The guest pianist Rafael Bechacz will play under the direction of Víctor Pablo Pérez

 

 

The Symphony Orchestra of Tenerife (OST) is a project of the Island Council’s Department of Culture which is directed by Enrique Arriaga. This new concert will offer a look at the 19th century through selected works by Chopin and Sibelius, key Romantic composers who also represent the musical nationalism movement. On Friday, the 28th of May at 7:30 pm, Víctor Pablo Pérez, the honorary conductor of the Orchestra, will conduct the musical programme. During this concert, the Polish pianist Rafael Bechacz will make his debut with the OST.

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) is considered to be the first "poet of the piano" and one of the most attractive figures of the Romantic period. He mainly composed for piano. His music is highly regarded for its lyricism, purity, delicate charm and virtuosity. The Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor, which in fact is the second concert chronologically speaking, belongs to the composer’s Polish period before moving to Paris and making it his adopted city. The concert was premièred in 1830 in Warsaw. It was also the last concert Chopin gave in his home country and the second concert to launch his career as a prodigy.  The result is undoubtedly the work of a genius with a unique voice.

Finland had no significant musical tradition before Jean Sibelius (1865-1957). The composer’s early works were imbued with nationalist fervour and had a late Romantic style too. The Symphony Orchestra of Tenerife will play his Symphony No. 2 in D Major during the second half of the concert. This work marks the end of a highly creative and fruitful period known as "nationalist romanticism", which he rejected in later scores. It is the most universally known of the seven symphonies Sibelius wrote, and it was composed after 'Finland'. According to critics, this symphony has "a significant political component". Sibeliuscompleted it in 1902. The work was adopted by the Finnish as a song of combat and liberation against the Russian oppressor and the musical expression of their nationalist aspirations.

Víctor Pablo Pérez, the honorary conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Tenerife, studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid and at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich. He was artistic director and chief conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Asturias between 1980 and 1988 and of the Symphony Orchestra of Tenerife between 1986 and 2005. In 1993 he started to conduct the Symphony Orchestra of Galicia, a task he carried out until 2013. That year he joined the Orchestra and Choir of the Community of Madrid as artistic director and conductor. Since January 2017 he has been the artistic director of the Youth Orchestra of the Canary Islands.

Rafał Blechacz has been distinguished with numerous awards and accolades from critics, producers and artists as one of the best interpreters of Chopin's piano works of his generation. He started playing the piano at the age of five and finished his piano studies in 2007 at the Bydgoszcz Academy of Music with the piano professor Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń. A year earlier, in 2006, he signed an exclusive agreement with the German record company ‘Deutsche Grammophon’, becoming thus the second Polish pianist after Krystian Zimerman to sign with said label.

Tickets can be purchased until two hours before the concert on the website www.sinfonicadetenerife.es and by dialling the phone number 902 317 327 from Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Saturdays 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m, except on holidays. The audience is requested to arrive at the venue well in advance to enter the Auditorium in staggered "waves" to enjoy this cultural experience. By purchasing tickets, you accept the measures implemented by the cultural centre to combat COVID-19, such as the correct use of masks and the attendance at the event only with people you live with. All of the measures, as well as the contingency plan certified by AENOR, can be consulted on the Auditorium’s website.