OFJ Announces its Upcoming Season
In a recent press conference, OFJ General Manager Arturo Gómez Poulat announced the upcoming tercera temporada (seven weeks, seven programs) and welcomed this week's engaging guest conductor, Marco Parisotto.
Maestro Parisotto began with great praise for the Bruckner Fourth Symphony (Romantic), a work not frequently performed outside of Austria, Germany and the Netherlands (last performed by the OFJ ten years ago, with Gordon Campbell as guest conductor).
"In the 1960s and 1970s," the maestro said, "the world discovered the work of Gustav Mahler, and his symphonies are performed by orchestras in many different countries. Now Bruckner's time has come,"
Also on the program is Sergei Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43, a well-known and well loved work "second only in popularity to Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2" according to Maestro Parisotto. Featuring Polish-Swedish pianist Peter Jablonski, of whom the Washington Post remarked: “It may happen once a season or once in a lifetime. Along comes a talent, not merely your run-of-the-mill virtuoso, but someone, something extraordinary that makes you rethink a piece of music you thought you’ve known forever” , this concert promises to be memorable.
Mr. Gómez Poulat went on to tell the listeners about the rest of the temporada, which he believes to be an especially interesting one due to the presence of the visual element--dramatic staging--in most of the programs.
Commemorating Giuseppe Verdi's 200th birthday, two programs are dedicated to his popular works: the second program, "Gala Verdi" in which some of Mexico's finest vocal talents join forces with the OFJ and the Jalisco State Choir, and the fourth, a full representation of the opera "La Traviata".
The onstage interest, though, actually begins with the third program, in which scenes from some of the most popular Zarzuelas will be performed by the OFJ and its invited guests, all under the theatrical direction of Ernesto Alvarez.
The fifth program marks the return of Maestro Leslie Dunner, a ballet specialist, with the Joven Ballet de Jalisco onstage and the OFJ providing its most expert accompaniment.
Homage will be rendered to famed Jalisco composers Jose Pablo Moncayo and Blas Galindo in the OFJ's sixth program, which, as part of the FESTA Festival of Jalisco Arts, includes the participation of the State Choir, the playwright Anabel Arriaga, theatrical direction by Josue Valderrama, and the Joven Ballet de Jalisco.
Wilhelm Richard Wagner, who also celebrates his 200th birthday this year, is the featured composer in the seventh program, named "Gala Wagner"--one which should bring us a breath of fresh air all the way from Bayreuth, as Wagner is not often performed here.
All in all, an exciting season!