, expressive capacity, making room for the various prototypes of four-piston trumpets, cornets and flugelhorns in new tonalities that Pacho has spent years experimenting and developing with his manufacturer Stomvi.
Five other concerts have already emerged from this project: Arturo Márquez’s Concierto de Otoño, commissioned and premiered by the National Orchestra of Mexico (Prieto), the Orchestra of the Center for Performing Arts of Hyogo Japan (Inoue), Oviedo Filarmonía (Macías) and Tucson Symphony (Gomez); the Concerto Venezolano, by Paquito D’Rivera: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (Hindoyan), Minería (Prieto), Valencia Orchestra (Hernández-Silva) and San Diego Symphony (Payare); Salseando, by Roberto Sierra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (Hindoyan), Murcia Orchestra (Hernández-Silva), São Paulo State Symphony (Prieto) and Bordeaux National Orchestra (Hernández-Silva); Danzas Latinas, by Efraín Oscher, Royal Philharmonic of Galicia (Hernández-Silva); and Caballos Mágicos, by Christian Lindberg Royal Galician Philharmonic (Daniel), Swedish Chamber Orchestra (Lindberg) and Bilkent Symphony (Lindberg); and a new commission is already underway, Altar de Bronce, by Gabriela Ortiz by the Galicia Symphony Orchestra (Hernández-Silva), the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (Hindoyan) and the New World Symphony (Prieto).
Several of these concerts have already been recorded, such as Caballos Mágicos, with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and conducted by Christian Lindberg, a recording that includes another concert with the participation of Pacho Flores, such as Sueño Morisco, a double concerto for trumpet and trombone commissioned and premiered by the RTVE Orchestra; the Concierto de Otoño by Arturo Márquez and the Concerto Venezolano, by Paquito D’ Rivera, which are part of ESTIRPE, the new album by Pacho Flores with Minería y Prieto that will be available from July 29; and Salseando, by Roberto Sierra and Altar de Bronce, by Gabriela Ortiz, which will be recorded within a year with Liverpool and Hindoyan.
Marina Heredia will be artist-in-residence of the Duisburger Philharmoniker in the 2022/23 symphony season. After a season that saw her debuts with the Orquesta da Casa da Música do Porto or the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, and a summer that took her to the Granada International Music and Dance Festival and to Hamburg as a guest of the Martha Argerich Festival at the Laieszhalle of the Elbphilharmonie, still waiting for her visit to the Lausitz Festival in Görlitz, the Seville Biennale or the inaugural concert of the Navarra Symphony Orchestra season, which is also the presentation of maestro Perry So as its new Musica and artistic Director, Marina will visit Duisburg up to four occasions to offer various concerts, both with the orchestra and with his flamenco company.
Marina’s residency begins with the quintessential work for cantaora with symphony orchestra, El Amor Brujo by Manuel de Falla. These concerts will take place at the Mercatorhalle in Duisburg, the orchestra’s usual venue, on November 9 and 10, under the direction of its principal conductor, Axel Kober. Next, on the 12th of that month in the same room, she will offer a flamenco recital with her company in quintet format, accompanied by guitar (José Quevedo ‘Bolita’), percussion (Paquito González) and choir / clapping (Fita Heredia and Anabel Rivera).
The second symphonic date will be at the end of the season and it will be the premiere of En Libertad! a work commissioned by the orchestra, composed jointly by José Quevedo ‘Bolita’ and Joan Albert Amargós, which will be conducted by Josep Pons on June 28 and 29. Quevedo, also the author of the texts, has based himself on the journey of the gypsy people from its original origins in the East to the Iberian Peninsula and, particularly, Andalusia. The residency closes with a new flamenco recital on July 1 whose program is based on the cantaora’s latest album, CAPRICHO, and which will feature the participation of musicians from the Duisburger Philharmoniker as guests along with the company’s musicians.
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.
