As past controversies at the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra [OFJ] play second fiddle to the group’s high-profile foreign trips, its newest season of 2017 has gotten under way in Guadalajara and environs.
Five new programs, ending July 7, have been sandwiched between the orchestra’s spring appearance in Europe and its midsummer appearances in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The trips abroad, under director Marco Parisotto, are the first the orchestra has ever taken, OFJ spokesperson Julia González notes, and are thus indisputable feathers in its cap.
To a feather of longer standing, the graceful and renowned Degollado Theater, cultural authorities are attempting to add an eye-popping modern venue: Palcco, situated on the far northern fringe of the metro area. As a result, the season’s fourth concert, intriguingly entitled “Los Cuentos de las Mil y Una Noches” (Tales of the 1,001 Nights) and guest directed by Sascha Goetzel with Russian-American violin soloist Philippe Quint, will be performed in both the Degollado and Palcco.
In addition, the final concert, in which Las Percusiones de Tambuco and the orchestra play under Parisotto’s direction, will be given only at Palcco.
Indeed, this final concert, Friday, July 7, 8:30 p.m., may well tempt audiences to venture forth to the hinterlands of the city, and not only because the all-American program includes big-name Mexican composers (Silvestre Revueltas, Arturo Márquez and Javier Álvarez) - as well as some dear to gringo hearts (Aaron Copland and George Gershwin). Besides the attractive composers that evening, the audience is sure to like hearing music the orchestra really cares about. After all, parts of the concert were played recently on OFJ’s European tour and, in addition, July 7 will be a final practice of sorts for the following weekend, when the group is set to perform the same music in California.
The second program, to be played this Thursday, June 15, 8:30 p.m. and Sunday, June 18, 12:30 p.m. in the Degollado, is intriguingly entitled El Mar (The Sea). If the ocean-themed music by Prokofiev, Mendelssohn, Debussy and Bax is not enough of a draw—sorry, folks, it doesn’t include “My Heart Will Go On”—flute soloist Antonio Dubatovka, who is an OFJ member, should be a considerable audience magnet.
Dubatovka’s selection continues the OFJ’s recent modus operandi of choosing soloists from within their ranks.
“The public recognizes the level of these musicians,” said González, offering an explanation as to why some internal players have been chosen as soloists, instead of hiring outside performers.
The third program, set for Thursday, June 22, and Sunday, June 25, “La Europa de Mozart: Bosquejos Sinfónicos Mozartianos” (The Europe of Mozart: Symphonic Sketches) will present three symphonies that Mozart, so popular with modern audiences, composed in tribute to Paris, Prague and Linz.
The OFJ seems to be well ahead in planning for its third season, set to begin September 14, although changes are certainly possible. So far, the lineup includes no full operas, which are notoriously expensive. The scuttlebutt is that the orchestra and Secretary of Culture, which is sliding precariously near the end of the current state government in 2018, are scraping bottom financially.
But it does have one ballet, Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet,” to be performed in mid-September with the Jalisco Ballet and OFJ, as well as two opera galas slated for late November and early December, as part of a “Festival de la Voz” (Voice Festival), which also includes Mahler’s 90-minute blockbuster, the “Resurrection Symphony” in mid-November, directed by Parisotto with the Coro Municipal de Zapopan (Zapopan City Choir) under the direction of Tim Welch.
Teatro Degollado, Calle Belen S/N, is two blocks east of the main cathedral in central Guadalajara. The box office is open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Call (33) 3614-4773.
Palcco, Avenida Central Guillermo González Camarena 375, Zapopan (33)9690-9000. Tickets for many season performances are 110-200 pesos at Ticketmaster (33) 3818-3800. Go to ofj.com.mx for more information.