Calendar of Concerts and Activities

Ninth Artistic Season 2009-2010

  Meditaciones marianas will be Orfeón San Juan Bautista’s Ninth Artistic Season 2009-2010’s closing concert. This event marks the beginning of the festivities for the 10th Anniversary Celebration of the ensemble’s foundation. It will also be Orfeón’s 100th presentation, after nine years of fruitful cultural and educational labor. The repertoire for this concert consists entirely of academic sacred music and includes selections that span the majority of the historical musical periods, from Medieval to present times. The concert will be edited into a compact disc, which will constitute the first live recording produced by the chorus, amongst its discography which spans nine CD recordings.

  The proceeds from the concert, as well as from the CD sales, will be destined to aid the restoration work presently carried at the second oldest church in the Americas.

  The repertoire for this concert invites reflection in the context of the Holy Week celebration. This artistic proposal pursues communion between the performers and the public through an atmosphere defined by music and silence.

  The program will include a varied selection of choral masterpieces from the Spanish Renaissance (Morales), French Romanticism (Fauré), Gregorian chant and contemporary sacred music (Fresi), as well as popular music from Puerto Rico and South America. The choir will also premiere a diptych set to music by Guarionex Morales-Matos, based on two poems by Puerto Rican authors Xavier Valcárcel and Antonio Ruiz: Cronometría and Humedal. Joining Orfeón San Juan Bautista are sopranos Zayra Vázquez de Echandía and Magda Lupeschi, pianist Gilberto Mangual del Cid and percussionist Yabey Marcano.

  Orfeón San Juan Bautista closes the first half or its Ninth Season 2009-2010 with Navidad Serena (Serene Christmas), a concert that evokes the purest aspects of the Christmas celebration. The repertoire includes a balanced selection of academic and traditional folkloric music for the holiday season. It features the premiere of Abel Di Marco’s (b. 1931) Magnificat, a contemporary sacred work by one of Puerto Rico’s masters of choral composition. This piece was dedicated to our ensemble and is one of the most beautiful in Di Marco’s extensive catalogue of musical works. The repertoire is further enriched by Gabriel Fauré’s (1845-1924) celebrated Messe Basse for female choir and organ, of late French Romantic inspiration.
Moreover, Orfeón is proud to present its new chamber orchestra Cuerdas de Orfeo (Strings of Orpheus), composed mostly of professional instrumentalists and advanced students of the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music. Cuerdas de Orfeo will now function as Orfeón San Juan Bautista’s official accompanying ensemble for its concerts and recordings.

  As a beautiful addition, the pristine voices of the choristers from the Orfeón San Juan Bautista Choral Academy will interpret a vibrant selection of traditional Christmas carols from Puerto Rico and Spain. This musical offering will also feature a very special guest: the Campanas Universitarias Handbell Ensemble from the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras, conducted by Dr. Nélida Muñoz de Frontera.

  Orfeón San Juan Bautista begins its Ninth Artistic Season 2009-2010 with a colorful program of Puerto Rican and Latin American music. This event is part of the diverse calendar of cultural events for the Fiesta Iberoamericana de las Artes IV (4th Ibero-American Arts Festival), organized by maestro Rafael Aponte Ledée. Orfeón will share a concert with soprano Siri Rico and pianist José Ramos-Santana, sponsored by the Foundation for Latin American Contemporary Music. The repertoire encompasses a rhythmical and melodic journey through Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Cuba and Puerto Rico, in which the popular and folkloric traditions converge with sacred music and the art song.