Young musicians team up with Spanish conductor José Gomez

Young musicians team up with exciting Spanish conductor José Luis Gomez

The NZSO National Youth Orchestra teams up with exciting Venezuelan-born, Spanish conductor José Luis Gomez in this year’s annual concert.

The internationally acclaimed conductor was catapulted to international attention when he won First Prize at the International Sir Georg Solti Conductor’s Competition in Frankfurt in September 2010, securing a sensational and rare unanimous decision from the jury. Gomez’s electrifying energy, talent and creativity earned him immediate acclaim from the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra where he was appointed to the position of Assistant Conductor, a post created especially for him by Paavo Jarvi and the orchestra directly upon the conclusion of the competition.

Gomez, who is currently the Principal Conductor of the Teatro Sociale di Como, started his musical career as a violinist, and by the age of 11 he was Concertmaster of the Youth Orchestra of Zulia State - part of El Sistema de Orquestas Juveniles de Venezuela. He graduated in music and violin from the Manhattan School of Music in New York before embarking on a European orchestral career.

In his debut with the NZSO National Youth Orchestra, Gomez leads New Zealand’s finest young talent through three great works of the late 19th and early 20th century plus an original composition from NZSO National Youth Orchestra Composer in Residence Salina Fisher.

For many, Paul Dukas’ witty and fantastical work The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is forever associated with the 1940 Walt Disney film Fantasia. Watch here > Dukas was an important figure in the musical world of Paris in the late 19th and early 20thcenturies. He influenced Debussy, Stravinsky and Berg, taught both Messiaen and Rodrigo, and was one of the more insightful music critics of the time.

Jacques Ibert’s Flute Concerto has an equally fantastical tone and it has become one of the most well-known works of the flute repertoire. While outwardly bright and charming, it presents a series of technical challenges that test the very best flautists. Today, it is still used as a test piece at the Paris Conservatoire despite being composed in 1932-33. In the hands of the NZSO’s talented Section Principal Flute, Bridget Douglas, this jazzy, virtuosic masterpiece will be an absolute delight to hear live.

Ibert was inspired to write this work by the best flute player of his generation in France, Marcel Moyse, and the piece was written for him. Recordings exist of him playing the work and it sounds as though he is pouring his heart and soul into the slow movement. I love every moment of it!
NZSO Section Principal Flute, Bridget Douglas

NZSO National Youth Orchestra Composer in Residence Salina Fisher is an all-rounder. She was the overall winner of the NZSO Todd Corporation Young Composers Award in 2013 and 2014, and received the 2014 Orchestra’s Choice Award for her work Blushing Skies. She was also the winner of the 2014 New Zealand School of Music Composers Competition, where she completed a BMus in Classical Performance - Violin and Composition in 2013.

Her new work Rainphase was inspired by the “beauty and chaos of Wellington rain… its shapelessness, energy and calm”. Last winter,Salina experienced a memorable moment when “heavy rain transformed empty streets into blurry mirrors, reflecting warm glows of street and traffic lights”. This very moment led her to compose this evocative new work Rainphase, particularly its final section.

Fittingly, Debussy’s La Mer is also inspired by water. In a letter to his friend and fellow French composer André Message, Debussy wrote about his love for the sea:

I was destined for a sailor’s life, and it was only by chance that fate led me in another direction. Yet I have always felt a passionate love for the sea… I have a store of memories beyond number, and, to my mind, these are worth more than the reality…

Now recognised as one of the great masterpieces of the 20th century, La Mer was not an instant success following its premiere in Paris on 15 October 1905. Originally described as “symphonic pictures of seasickness” it received a chilly reception from the public. However, these attacks may have been personal. Debussy lived a scandalous life - he left his wife to live with the married Emma Bardac before his wife attempted suicide - and as a consequence, Debussy lost many of his friends. Despite these personal struggles, critical acclaim for La Mer grew and it is now one of the most loved impressionist works of the early 20th century.

Come and support our young musicians as they perform three great works of the late 19th and early 20th century plus an original composition from NZSO National Youth Orchestra Composer in Residence Salina Fisher. Led by one of the world’s most exciting young conductors José Luis Gomez, this is your opportunity to see what the future of orchestral music in New Zealand sounds like.

The 2015 NZSO National Youth Orchestra was announced last week. A total of 170 musicians from all around New Zealandapplied for a position in the Orchestra, which celebrates its 56th year in 2015.

Who’s in the 2015 NZSO National Youth Orchestra >

The NZSO National Youth Orchestra is grateful for support from Principal Partner Adam Foundation.

NZSO National Youth Orchestra Composer in Residence, Salina Fisher, is supported by APRA AMCOS.

José Luis Gomez is supported by Trinity College London.

ENDS

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