Less than a year after his acclaimed Fidelio in Malaga, Manuel Hernández-Silva conducts again Beethoven’s only opera at the Baluarte Auditorium in Pamplona with the Navarra Symphony Orchestra and the Orfeón Pamplonés in the opening concert of the OSN season. Soprano Berna Perles and tenor César Gutiérrez, who on that occasion debuted the roles of the heroine Leonore and Florestán, her unjustly imprisoned husband, will once again play the leading roles. Along with Perles and Gutiérrez, the cast is completed by Damián del Castillo (baritone) as Don Pizarro, Enric Martínez-Castignani (bass) as Rocco, Andrea Jiménez (soprano) in the role of Marcelina, Javier Povedano (bass) as Don Fernando and Pablo García-López (tenor) in the role of Jacquino. The performances, in concert version due to the Covid-19 restrictions, will take place next 14 and 15 October.
In addition to Fidelio, Hernández-Silva has already conducted other titles in Spain such as Così fan tutte at the Teatro Cervantes in Malaga; The Magic Flute at the Murcia Opera Season; Don Giovanni at the Gran Teatro de Córdoba and the Kursaal Auditorium in San Sebastian during the festival Quincena Donostiarra; or Doña Francisquita (again at the Gran Teatro de Córdoba), among others. He also recorded Haydn’s La Vera Costanza for CAPRICCIO with the WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln and singers such as Simone Kermes, Chen Reiss, Rainer Trost and Paul Armin Edelmann. Manuel Hernández-Silva will soon return to the pit in Pamplona to conduct Manon Lescaut by Puccini, within the season of the Asociación Gayarre de Amigos de la Opera and with Ainhoa Arteta in the leading role.
Sevillian harpist Cristina Montes Mateo will make her debut with the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias on 8 and 9 October at the Teatro Jovellanos in Gijón and the Auditorio Príncipe Felipe in Oviedo, respectively. Under maestro Miguel Romea, she will perform the Concerto Capriccio for harp and orchestra (1975) by Xavier Montsalvatge. This concert was commissioned by the Orquesta Nacional de España and Nicanor Zabaleta -to whom it is dedicated-, who premiered it together with Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos at the Teatro Real in Madrid on 18 April of that same year.
Cristina Montes completed her studies in London and at the Orchestra Academy of the Staatskapelle Berlin under the direction of maestro Daniel Barenboim. Based in Los Angeles, the Sevillian harpist has given recitals throughout Europe, the US, Japan and South America, and has worked with major international orchestras such as the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Orquesta Simón Bolívar in Venezuela, Orquesta de Santiago de Chile, Orchester des Theater für Niedersachsen Hannover or Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. In Spain she has performed with the Orquesta de Cordoba, the Malaga Philharmonic, the Valencian Community Orchestra and the JONDE (National Youth Orchestra of Spain).
Her recordings include the album Obras para arpa, with 11 premieres by Spanish female composers; Voyage (NAXOS), with works by Bach, Sancan and Prokofiev, or her most recent album for the Spanish label IBS Classical, which includes among other the harp concerto Pour le jour de l’an, with the Moonwinds Wind Ensemble conducted by Joan Enric Lluna, and the Partita op. 80 for solo harp, both by Salvador Bacarisse. Since 2013, she teaches at the Joaquín Rodrigo Conservatory of Music in Valencia and gives master classes at the Berklee College of Music, Birmingham Conservatoire or Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln.
Manuel Hernández-Silva begins his symphonic season with the RTVE Orchestra at the Teatro Monumental in Madrid, along with flamenco star Estrella Morente and guitarist Pablo Saiz Villegas. The repertoire of this concert, wich will take place at the Teatro Monumental in Madrid next Saturday, September 19, includes several works such as El Sombrero de Tres Picos and El Amor Brujo by Manuel de Falla, as well as Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquín Rodrigo.
Manuel Hernández-Silva will then travel to Pamplona to resume his activity as principal conductor of the Navarra Symphony Orchestra. He will begin with a recording of works by both current and past Navarrese composers, followed by the opening concert of the season. After that, he will conduct the first subscription concert, which will this year feature a concert version of Beethoven’s Fidelio with Berna Perles and César Gutiérrez in the main roles, the same leading couple he had in the staged version he conducted last year at Teatro Cervantes with the Malaga Philharmonic and the stage direction of José Carlos Plaza.
Later in the season he will conduct Manon Lescaut by Puccini for the opera season of the Asociación Gayarre de Amigos de la Ópera —also in Pamplona—, with the voices of Ainhoa Arteta and Roberto Aronica in the main roles. In the symphonic field he will return to work with orchestras such as Extremadura, Murcia, RTVE or Bogotá, and will recover his postponed debut with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, along with new debuts in Norway, France and Germany. This symphonic activity includes several premieres by composers such as Roberto Sierra, Pacho Flores, Manuel Moreno Buendía, Paquito D’Rivera, Koldo Pastor, etc.
Enrico Onofri has recently been appointed Principal Conductor of the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, with which the Italian conductor and violonist hopes to rediscover the paths and values he has built in the course of his past experiences as concertmaster of La Capella Reial with Jordi Savall, as a member of Concentus Musicus Wien with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, as concertmaster and soloist of Il Giardino Armonico, as well as through his work als conductor of specialized and modern ensembles and orchestras throughout Europe, Japan and America.
This new position is thus added to those that Enrico Onofri already held as Principal Guest Conductor of the Haydn Philharmonie, Resident Conductor of the Bochum Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Seville Baroque Orchestra, Musical Director of the Montis Regalis Academy and Founder and Director of the Ensemble Imaginarium. In addition to his work as an opera conductor, a field in which he is increasingly in demand, Enrico Onofri has also worked with ensembles such as Arion Baroque, Balthasar Neumann Project, Castor Ensemble, Croatian Baroque, Riga Sinfonietta or Montis Regalis Academy; and with modern orchestras such as the Orchestra Metropolitana de Lisboa, Orchestre National de Pays de la Loire, Orchestre d’Auvergne, European Union Baroque Orchestra, Portland Baroque Orchestra or Kammerorchester Basel.
After the success he achieved last season conducting Haendel’s Agrippina at the Teatro de la Maestranza together with the Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla, as well as with the last recording of his group Imaginarium Ensemble, published by Pasacaille with the title Into Nature and dedicated to the Italian instrumental music of the 17th and 8th centuries, Enrico Onofri will visit, in between his commitments with the Filarmónica Toscanini, the Real Filharmonía de Galicia, an orchestra to which he has been invited on several occasions and where he will conduct next December a Christmas program with works by Haydn and Vivaldi.
Pacho Flores opens his 2020/21 symphonic season with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan, together with maestro Christian Lindberg —trombonist, conductor and composer as well as a friend and mentor to Pacho. The program includes Haydn’s Concerto for trumpet and Akban Bunka for trumpet and orchestra by Lindberg himself. Both works appear on the album FRACTALES (Deutsche Grammophon), which was recorded by both artists together with the Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra.
Pacho Flores and Christian Lindberg have a long history of collaboration that will be continued with further concerts, commissions and recordings. Christian Lindberg takes part in Pacho’s project of shared commissions for new trumpet concerts, with premieres already scheduled in Turkey, Spain and Sweden which will later be recorded with other works by Lindberg such as Un Sueño Morisco. This double concert for trumpet, trombone and orchestra was commissioned and premiered by the Orquesta Sinfónica Radio Televisión Española together with Pacho, trombonist Ximo Vicedo and Lindberg himself as a conductor.
Pacho’s agenda will continue, if the COVID-19 allows it, with his usual concert and educational activities in Spain and Europe, Asia and North and South America. Among the upcoming premieres are the world premiere of his Ma-Jokaraisa (My Other Heart), a concert for flugelhorn, together with the National Orchestra of Chile and Rodolfo Saglimbeni, which will then have its European premiere with the Orquesta de Extremadura and Manuel Hernández-Silva; the premieres in Asia, Spain and Sweden of Christian Lindberg’s new trumpet concerto; the Spanish premieres of Salseando by Roberto Sierra with the Orquesta Sinfónica de la Región de Murcia and Hernández-Silva, and of the Concerto Venezolano by Paquito D’Rivera with the Valencia Orchestra and Vicente Alberola, etc.
Meanwhile, Pacho Flores continues with the project of shared commissions for new trumpet concerts with a new commission by Daniel Freiberg. A new phase of this project is now about to begin, with new composers to be incorporated, which will be announced in due time.
Serbian pianist Misha Dacić joins ACM Concert’s roster for worldwide management. After his American debut at the Discovery Series of the Miami International Piano Festival, Misha Dacić quickly became a sought-after soloist who captured audiences throughout the United States performing in venues such as Ravinia’s Rising Stars Series in Chicago, Gilmore Keyboard Festival, Steinway Hall New York, Xavier Classical Piano Series in Cincinnati, Frederic Chopin Society’s Concert Series in Minneapolis, among numerous others.
Misha Dacić appeared in solo recitals as well as a guest soloist throughout Central and South America, Europe, Russia, Middle East and Japan. He performed at the Martha Argerich Project Festival in Lugano, at Mendelssohn’s house in Leipzig, at Sergiu Celibidache Festival in Bucharest, at the Festival Raritäten der Klaviermusik in Husum, at the International Piano Festival En Blanco & Negro in Mexico City, at the Oji Hall in Tokyo, and with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra at Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro. In 2009 Misha Dacić joined the legendary violinist Ida Haendel on a tour in Japan, performing with her all over the world ever since. One of their live performances was captured on a DVD released by VAI. Misha Dacić in Recital, featuring several live performances, was also released by VAI in 2009. Celebrating Franz Liszt’s 200th anniversary in 2011, Dacić’s Liszt album, released by Piano Classics, was greatly received by the critic worldwide. In 2018, Brilliant Classics released Dacić’s album featuring works by A. Scriabin.
In 2016 Misha Dacić gave a premier of his two-piano arrangement of Rachmaninoff Choral Symphony The Bells at Rachmaninoff estate museum in Ivanovka, Russia, and was appointed artistic director of the Rahmaninoff Festival at the same venue. Born into a family with musical tradition, and having taken first lessons from his father, Misha Dacić has been performing in public since the age of ten. Kemal Gekić, Lazar Berman, and Jorge Luis Prats are counted among his mentors. Misha Dacić holds his current posts as professor of piano at the Academia Galamian in Malaga, at Escuela Internacional de Musica Alberto Jonas in Valencia, and at Escuela de Alta Especialización Musical ‘Musikae’ in Madrid.
