Ensemble Nexus premieres this week in La Graciosa the work commissioned from the Canarian composer Cecilia Díaz Pestano by the 42nd International Festival of Music of the Canary Islands. The program, which will also be taken to La Palma at the end of January, also includes works by Mozart and Mendelssohn. The ensemble is made up of a string octet, whose members belong to the Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra.
The concerts will be on Saturday, January 10 at the Inocencia Páez Cultural Center in La Graciosa, at 8:00 PM, and the following day, Sunday, January 11, at the Municipal Theater of Tías in Lanzarote, at 7:30 PM. Finally, they will perform at the Circo de Marte Theater in La Palma on January 31.
These are the first chamber concerts of the FIMC, organized by the Government of the Canary Islands in collaboration with the island councils. Tickets are available on the website www.festivaldecanarias.com, as well as on the usual sales platforms of the venues hosting these concerts, and at their box offices. In all cases, there will be a single price of 20 euros per concert.
Ensemble Nexus debuts at FIMC with a project that is one hundred percent chamber music. The ensemble is comprised of violinists Sergio Marrero, Adrián Marrero, Preslav Ganev, and Sara Muñoz, violists Adriana Ilieva and José Alvarado, and cellists Carlos Rivero and Janos Ripka.
This group of island instrumentalists has come together with the shared desire to explore the universe of chamber music, enjoying its different expressive, sonic, and human possibilities. A true "nexus" between its members, who in each concert use dialogue, mutual listening, and a spirit of collaboration to offer an intimate and very powerful artistic experience.
A most enriching experience for the attending audience of the FIMC, who will find in its four concerts the opportunity to approach the different cultures, trajectories, and sensibilities of this group of musicians.
String Works (and a Premiere)
Ensemble Nexus will perform at the 42nd FIMC with a varied string program, combining works from different musical periods. Under the title ‘From Shadow to Light,’ the ensemble will tackle pieces ranging from the Classicism of Mozart and the early Romanticism of Mendelssohn, to the sensitive and contemporary sound of Cecilia Díaz Pestano's new work.
The concert begins with the Quintet that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed as a string quartet with an additional viola. Divided into four movements, this work is one of the six string quintets written entirely by Mozart and is characterized by a unique dark and almost melancholic sound
The second part will host the premiere of ‘Ángel de Arena’ (Sand Angel), a work composed by the Canarian Cecilia Díaz Pestano at the request of the FIMC. As the creator herself recounts, this composition seeks to “evoke the image of a child consciously discovering the seashore for the first time”.
Divided into four sections, ranging from the child's dawning awareness to their entry into the water and subsequent farewell, the work employs a "language based on tonal centers, minimalism, rhythmic ostinatos, and the timbral colors that the string orchestra offers," confesses Pestano. In this way, the attending audience will be able to perceive through the music sensations common by the sea, such as the sway of the waves, the smell of saltpeter, the texture of the sand, or the coolness of the water.
The program will close with the Octet for Strings by the German composer Felix Mendelssohn. This score was conceived by the composer when he was just sixteen years old, as a birthday gift for his teacher and friend Eduard Ritz (one of the best violinists of the time). However, this would be merely the initial version of a work premiered ten years later, with several adjustments to the score in between. Its four movements reflect a particular youthful enthusiasm, full of varied textures and even mischievous little winks, very much in tune with the life stage Mendelssohn was experiencing.
