The Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra (OFJ) is getting off to an agile start in 2022, under new Director Jose Luis Castillo, with the inclusion of an “electrizante” and unusual concert, which apparently inspired the new season’s graphic theme: an enigmatic pair of glasses and cherry blossom sprig.
Castillo himself will not direct the OFJ in this special concert, entitled “Final Fantasy VII Remake Orchestra World Tour” and set for early March in a space at Expo Guadalajara that accommodates the necessary high-def screens more easily than the lovely Teatro Degollado. So, although independent Chicagoan Arnie Roth will be directing music composed by video game creator Nobuo Uematsu, this special concert still seems in sync with Castillo’s reported contemporary leanings. The target audience are the same, young video-gaming enthusiasts who made the OFJ’s “Gamers Sinfónico” at the Conjunto Santander such a success last fall. But it is an open question whether the more typical OFJ patron will dare the wild-card atmosphere at Expo Guadalajara, and pay the higher prices (805 to 2,530 pesos), to hear the OFJ play music by Uematsu (he of the enigmatic glasses). After all, as Guy Dammann, music critic at The Guardian newspaper, wrote, although Uematsu can compose with “tenderness and flowing grace,” a “breathless atmosphere of elemental power and ancient mystery,” and has even edged into top positions in Classic FM’s Hall of Fame poll, “I can’t see Beethoven rolling over any time soon.”
Please login or subscribe to view the complete article.