UPCOMING CONCERTS & EVENTS

Program 7 

Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco
Music Director Jesús Medina 

Symphony in C| GEORGES BIZET
Deux Gymnopédies| ERIK SATIE, ORQ. DEBUSSY
Suite No. 4 “Mozartiana”| TCHAIKOVSKY

In 1933, Douglas Charles Parker, who had written the first biography in English of the famous opera composer Georges Bizet, had a hunch.  He had seen an article in a French musicological magazine hinting at the existence of a symphony by that composer, so very famous for his opera Carmen.

He petitioned the library of the Paris Conservatoire to be allowed to see their collection of papers that Bizet´s widow had left there (by way of composer Reynaldo Hahn) in 1875.  What he discovered put France on the map as a birthplace of symphonic composers—and it’s first on this week’s OFJ program—the Georges Bizet Symphony in C.

One of the highlights of this symphony is the haunting oboe melody in the second movement, in the expert hands of veteran OFJ associate principal oboist Jorge Rivero. 

The words “enfant terrible” might just as well have been invented to describe Parisian composer Erik Satie.  Eccentric and visionary, always at the forefront of the French avant-garde movement, he inspired numerous artists and musicians in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  While working as a piano player in the Paris cabaret Le Chat Noir, he became friends with not-yet-famous composer Claude Debussy, who adopted some of Satie´s outrageous ideas.  Debussy returned the favor later, when Satie was down on his luck, orchestrating two of the three Gymnopédies that Satie had written for piano.  The OFJ presents these two pieces in Debussy´s order:  Number 3, then Number 1.

Four little-known gems by Mozart were put in sumptuous settings by Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky, and now, in that composer’s “Mozartiana” Suite, we can discover them!  The fourth movement, a theme and variations, features a violin concerto in miniature brought to life by our concertmaster Iván Pérez, with all the drama that Tchaikovsky brings to the instrument.  Principal clarinetist Jeslán Fernández will also delight us with some very impressive riffs—because no one can riff like Tchaikovsky--And no one can play Tchaikovsky like the Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco!  Enjoy!

Thursday, November 18th, 8:30 PM
Sunday, November 21st, 12:30 PM
Third Orchestra Season 2021, Teatro Degollado

*Tickets ranging from $90 to $250 pesos, available at the Teatro Degollado Box Office and through the Ticketmaster system.