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.
Marina Heredia will sing El Amor Brujo by Manuel de Falla next April 28 at the Palacio de Festivales de Cantabria in Santander, together with the ADDA Symphony Orchestra of Alicante and its principal conductor, Josep Vicent. Marina Heredia has become the most demanded flamenco artist internationally to perform Manuel de Falla’s El Amor Brujo. In addition to her performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra or the Orchestra of Saint Luke at the Carnegie Hall in New York, both times under Pablo Heras-Casado, with whom she has also recorded this work for Harmonia Mundi, she has also appeared with other orchestras such as the Orchestre National de Lille last year, together with Josep Vicent.
Marina’s next engagements include the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Rouen, again with Josep Vicent, the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin under Pablo Heras-Casado at the Philharmonie and the Konzerthaus in Berlin, or the Orquestra da Casa da Música de Porto under the direction of Stefan Blunier. Back in Spain and again with Heras-Casado, she will sing El Amor Brujo at the Teatro Real in Madrid next June.
Marina Heredia has recently performed El Amor Brujo at the Auditorio Manuel de Falla with the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, a city that still remembers the fabulous stage production of La Fura dels Baus at the bullring of Granada with the Youth Orchestra of Andalusia conducted by Manuel Hernández-Silva.
Pacho Flores and Hernández-Silva return together to the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra for a program that includes the Concerto for corno da caccia, by J. B. G. Neruda, the Colombian premiere of Cantos y Revueltas by Pacho Flores himself, which both artists recorded for the Deutsche Grammophon label, and Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4. It will be on Friday, April 26. Previously, Pacho Flores will be the only protagonist in a concert in which he will appear as player and conductor of the Brass Ensemble of the Bogotá Philharmonic. The program will present, together with works by Copland and Dukas and arrangements of works by Gershwin, Sarasate, Piazzolla and Pacho Flores himself, the absolute premiere of Musas y Resuello, Symphonic movement for brass ensemble and percussion, a piece commissioned by the Bogotá Philharmonic to the Spanish-Venezuelan trumpeter. This concert will take place on Friday, April 17, after a week in which Pacho Flores will participate in various educational activities and a masterclasses.
Pacho Flores and Hernández-Silva have just recently presented Cantos y Revueltas together with the Orquesta de Extremadura, a concert that the Scherzo magazine collaborator Justo Romero defined as overwhelming, luminous and radiant: “The confluence of three Venezuelan talents such as conductor Manuel Hernández- Silva (…), trumpet player Pacho Flores (can someone play better?) and the virtuoso of the Venezuelan cuatro Leo Rondón (eighth notes and rhythm in vein) turned the tenth subscription program of the Extremadura Orchestra into a feast for the senses in which music was happiness and emotion. Overwhelming, yes, but, above all, joyous and brimming with art, inspiration, talent and fine quality.”
Both artists have a dense history of collaborations full of memorable evenings, such as the premiere of Cantos y Revueltas with the Real Filharmonía de Galicia, whose live recording was later published as an album and led to further presentations with the orchestras of Malaga, Navarre, Murcia or the above mentioned Extremadura, but also the premieres of Danzas Latinas by Efraín Oscher (RFG) and Salseando by Roberto Sierra (OSRM), or the memorable version of the Concierto de otoño by Arturo Márquez (RFG). Still ahead are new premieres of works by composers such as Daniel Freiberg with the Arctic Philharmonic, Roberto Sierra with the Orchestra National de Bordeaux Aquitaine, and the Concerto Venezolano by Paquito D’Rivera with a Spanish orchestra to be soon announced.
Christian Vásquez opens the Tongyeong Festival in South Korea on March 26 with a program that includes Fanfare & Memorial (1979), by Korean composer Isang Yung, Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35, with Bomsori Kim as soloist, and Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47 by Dmitri Shostakovich. Two days later, on March 28, he will conduct again the Tongyeong Festival Orchestra in a program that includes the Asian premiere of Fazil Say’s Cello Concerto Never Give Up, with Camille Thomas as soloist, and the Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88 by Antonin Dvořâk. Christian Vásquez has recently conducted two great concerts with the Symphony Orchestra of the Principality of Asturias, and upon his return from Korea he will once again conduct the Stavanger Symphony in Norway.
Christian Vásquez is Musical Director of the Teresa Carreño Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, which he conducted on a remarkable European tour that took them to London, Lisbon, Toulouse, Munich, Stockholm and Istanbul. He was Principal Conductor of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra from 2013 to 2019 and Principal Guest Conductor of the Het Gelders Orkest from 2015 to 2020, a position that he began with a Latin program on a tour around The Netherlands. Following his debut with the Gävle Symphony Orchestra in October 2009, one of his first appearances in Europe, Christian Vásquez was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the orchestra (2010-2013). He has worked with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Residentie Orkest, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Salzburg Camerata, Russian State Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic or Singapore Symphony Orchestra. In North America he has conducted the National Arts Center Orchestra (Ottawa) and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, during his participation in their Young Artist Fellowship program.
He has conducted orchestras such as the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Sinfónica de Galicia, Berlin Konzerthausorchester, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Warsaw Beethoven Festival Orchestra, Turku Philharmonic, Luxembourg Philharmonic, Radio Symphony Orchestra of Prague, Poznan Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, Mexican National Symphony Orchestra, Basel Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Gran Canaria Philharmonic and the Estonian National Orchestra. His first operatic engagement in Europe was at the Norwegian Opera with Carmen.
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.
Perry So returns to Spain to conduct again the Navarre Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of the Principality of Asturias and the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra. In Navarre, he will also have the participation of the Orfeón Pamplonés in a program including works for choir and orchestra by Brahms and the rarely programmed Symphony in C by Paul Dukas. Immediately after Navarre, Perry will join the OSPA, an orchestra with which he has a long history of collaborations, where he will conduct Nikolai Luganski in Medtner’s Concerto No. 3 and Tchaikovsky’s Pathetic Symphony. He will finish his Spanish tour in Tenerife, where he will conduct Pablo Ferrández with Tchaikovsky’s Rococó Variationsand Borodin’s Symphony No. 2. Perry should be conducting these days the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and then what would be his second appearance with the San Francisco Symphony, but both commitments postponed due to the COVID19 restrictions.
Perry So has worked, among others, with the Cleveland and Minnesota Orchestras, the Houston, Detroit, New Jersey, Israel and Shanghai Symphony Orchestras, the Chinese Philharmonic and the Residentie Orkest in The Hague. He has been a frequent guest at the Walt Disney Hall and the Hollywood Bowl as a Dudamel Conducting Fellow at the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He conducted the Hong Kong Philharmonic with Lang Lang in celebration of the 15th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China at the closing of his four-year term as Associate Conductor, and led a tour of the Zagreb Philharmonic in the Balkan Peninsula.
Perry So received the First Prize and the Special Prize at the 5th Prokofiev International Conducting Competition in St. Petersburg. His recording of the Barber and Korngold violin concertos with Alexander Gilman and the Cape Town Philharmonic received the Diapason D’Or in January 2012. He has done many recordings with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the BBC Concert Orchestra. He is known for the enormous variety of repertoire that he conducts, including numerous world premieres on four continents. He has directed productions of Cosí fan tutte, The Magic Flute, The Turn of the Screw, Giulio Cesare, Gianni Schicchi, and Die Fledermaus. His commitment to young people has led him to work with the Australian Youth Orchestra, the Round Top Festival, the Manhattan School of Music, the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and the Yale School of Music. He has also been assistant to Edo de Waart, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Gustavo Dudamel, Lorin Maazel and John Adams. Born in Hong Kong, he holds a Degree in Comparative Literature from Yale University.
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