Thursday February 22, 2024
Conductor Domingo Hindoyan and Trumpeter Pacho Flores Make Minnesota Orchestra Debuts in Concerts March 21-22
Featuring compositions inspired by folk songs and dance melodies, the concerts include works by late-19th-century composers Pablo de Sarasate and Antonín Dvořák, and contemporary Latin American composers Roberto Sierra and Arturo Márquez
The concert on Friday, March 22, will be broadcast on Twin Cities PBS (TPT-2) and livestreamed through the Orchestra’s website and social media channels
Under the baton of fellow countryman Domingo Hindoyan, Venezuelan trumpeter Pacho Flores will visit Orchestra Hall for the first time to perform two pieces that demonstrate his abilities to express a variety of instrumental colors. Flores will perform his own transcription of Gypsy Airs—originally written by Pablo de Sarasate as a virtuoso showpiece for violin—featuring soulful melodies and dazzling instrumental pyrotechnics. At the center of the program, he will perform contemporary Mexican composer Arturo Márquez’s Concierto de Otoño, which Flores premiered in 2018. Meant to evoke the music of Latin American dance bands, Márquez wrote the concerto specifically for Flores; the piece calls for four types of trumpet and merges Latin musical styles with the Western classical forms.
The program will take place at Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis on Thursday, March 21, at 11 a.m., and Friday, March 22, at 8 p.m., with ticket prices ranging from $36 to $106. Free tickets for both programs are available to young listeners ages 6 to 18 thanks to the Orchestra’s Hall Pass program.
The concert on March 22 will be broadcast live on stations of YourClassical Minnesota Public Radio. Additionally, it will be broadcast live on Twin Cities PBS (TPT-2), and streamed for free through the Orchestra’s website and social media channels. The broadcast will subsequently be released for on-demand viewing with a digital subscription to the Minnesota Orchestra’s Digital Concert Hall.
Hindoyan and the Minnesota Orchestra will open the program with Fandangos—a work by Puerto Rican composer Roberto Sierra, whose music Hindoyan has explored extensively. The work was first performed at Orchestra Hall in 2002, a year after its premiere with Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony Orchestra. Sierra riffed on the lively fandango dance form that originated in Spain and Portugal, which has also been used by European classical composers for three centuries. To create his own Fandangos, Sierra incorporated contemporary elements with the past stylings of 18th-century composers Antonio Soler and Ridolfo Luigi Boccherini.
The concert’s entire second half is comprised of Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony. In contrast to the composer’s many preceding symphonies, Dvořák’s Eighth is bright and cheerful, and—like the pieces before it in the program—infused with traditional song and dance forms. Written with a great deal of influences, the second movement alludes to the popular funeral march of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony, and its conclusion draws in a rhythmic Turkish march and a ringing trumpet fanfare.
About Domingo Hindoyan
Domingo Hindoyan, one of today’s most exciting conductors, is the chief conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. During his first season in Liverpool, Hindoyan led a critically acclaimed conducting debut at the BBC Proms and embarked upon various recording projects. He has also prioritized educational programs, world premieres and commissions. His newest recording with the ensemble, released in 2023, explores the music of Roberto Sierra. Highlights of his 2023-24 season include returns to the BBC Proms with Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and performances with Aarhus Symfonikester and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He also debuts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Boston Symphony, as well as the Minnesota Orchestra. On the opera stage, he returns to the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin with a production of Madame Butterfly and to the Opera National de Bordeaux for a production of Rusalka. He also conducts a production of Turandot at Opera Dijon. A native of Caracas, Venezuela, Hindoyan began his career as a violinist and member of El Sistema, and then was a member of Daniel Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. From 2013 to 2016 he was the first assistant to Barenboim at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin. More: askonasholt.com, domingohindoyan.com.
About Pacho Flores
Pacho Flores is a first-prize winner of the Maurice André, Philip Jones and Cittá di Porcia international competitions. His solo performances include appearances with orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Basel Sinfonieorchester, Orchestre National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine, Arctic Philharmonic, Taipei Symphony, Salzburger Philharmoniker, St. Petersburg Camerata, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Tokyo Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta de Valencia, Sinfónica Nacional de México, Sinfónica de Tenerife, Orquesta del Teatro Colón and Simón Bolívar Orchestra. In recital, he has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Salle Pleyel in Paris and the Tokyo Opera City. His repertoire includes premieres of works by composers such as Efraín Oscher, Arturo Márquez, Roberto Sierra, Paquito D’Rivera, Christian Lindberg, Daniel Freiberg and Gabriela Ortiz, and Flores is himself a composer whose works include two trumpet and flugelhorn concertos. He is a Deutsche Grammophon exclusive artist with five recordings to his credit: Cantar, Entropía, Fractales, Cantos y Revueltas and Estirpe, which was awarded a Latin Grammy. A Stomvi artist, he performs with instruments tailored specially for him. He is the founding director of the Latin-American Trumpet Academy in his native Venezuela. More: acmconcerts.com, pachoflores.com.
Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts
DVOŘÁK SYMPHONY NO. 8
Thursday, March 21, 2024, 11 a.m. / Orchestra Hall
Friday, March 22, 2024, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*
Minnesota Orchestra
Domingo Hindoyan, conductor
Pacho Flores, trumpet, cornet and flugelhorn
| SIERRA | Fandangos |
| SARASATE | Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs) for Trumpet and Orchestra |
| MÁRQUEZ | Concierto de Otoño for Trumpet and Orchestra |
| DVOŘÁK | Symphony No. 8 |
Tickets: $36 to $106 [Free tickets available for young listeners ages 6 to 18, thanks to the Hall Pass program.]
* The performance on Friday, March 22, will be broadcast live on Twin Cities PBS (TPT-2) and YourClassical MPR, and streamed for free through the Orchestra’s website and social media channels. The concert will subsequently be released for on-demand viewing with a digital subscription through the Minnesota Orchestra’s Digital Concert Hall.
TICKET PURCHASING INFORMATION
Tickets and subscription packages can be purchased at minnesotaorchestra.org or by calling 612-371-5656. For groups of 10 or more, call 612-371-5662.
The 2023-2024 Classical Season is presented by Ameriprise Financial.
The Hall Pass program makes free tickets available for young listeners ages 6 to 18 for select Classical and Symphony in 60 concerts, and all kids under 18 for Family concerts. This program is sponsored by Cynthia and Jay Ihlenfeld. For more information, visit minnesotaorchestra.org/hallpass.
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
All programs, artists, dates, times and prices subject to change.