The Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra (OFJ) has announced its fall season and starting it off, a visit October 17 and 20 by New York native Caroline Bembia, OFJ’s former principal harpist who recently left after seven years to take her dream job as principal harpist with the New York City Ballet.
Bembia will play in Alberto Ginastera’s often-performed “Concerto for Harp.”
“This is a mammoth piece that premiered in 1966, and is extremely important for harpists because it breaks the mold of what a harp ‘should’ sound like,” Bembia pointed out.
The harp is especially significant in Latin America (Ginastera was from Argentina), where it was introduced by missionaries and where the folk harp is an important instrument in traditional music. On the roster in the same program is another monumental work — Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, sometimes nicknamed “Fate,” for the composer’s assertion that it evokes life’s alternating “hard reality with swiftly passing dreams … of happiness.”
José Luis Castillo will direct this program and three others during the season, and all seven of the fall programs will be played in the acoustically renowned Teatro Degollado in Guadalajara centro.
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