Christian Vásquez begins a tour to China with the Juan José Landaeta Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, of which he has been Music Director since 2010, when its official name was still Teresa Carreño Youth Symphony Orchestra. Christian was also recently appointed Associate Director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, an appointment that sanctions his long and close relationship with the orchestra in particular, and with the Children’s and Youth Orchestra System in general, within which he was trained and of which he never really left, as he was also named musical director of the José Félix Ribas Youth Symphony in 2006, still during his student days. He recently led the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra on another China tour. In the meantime, Christian also became Music Director of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra at the beginning of the 2013/14 season, a position he held until 2019, and was Principal Guest Conductor of the Gävle Orchestra in Sweden and Arnhem Orchestra in The Netherlands.
An extract from the El Sistema press release: “The Juan José Landaeta Symphony Orchestra (OSJJL) will thus undertake its first international tour. During its stay in the Chinese capital, the group will offer three concerts in addition to participating in the creation of a binational orchestra together with local musicians, in a meeting that aims to be a bridge between the two cultures through the universal language of music. This tour is part of the celebration of 50 years of diplomatic relations between Venezuela and the Republic of China. The OSJJL was created in 2018 at the initiative of Eduardo Méndez, executive director of El Sistema, as a tribute to the first orchestra founded by Maestro José Antonio Abreu in 1975. The current group debuted in the preamble to the celebration of the 43rd anniversary of El Sistema. This group has reached a solid musical level thanks to its associate conductors Christian Vásquez and Jesús Uzcátegui together with the meticulous work of an outstanding group of Venezuelan conductors, among whom are Enluis Montes Olivar, Rodolfo Saglimbeni, Joshua Dos Santos and Pablo Castellanos, who have contributed with their talent and experience to the training of this exceptional group, which in turn has become an important source of opportunities for young Venezuelan soloists”.
The great debut of the Juan José Landaeta Symphony Orchestra in Asia will be led by the Chinese National Orchestra in a binational concert – on Monday, June 17 – that will be conducted by Christian Vásquez and Liu Zheng. The imposing Beijing Concert Hall theater will be the stage for a repertoire that combines masterpieces from China and Venezuela and celebrates the richness and diversity of music worldwide. The Spring Festival Overture by Li Huanzhi; Dance of Yao People by Liu Tieshan and Mao Yuan; Dance of Golden Snake by Er Nie; and Jasmine Flowers, one of the best-known Chinese compositions in the world, are the Chinese works that will be performed. On the other hand, Margariteña by Inocente Carreño, Santa Cruz de Pacairigua by Evencio Castellanos, Venezuela by Pablo Herrero and José Luis Armenteros, and Alma Llanera by Rafael Bolívar Coronado and Pedro Elías Gutiérrez, will put the Venezuelan flavor in Beijing. Additionally, the group will perform Sensemayá, by the Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas.
On Tuesday, June 18, the OSJJL will return to the Beijing Concert Hall under the baton of maestro Christian Vásquez. In this concert, the Venezuelan orchestra will take the public on a vibrant journey, with Revueltas’ The Night of the Mayans, -a colorful work that immerses the public in a magical and ritualistic universe- and Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, a composition that evokes a whirlwind of passions, dreams and fantasies. Finally, on Thursday, June 20, they will visit the Beijing Science and Culture Youth Center of the Song Ching Ling Foundation. The concert will be divided into two parts. The works by Carreño, Revueltas and Castellanos, together with the last movement of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, will be performed in the first part, which will be conducted by Maestro Zheng. Next, the Spring Festival Overture by Li Huanzhi and Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky will be conducted by Christian. Jupiter, from Gustav Holst’s The Planets, and the fourth movement of Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, both conducted by Zheng, will also be performed.