The oratorio by Mendelssohn will involve the participation of four soloists and the Chamber Choir of the Palau de la Música Catalana

 

The Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Víctor Pablo Pérez, will give its first performance of Elijah by Felix Mendelssohn. On this occasion, the cast will include the soprano Alicia Amo, mezzo-soprano Anna Alàs, baritone Josep-Ramón Olivé and tenor James Gilchrist, together with the Choir Palau de la Música Catalana, conducted by Xavi Puig. The season's concert takes place on Friday [31st], at 7:30 p.m., in the Auditorio de Tenerife, but there will be an extraordinary concert on Thursday [30th], at 8:00 p.m., in the Cathedral of La Laguna.

Elijah, op.70, MWV A 25 with a libretto by Julius Schubring is a sacred drama for soloists, choir and orchestra, created in 1837 and premièred at the Town Hall of Birmingham in August 1846; with such success that the author himself wrote that "No work of mine ever went so admirably at its first performance, nor was received with such enthusiasm by both the musicians and the audience".

The vocal symphonic work describes different events in the life of the Biblical prophet Elijah, taken from the books of Kings in the Old Testament, and it unfolds as a monumental score packed with symbolism. The choir takes on a prominent role, as during more than half of the work, it essentially embodies the people of Israel.

The honorary conductor of the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, Victor Pablo Pérez, undertook his studies at the Royal Conservatoire of Music in Madrid and at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich. Between 1980 and 1988 he was artistic director and lead conductor of the Asturias Symphony Orchestra and between 1986 and 2005 of the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra. In 1993, the conductor from Burgos took the reins of the Galician Symphony Orchestra, a role he held until 2013, the year that he joined the Orchestra and Choir of the Community of Madrid as the artistic director and lead conductor. Since January 2017 he has been the artistic director of the Youth Orchestra of the Canaries.

Throughout his professional career, Victor Pablo Pérez has been recognised on various occasions, such as the Ojo Crítico Award of the Spanish National Radio (RNE) (1990), the Ondas Award (1992 and 1996), the National Music Award (1995), Gold Medal for Fine Arts (1999), Honorary Conductor of the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra (2006), Honorary Conductor of the Galician Symphony Orchestra (2013), Adopted Son of Tenerife and Gold Medal of the Canary Islands Government.

Soprano Alicia Amo studied singing at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with G. Türk, R. Domínguez, R. Levitt, C. Mena and M. Honig, among others. She has performed two Operastudio with A. Zedda (Bel Canto) and R. Jacobs (Mozart) and has won the Manhattan & Berliner International Music Competition, the International "Mozart" Competition in Granada and the Concorso Internazionale di Canto di Napoli.

As a soloist, she has worked with renowned ensembles such as the Orchestra of the Spanish television RTVE, the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestras of the Basque Country, Granada, the Principality of Asturias, the Philharmonic orchestra of Oviedo, the Symphony Orchestra of Vallés, the Balearic Islands, Tenerife, the Real Philharmonic orchestra, the Orchestra of the Community of Madrid, the Baroque Orchestra of Sevilla, La Cetra Basel, Zürich Kammerorchester, Insula Orchestra, Balthasar Neumann, Pygmalion, Israel Camerata Jerusalem, Düsseldorfer Philharmonie, B'rock Orchester, Bochumer Philharmonie and Haydn Philharmonie, among others.

Anna Alàs is a mezzo-soprano with a degree in singing from the Catalonian College of Music. She has been a member of the Operastudio of the Staatstheater Nürnberg and later obtained a Master's degree in Lied and Oratorio at the Berlin College for Music "Hanns Eisler". Among her acknowledgements, Alàs has won awards at the Stuttgart International Lied Competition and the P.A. Cesti Baroque Opera Competition and has received scholarships from the Humboldt Stiftung, La Caixa-DAAD and Caja Madrid.

Her latest performances include performances at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, Berliner Philharmonie, Volksbühne Berlin, Konzerthaus of Berlín and Karlsruhe, Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Staatstheater Nürnberg, Theater Heidelberg, Landestheater Linz, Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik, Heidelberger Frühling, Ludwigsburg Schlossfestspiele, Musikfestspiele Potsdam, WinterOper Potsdam, among others.

Baritone Josep-Ramón Olivé studied choral conducting and classical singing at the Catalonian College of Music and continued his vocal training at the Guildhall School in London with Professor Rudolf Piernay. Among other merits, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London in 2017, as well as the First Prize in the Händel Singing Competition in 2015.

In recent performances he has worked with Le Concert des Nations, Les Arts Florissants, Hespérion XXI, OBC, London Händel Orchestra and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Olivé has performed in different international halls such as the Palau de la Música Catalana, L'Auditori in Barcelona, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Philharmonie in Paris, Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, Wigmore Hall and Barbican Hall in London, and the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow.

Tenor James Gilchrist is an expert in English music, having performed the Church Parables at St Petersburg, London and the Aldeburgh Festival, Nocturne with the NHK Symphony in Tokyo and War Requiem with the San Francisco Symphony. Recent engagements include the role of Reverend Adams in Britten's Peter Grimes for Deborah Warner's production at Teatro Real in Madrid, his company's debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as well as performing with the Bergen Philharmonic and Edward Gardner at the Edinburgh International Festival, the Royal Festival Hall, the Grieghallen and Den Norske Opera.

Gilchrist's current season includes his debut at the Opéra National in Paris, a European tour with Bach Collegium Japan and the St. John Passion with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra in Toronto.

The Chamber Choir of the Palau de la Música Catalana is a professional group created by the L'Orfeó Català in 1990 and conducted since 2018 by Xavier Puig, although it previously had the conductors R. Jacobs, M. Minkowski, K. Nagano, S. Rattle, G. Dudamel, D. Barenboim, Ch. Rousset, V. Jurowski, D. Gatti and S. Carrington.

The collaborations for this season have led it to work with Europa Galant and Fabio Biondi, with L'Orfeo in Monteverdi; and also at the MÜPA festival in Budapest; it has also presented the St John Passion by Bach, conducted by Puig, along with the premières of Reconnaissance by Saariaho and Invocation to the Earth by Campesino Corella, conducted by Halsey.

ATADEM, the Tenerife Association for Friends of Music, continues with its talks before the concerts. This activity is free to its members and the general public to promote, in greater detail, analysis and contextualisation of the works performed at the concert. On this occasion, the activity will be provided by José Lorenzo Chinea Cáceres, on the same day of the concert from 6:30 p.m. to 7.15 p.m. in the Press Room, in the hall of the Auditorio de Tenerife.

The tickets for this new event can be purchased until the day of the concert on the website www.sinfonicadetenerife.es, at the auditorium's box office and by dialling the phone number 902 317 327 from Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.