Performance with the Puerto Rico Symphony of Brahms’ Second Symphony in D Major, Op.73 with Manuel Hernández Silva, director. Also on the program was Roberto Milano’s Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra with our principal clarinetist, Kathleen Jones and Joaquín Turina’s Sinfonía sevillana, Op.23. Silva’s interpretation of the Brahms symphony was unique though ultimately convincing and his energy on the podium was terrific.

I recently returned from Panamá City where I was teaching and performing as part of the 4th annual Double Reed Festival of Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. This was my second time at the festival having participated in last year’s event. The festival is a true labor of love for the many people involved. It is a five day event that consists of master classes, reed making workshops, recitals and a gala concert at the end with bassoon and oboe soloists performing with the National Symphony of Panamá. This year’s teachers were oboists Alex Klein and Doris DeLoach, myself and repairman Jorge Valenzuela. Alex Klein has served as the festival’s main oboe teacher each of the four years of the festival and his unending energy is inspiring and infectious. It was wonderful to meet maestra DeLoach and get to work with her for the first time. Juan Castillo, the event’s founder again worked tirelessly to give the bassoon and oboe students of Latin American this incredible opportunity. Some photos here of this and last year’s festival.

Program of the gala concert:

• Devin Tiboche, oboe; Arturo Rey Sanchez, violin: Concerto for Oboe and Violin of J.S. Bach
• James Hansen: Concerto in a minor for Bassoon and Orchestra of A. Vivaldi
• Doris DeLoach: Concerto for Oboe and Strings of De Domenico Cimarosa
• Juan Castillo: Concerto for Oboe and Strings in d minor of J.S. Bach
• Saxton Rose: Ciranda para fagot y orquesta de cuerdas of H. Villa-Lobos
• Alex Klein: Concerto for Oboe and Strings in c minor of A. Vivaldi

The Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra performed its first concert of the 2007-2008 season on September 8th with Guillermo Figueroa, director. The concert included Strauss’ Don Juan, Op. 20, Beethoven’s Symphony no. 5, Op.67 and arias sung by soprano Hilda Ramos.

PRSO performance of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde. Also on the program was the Strauss Oboe Concerto performed by Mark Weiger. The concert took place May 19th, 2007 at 8pm at Centro de Bellas Artes. Read the full review of the concert or see the part about oboist Mark Weiger below.

“The soloist on the first piece of the program was the outstanding American oboist Mark Weiger who showed a great command of his instrument, executing with amazing perfection the most difficult passages, an excellent sound and good breath control. His interpretation of the second movement was distinguished by a calm/serene lyricism, perhaps a bit cold, but quite within the neoclassic style of the work. The reduced orchestra (without percussion or brass except horn) accompanied with enough security and balance with the soloist, though were behind at the beginning of the last movement and not together at the end.”

“El solista de esta primera obra del programa fue el destacado oboista estadounidense Mark Weiger, quien mostró un gran dominio de su instrumento, ejecutando con pasmosa perfección los más difíciles pasajes, con un sonido excelente y un buen control de la respiración. Su interpretación del segundo movimiento se distinguió por un lirismo sereno, incluso un poco frío, pero muy dentro del estilo neoclásico de la obra. La orquesta reducida (sin percusión ni metales excepto trompa) acompañó con bastante seguridad y buen equilibrio al solista, exceptuando el atraso al comienzo del último movimiento y el descuadre en el unísono al final.”

By Luis Hernández Mergal

PRSO performance with my wife, Elizabeth Pacheco Rose as soloist singing Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915. Also on the program were Debussy’s Nocturnes and Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast. The concert took place at 8pm at Centro de Bellas Artes. Read the full review of the concert or see the part about Elizabeth below.

Espectacular aniversario de la Coral
Por Luis Hernández Mergal / Especial El Nuevo Día

“La soprano Elizabeth Pacheco Rose fue la solista en la segunda obra de la noche, Knoxville: verano de 1915, de Samuel Barber, sobre un texto autobiográfico de James Agee. Esta es una de las pocas obras en que Barber recurre al folclore musical estadounidense, evocando con gran sutileza y buen gusto la atmósfera de la sureña ciudad natal de Agee. La interpretación de Pacheco Rose brilló por su certera combinación de sencillez, espontaneidad y sutileza de matices, con una voz clara y sonora (a pesar de algunos momentos en que la orquesta amenazó con avasallar a la solista) que expresó a la perfección las ricas imágenes de la obra. Pudimos percibir el olor de “strawberry, pasteboard and starched milk”, escuchar el bullicio del tranvía en la sección central, sentir la ternura de la familia reunida en casa. Actualmente profesora de canto en el Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico, esperamos escuchar a Pacheco Rose con más frecuencia en el futuro.”

I performed the Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra K. 191 of W. A. Mozart with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra in the newly renovated theater at the University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras on April 30, 2007 at 8pm.

The University Theater, the innaugural location of the Casals Festival, was designed by the architect Francisco Gardón (1891-1936) and its construction was finalized in 1937. The theater re-opened after 14 years of renovation in September for the 2006/2007 season with performances by the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra.

Videos of the performance are available via the music page.

PRSO performance of Cesar Frank’s Symphony in d minor, Op. 48 with Venezuelan conductor Alfredo Rugeles. Also on the program was the Cello Concerto of Carlos Vázquez with Germán Marcano, cello and Escenas de la pasión según San Marcos by Diana Arismendi. The concert took place at 8pm at Centro de Bellas Artes.

On Sunday I performed a chamber music concert with Camera Caribe, the resident wind faculty chamber ensemble at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music. On the program was a Sonata for oboe and basso continuo of Francesco Geminiani; a trio of Haydn using oboe, clarinet and bassoon; Latino by William Ortiz for clarinet, oboe, bassoon and piano; the Quintet for oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn and piano of Heinrich von Herzogenberg and an arrangement of Que Rico el Mambo by David Bourns. The concert took place at the conservatory in sala Sanromá.

Performance with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, Keri-Lynn Wilson, director, Karita Mattila, soprano and Joshua Bell, violin. On the program was Tchaikavsky’s Capriccio Italiano and the Concerto for Violin, Op. 35. The second half included selections from Strauss’ Salomé and the songs Cecilia and Morgen.

Performance with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, Andreas Delfs, director, Heidi Grant Murphy, soprano and Nathaniel Webster, baritone and the San Juan Philharmonic Chorale as part of the 2007 Casals Festival. On the program was Roberto Sierra’s Missa Latina Pro Pax, a beautiful and engaging new work. The concert took place at Centro de Bellas Artes, Saturday, March 3, 2007.

“The title I chose, Missa Latina, has a dual meaning. On the one hand it refers to the traditional Latin text, while on the other hand the work is infused with a ‘Latino’ character: it is infused with the ‘Caribbean gestures’ that allude to my personal background, my own Hispanic heritage, and which color so much of my music These come to the fore particularly in the “Laudamost te” of the Gloria and the ‘Pleni sunt caeli’ of the Sanctus.”
-Roberto Sierra