UPCOMING CONCERTS & EVENTS

Program 2

Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco
José Luis Castillo, Music Director 

 **Fanfare from King Lear | Claude Debussy
Fanfare from La Péri | Paul Dukas
Symphony No. 2, Op. 55 | Camille Saint-Saëns
Suite from Ma mère l oye (Mother Goose Suite) | Maurice Ravel

**Jalisco premiere.

The Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco presents the second program of our First 2022 Orchestra Season, in our own beautiful Teatro Degollado, where we will have the opportunity to delight in a variety of musical “flavors” from the home of haute cuisine, France, in four distinctive orchestral works.

We begin with the Fanfare from Musiques pour "Le Roi Lear" (Fanfare from the Music for King Lear), the first of two parts of incidental music that Claude Debussy composed in 1905 for the monumental tragedy King Lear by William Shakespeare (written in 1606, but set in Eighth-Century England), for trumpets, horns, tympani, snare drum and--Surprise! Harp, whose ineffable timbre flavors the more tranquil portions of the Fanfare with a taste of ancient mysticism.

The other French fanfare that we will be treated to on this program also proceeds from the musical “Impressionist” period, but has a rather different character. Its author, Paul Dukas, was one of the composition teachers of José Rolón, the illustrious founder (in 1915) of the OFJ in its first version (as the Orquesta Sinfónica de Guadalajara). Rolón studied with Maestro Dukas in Paris in 1927-29.  Dukas, whose best-known orchestral work is “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”, utilized all the colors and dynamics in the OFJ brass section’s toolkit for the majestic Fanfare from La Péri.

The Symphony N° 2 in A minor by Camille Saint-Saëns is actually the fourth of five symphonies written by that Frenchman, although only three of his symphonies were numbered. The work is considered a fine example of orchestral economy of means and structural cohesion; the symphony contains passages that demonstrate the composer’s mastery of the use of counterpoint, specifically in fugues and fugato sections. It closes with a rousing tarantella.

Originally published in 1910 for piano, four hands, as a duet for children, the Mother Goose Suite by French composer Maurice Ravel was brilliantly orchestrated by its author in 1911 and, later that same year, extended in order to create a ballet.  The Suite that will be presented by the OFJ evokes the memory of various fairy tales during its five movements: I. Sleeping Beauty Pavane; II. Tom Thumb; III. Little Ugly Girl, Empress of the Pagodas; IV. Conversations between Beauty and the Beast; and finally, V. The Fairy Garden.  Thanks to the rich orchestration by Ravel, our OFJ will bring these wonderful children’s tales to life under the baton of its Music Director, José Luis del Castillo.

Thursday, February 24th, 8:30 PM
Sunday, February 27th, 12:30 PM
First Orchestra Season 2022, Teatro Degollado

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