The Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra (OFGC) begins its participation in the 42nd International Music Festival of the Canary Islands with two extraordinary concerts in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. Under the baton of its director Karel Mark Chichon, the ensemble will offer a program in which the classicism of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart takes absolute prominence.
These concerts will be on Thursday, January 15, at the Auditorio Los Jameos del Agua (Lanzarote), at 8:00 PM - with a "sold out" sign - and on Friday, January 16, at the Palacio de Formación y Congresos (Fuerteventura), at 8:30 PM, with tickets available at www.festivaldecanarias.com and www.ecoentradas.com. This tour is sponsored by Fundación DISA, which joins the festival organized by the Government of the Canary Islands with several collaborations and which reaches all the islands in collaboration with the island councils.
In this special issue dedicated to the genius of Salzburg, the OFGC will also highlight the individual excellence of the musicians who make up its ranks. Specifically, the talent of violinist Sergio Marrero and violist Adriana Ilieva as soloists, who will take center stage in the second part of the program, dedicated to the Sinfonia Concertante.
Both musicians are now fundamental figures within the orchestra's string section. Marrero, a native of Gran Canaria, and Ilieva, born in Bulgaria, also share a solid chamber music career as members of the Ornati Quartet and are key performers at the International Bach Festival (IBF) of the Canary Islands – a festival of which Adriana Ilieva is also a founder.
Both the soloists and the orchestra as a whole will be guided by a baton that knows their qualities very well. British maestro Karel Mark Chichon, whose contract as chief conductor of the ensemble has been renewed until 2027, is responsible for the OFGC reaching new heights of excellence, thus becoming one of the most acclaimed symphonic ensembles in Spain. In fact, it is the only national orchestra to record with the prestigious German label Deutsche Grammophon.
Chichon's direction, characterized by passion, temperament, and attention to detail, makes him the best accomplice for extracting the freshness of Mozart's sound in these two concert evenings, which they are preparing in parallel for their traditional appearance in Tenerife and Gran Canaria.
A Journey Through Salzburg's Effervescence
The program designed by Karel Mark Chichon for Fuerteventura and Lanzarote proposes a direct immersion into the 1770s, a period that coincides with the Austrian composer's adolescence and his search for his own voice, beyond technical excellence. Far from the solemnity of his later works, the pieces selected for these concerts exude a vitality and freshness very much in keeping with Mozart's creative stage.
The concert will begin with the Overture ‘La finta giardiniera’ (K. 196), a work with theatrical flair that Mozart composed for the Munich Carnival at the age of 18. It is a comic opera divided into three acts which, in turn, serves as a prelude to the development of various love entanglements. By using this genre, very popular in his time, the composer manages to anticipate the playful and humorous character of the plot through an energetic score full of contrasts.
Next, they will tackle the Sinfonia Concertante, a piece for violin, viola, and orchestra that is also one of the composer's undisputed works. Written after a trip through Europe, during which he had the opportunity to meet several of Europe's most advanced orchestras, the work transcends the traditional concerto format and proposes a completely new genre. And it will be here where Sergio Marrero and Adriana Ilieva establish an elegant dialogue between violin and viola, in which both instruments imitate each other, respond to each other, and even complete each other's phrases.
The crowning glory will come with the performance of Symphony No. 29 (K. 201), known by experts as the work that marked Mozart's transition from 'child prodigy' to symphonic master. It is a score that stands out for its restrained instrumentation, featuring only oboes, horns, and strings, which even lends it an almost chamber music quality. Moreover, despite its symphonic nature, it offers an intimate and transparent character, present from its first movement to its brilliant finale