The Minnesota Orchestra to Perform again in Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba, May 5 (acn) The Minnesota Orchestra, which performed for the first time in Cuba in 1929, will return to the island to offer two concerts at the International Festival Cubadisco and hold exchanges with students of music schools.

Under the direction of Finnish Osmo Vänskä, the Orchestra will interpret, in the opening concert set for May 15 at Havana's National Theater, the All-Beethoven program, consisting of works The Egmont Overture Opus 84 and Symphony No. 3 Heroic and Fantasy for Piano, Choir and Orchestra, Opus 80, in which will pianist Frank Fernandez, the Leo Vocal Choir and the National Chorus of Cuba will perform, the Granma newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Also conducted by Osmo Vänskä, the second concert, on May 16 at the same theater, the Orchestra will present the Danzon by Cuban composer Alejandro Garcia Caturla, Symphonic Dances from the West Side Story musical by Bernstein, and one of the suites of Romeo and Juliet, by Prokofiev.
The president and executive director of the ensemble, Kevin Smith, said "it will be a privilege for the Minnesota Orchestra to make these presentations for the public in Havana", where they will also hold exchanges with students of the National School of Arts and the Higher Arts Institute (ISA). "Eighty five years ago, the Minnesota Orchestra, called the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra at the time, played pieces by Beethoven for the Cuban public. It is very exciting and a privilege for us to repeat this program decades later," Smith added.
On Friday, May 15, the musicians of the U.S. ensemble will rehearse with the Youth Orchestra of the Amadeo Roldan Conservatory, at the Avellaneda hall of the National Theatre.
Cuban students, who will present this repertoire on Saturday, May 16, as part of the Cubadisco Festival, will also interpret Guaguanco, a piece by its director, maestro Guido Lopez Gavilan.