The Parisian Mathieu Dufour will perform Ibert's Flute Concerto as soloist, in a programme to be conducted by Ludovic Morlot.

 

After eight years, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife (Tenerife Symphony Orchestra) returns the flute as the star in a season concert. The Parisian Mathieu Dufour will perform as the soloist in Ibert's Flute Concerto, in a programme featuring Brahms' Symphony No. 4 and Le Bœuf sur le toit (The Ox on the Roof) by Darius Milhaud. The concert will take place this Friday (24th) at 7:30 p.m. in the Auditorio de Tenerife and will be conducted by Ludovic Morlot.

The Flute Concerto by Jacques Ibert will be performed for the first time in the repertoire of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife.This 1933 piece dedicated to the flautist Marcel Moyse presents a formidable challenge for the soloist, with Mathieu Dufour taking on the role on this occasion. The score offers an aesthetic contrast between the dominance of German creativity in the 19th century and the 20th-century identity trends shaped by the emergence of mass media like cinema, radio and the phonograph. 

Beforehand, the Symphony Orchestra will perform Le Bœuf sur le toit, Op. 58, a score by Darius Milhaud created in 1919. This work offers a musical fantasy set in different Luso-American airs, such as tango, samba, and fado, which he encountered during a diplomatic mission. Initially devised for violin and piano, the work was composed to accompany a film by Charlie Chaplin. 

During the second half of the concert, the orchestra will perform Johannes Brahms's Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op.98. A faithful exponent of the Germanic tradition, Brahms composed the work over the summer of 1884. Its premiere in Hamburg was a great success, which led to a tour around Germany and Holland with Hans von Büllow conducting. The composition engages with feelings ranging from joy to pain and concepts such as humility and eternity. 

This week's event will allow us to enjoy Ludovic Morlot conducting the Sinfónica de Tenerife for the first time. He is currently the musical director of the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra. Between 2011 and 2019, he served as musical director of the Seattle Symphony, a period during which he won five Grammy Awards with the orchestra, where he currently serves as its conductor emeritus. He has also been the associate artist of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra since 2019. He was a founding member and artistic director of the National Youth Orchestra of China from 2017 to 2021 and the main conductor of La Monnaie between 2012 and 2014.

Working as a guest conductor, the American premiere of Betsy Jolas' Latest with the San Francisco Symphony, the St Matthew Passion by Bent Sorensen with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and John Luther Adam's Vespers with the City of Birmingham Symphony stand out. Morlot has featured as guest conductor orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw, the Czech Philharmonic, Dresden Staatskapelle, the London Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Chicago and Philadelphia Symphonies, the Seoul Philharmonic, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra and the Melbourne Symphony.

Mathieu Dufour studied flute at the Conservatoire de Lyon, where he was unanimously awarded first place. 1990, he obtained second place in the Jean-Pierre Rampal International Flute Competition. In 1991, Dufour won third place in the International Flute Competition in Budapest. In 1997, he finished second in Japan's Kobe International Flute Competition. Dufour has performed as the flute soloist at the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and the Paris Opera. He was appointed principal flute of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1999 and served as principal flute of the Berlin Philharmonic between 2015 and 2022. In 2011, he was awarded the honorary title of «Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres» by the French Ministry of Culture.

Dufour has appeared in concerts at Carnegie Hall and the Lucerne Festival under the baton of Daniel Barenboim with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has also worked together with other conductors as a soloist, such as Pierre Boulez, Riccardo Muti, Charles Dutoit, Fabio Luisi, and David Roberston, and he gives master classes in the United States, Canada, Europe, South America and Asia. He has also been a member of the teaching staff at DePaul University and the Rosevelt University in Chicago, the Barenboim Akademie in Berlin and the Berlin Philharmonie Akademie.

José Lorenzo Chinea Cáceres reveals the keys to these three pieces in his preliminary talk, part of the conferences organised by the Tenerife Association for Friends of Music. The event takes place at 6:30 p.m. in the Sala Avenida, located in the hall of the Auditorio de Tenerife.

The tickets for this concert can be purchased until the day of the event 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.