The guest pianist, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, will play under the direction of Antonio Méndez

 

 

The Symphony Orchestra of Tenerife (OST) is a project of the Island Council’s Department of Culture which is directed by Enrique Arriaga. The ensemble proposes a closing concert for the season 2020-2021 with a transition programme and works by Strauss, Ravel, Brahms and Schoenberg, three composers who broke with the past with their music. Antonio Méndez, the principal conductor of the OST, is at the helm of the orchestra with the renowned pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard. The concert is tomorrow Friday, the 18th of June at 7:30 pm in the Auditorio de Tenerife.

Antonio Méndez leads the Symphony Orchestra of Tenerife to perform this programme that starts with a tone poem, Don Juan Op. 20 by Richard Strauss (1864-1949). It is a forceful, energetic and colourful piece that remarks the passionate intensity of this anti-hero in whom the work is inspired. Strauss was about 20 years old when he composed it. This tone poem was his first and greatest symphonic masterpiece. It reveals a distinctive personality that continued to brand his famous tone poems during a period which was also known as his "creative period".

During this closing concert, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, one of the great piano players of our time, will play the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D major by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). Together with Debussy, Ravel developed a distinctive French style that broke with Romantic conservatism. He composed this concert while he was working on the Piano Concerto in G major. It was commissioned by the Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost an arm during the First World War. One outstanding element of this concert is the mixture of genres: it is dramatic and dark, but a prodigy of piano composition.

To round up the programme, the audience will enjoy the Piano Quartet No. 1in G minor, Op. 25 by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) orchestrated by Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951). Schoenberg is perhaps the 20th-century composer who has inspired more controversy. In 1937 he orchestrated Brahms’s work after shaking the very foundations of music when he published his "Method of composing with twelve tones". While his result was a score with Brahms’s colour, sense of timbre and atmosphere, Schoenberg is one of the biggest guarantors of the Austrian's twelve-tone technique.

Antonio Méndez has been the main conductor of the OST since the 2018/2019 season. He is also one of the most requested and established conductors of his generation; this has enabled him to establish close links with the most important European orchestras. During his distinguished career, he has conducted international ensembles such as Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg.

On his side, the pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard has been widely acclaimed as a key figure in the music of our time. He has collaborated with many great composers such as György Ligeti, Karlheinz Stockhausen, George Benjamin, Pierre Boulez and Oliver Messiaen. During the last seasons, the highlight has been the première of Olivier Messiaen's Catalogue d'Oiseaux (for Pentatone). The piece has won numerous prizes, including the prestigious "Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik". 

Tickets can be purchased until two hours before the concert on the website www.sinfonicadetenerife.es and by dialling the phone number 902 317 327 from Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Saturdays 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m, except on holidays. The audience is requested to arrive at the venue well in advance to enter the Auditorium in staggered "waves" to enjoy this cultural experience.

By purchasing tickets, you accept the measures implemented by the cultural centre to combat COVID-19, such as the correct use of masks and the attendance at the event only with people you live with. All of the measures, as well as the contingency plan certified by AENOR, can be consulted on the Auditorium’s website.