Sinfonica de puerto rico: Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra To Perform In Maria’s Wake ‘For Those Who Need More’

Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra To Perform In Maria’s Wake ‘For Those Who Need More’

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Updated October 13, 2017

• Simón Rios

Maximiano Valdés, music director of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, conducts the symphony during a rehearsal. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)This article is more than 5 years old.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — It’s an understatement to say there hasn’t been much to celebrate here since Hurricane Maria devastated the island three weeks ago.

But while the island remains physically beaten down, some of its residents’ spirits may get a lift Friday as the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra is set to perform for the first time since the hurricane forced it to suspend its regular schedule.

Rehearsing in San Juan’s symphony hall, the orchestra has been preparing to give free concerts across the island, and according to conductor Maximiano Valdés, the group is playing with extra purpose.

“Our idea is to play for those who need more,” he said. “There are many people left with nothing here.”

Maximiano Valdés, music director of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, conducts the symphony during a rehearsal. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

The orchestra will perform both classical compositions and popular Puerto Rican music. The theme of their performances will be loss, survival and rebuilding after the hurricane.

“There is first two pieces related with those who left, those who died, those who lost everything,” Valdés explained. “And then we go into works that we all love — the beginning of Mozart No. 14, and then Beethoven No. 5 — as the will of man to reconstruct and begin again.”

Then, there will be a medley, he said, which will include important bolero folk music. Trombonist Miguel Rivera, president of the local musicians’ union, said he hopes hearing Puerto Rico’s classic anthems will inspire people to contribute to the reconstruction.

“People get touched when they hear songs like the ones we just played like ‘Preciosa,’ ‘Verde Luz,’ all these songs that remind them of their youth and their experiences in Puerto Rico,” Rivera said.

Rivera said the needs of the Puerto Rican people go beyond food and water. They need culture, too.

“The people of Puerto Rico need food for the soul, I think, and music for me, is the best art because it goes right to your heart,” he added.

The trombone section of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra rehearses. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

The goal is to bring music to the hearts of many who have been affected by the hurricane. The orchestra only has a few dates scheduled at this point, including a show in San Juan Friday afternoon. They plan to perform through November not only in the capital city, but also in smaller cities and within the interior of the island.

“Music is the universal language, and it can definitely heal people.”

Ana María Hernández Candelas

Piccolo player Ana María Hernández Candelas plays a small whistle, used in one of the compositions to mimic the sound of a bird.

“I think it’s very important that we start performing as an orchestra and reaching out to the people, because we need to feel hope and I think music helps us feel hope,” she said. “Music is the universal language, and it can definitely heal people.”

The Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra has members from around the Americas, including Chile, Venezuela and the U.S. Clarinetist Kathy Jones is originally from Oregon, and she’s been playing in the orchestra in San Juan since 1975. After the storm she says she was eager to return to her art.

“It was so great to get back here,” she said. “It was like a cowboy wanting to get on a horse again. It was just mopping and cutting trees, and I had blisters on my hands because we had trees to saw out of our backyard. “

Now Jones says it’s the orchestra’s chance to take the music from symphony hall and transport it where it’s needed most.

“If we don’t go to the people, we will be looked at as elitist. Whereas if we get out of this hall, and we go play music that everybody loves, we’ll be their orchestra,” she said.

Correction: An earlier version of this story said the piccolo mimicked the sound of a coquí, and said the animal is a bird. A coquí is a frog. We regret the error.

This article was originally published on October 13, 2017.

This segment aired on October 13, 2017.

MusicWBUR’s Morning Edition

La Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico se prepara para su primer concierto en Chicago

La Voz Chicago

By 
Miriam Di Nunzio

 
[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
 

La Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico, compuesta por músicos de todo el mundo bajo la dirección del director principal Maximiano Valdés, actuará en Chicago a finales de este verano.

Courtesy Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra

La Voz es la sección en español del Sun-Times, presentado por AARP Chicago. 

Read in English

La Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico dará su primer concierto en Chicago este verano, según anunció el miércoles el Museo Nacional de Arte y Cultura de Puerto Rico.

La sinfónica, compuesta por 68 miembros, bajo la dirección del director principal Maximiano Valdés y el director asociado Rafael Enrique Irizarry, presentará un concierto titulado “Sonidos de mi isla” el 6 de agosto en el Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave. 

El concierto, que incluye obras de compositores puertorriqueños, supone también la primera actuación de la orquesta en Estados Unidos desde una presentación en el Kennedy Center en 2004, y su primera actuación fuera de Puerto Rico desde un concierto en España en 2005. La sinfónica realiza una serie completa de programas durante todo el año en Puerto Rico, y ha sido nominada en dos ocasiones a los premios Grammy Latinos.

“Como el único museo nacional dedicado a compartir las artes y la cultura del pueblo puertorriqueño, estamos orgullosos de recibir a los músicos en su primera actuación en los Estados Unidos en 20 años”, dijo Billy Ocasio, director general del Museo Nacional de Arte y Cultura de Puerto Rico, en el anuncio del miércoles. El museo es la organización artística local que presenta el concierto. “Se ha dicho que la orquesta es el mayor logro artístico de la humanidad, y celebramos ese logro con esta actuación histórica”.

Creada en 1956, la orquesta, patrocinada por el gobierno de Puerto Rico, ha actuado en concierto con una serie de solistas de talla mundial, como Ana María Martínez, Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Kiri Te kanawa y Alicia Larocha.

El programa de Chicago incluirá obras de los compositores Ernesto Cordero, Roberto Sierra, Héctor Campos Parsi, Angélica Negrón y Juan Morel Campos, entre otros. 

“Quería hacer algo que llevara nuestra cultura a otras comunidades. … La gente generalmente piensa en la música puertorriqueña como salsa, pero tenemos todo un mundo [de música]”, le dijo Ocasio al Sun-Times en una entrevista aparte, sobre la génesis del concierto. 

El museo, situado en 3015 W. Division, fue fundado en el año 2000 y es actualmente el único museo nacional de arte y cultura puertorriqueña fuera de Puerto Rico. La admisión es gratuita. 

Las entradas para el concierto de las 7 p.m. en Chicago cuestan entre $25 y $100. Visite cso.org.

El programa de Chicago incluye: 

• Ernesto Cordero, “Mariandá”
• Jack Délano, “La bruja de Loíza” 
• Héctor Campos Parsi, “Divertimento del Sur” 
• Raymond Torres Santos, “Canción de las Antillas” 
• Roberto Sierra, Sinfonía núm.