Repertoire
Georges Bizet: Carmen, suites (1873-1874)
Manuel de Falla: El amor brujo (Love, the Magician), flamenco arrangement (1914-1915; rev. 1916-1920) 24’
Leonard Bernstein: West Side Story, symphonic dances (1957) 24’
A benefit concert of the JONC Orchestra for the Projecte Home Catalunya NGO
Artists
National Youth Orchestra of Catalonia (JONC)
Mayte Martin, cantaora
Manel Valdivieso, conductor
Program
PROGRAMEl amor brujo (The bewitched love), by Manuel de Falla, is one of the most important works in the Spanish repertoire, with the famous Danza ritual del fuego (Ritual fire dance) and Canción del fuego fatuo (Song of wildfire). Initially conceived as an Andalusian pantomime for chamber ensemble and solo female singer, or cantaora — commissioned by the dancer, or bailaora, Pastora Imperio — and later transformed into a ballet in symphonic version, it tells the story of the torment of the gypsy Candelas by the ghost of her former lover.
Georges Bizet in Carmen portrays the paradigm of a free and brave woman, seductive and ruler of her own life. The praise of a free and rebellious love (“Love is a rebellious bird that no one can tame”, Carmen proclaims at the beginning of the “Habanera”) gives shape to its vibrant and vigorous music. The orchestral suites bring together the highlights of the most performed French opera in the world.
In West Side Story, Leonard Bernstein revisits William Shakespeare’s classic Romeo and Juliet in the form of a Broadway musical, and sets it in 1950s’ New York, with the love story between two teenagers who belong to two opposing gangs: the Jets, children of white working class families, and the Sharks, who are Puerto Ricans. The orchestral suite of symphonic dances brings together the best themes from the most innovative musical in Broadway history.
