The Spanish conductor takes the Janácek to Ostrava and Castellón, directs Gregory Kunde in Palma and pays homage to Francisco Llácer at the Palau de la Música in Valencia
After directing in May Le nozze di Figaro at the Teatro Comunale in Ferrara (Italy) with great public and critical success, the director from Castellón Sergio Alapont will return to Opava (Czech Republic) to return to the command of the Janácek Philharmonic Orchestra (28 May), the main symphonic ensemble of that country. “Two years ago I made my debut with this orchestra and from the first moment a special relationship with its teachers emerged, showing a great ductility in the search for the best sound of the works we play”, says the Spanish teacher who, in 2020, will lead the set on a tour of Italy and Switzerland. On this occasion the program includes the Slavic Dances Op. 46 by Dvorák and the Fourth Symphony by Brahms. “When I designed the program, I considered it a great opportunity to play music by Dvorak, one of the great Czech composers, and Brahms, one of the most important composers in the history of music . ” Accompanied by the Czech ensemble, Sergio Alapont will go on tour to perform in the audiences of Castellón and Torrent where he will offer, on May 30 and 31, the same program premiered before in the Czech Republic.
“One of the virtues of the Janácek Philharmonic is the cult of a Central European sound, enveloping the strings, of clean and warm phrasing, excellent technical level in the woods and with a metal section that shows a German personality when it is necessary and more Slavic or brilliant in music of the twentieth century . “
Later he will go to the podium of the Teatre Principal de Palma to bid farewell to the 33rd Lyrical Season of the Majorcan capital with an opera gala given by the tenor Gregory Kunde and the baritone Damián del Castillo, together with the Orquestra Simfònica de les Illes Balears and the Cor del Teatre Principal prepared by Pere Víctor Rado (June 7).
That same month the teacher Alapont will once again lead the Orchestra of Valencia in its usual venue at the Palau de la Música in the Valencian capital (June 28), this time in command of an event: a tribute to the composer Francisco Llácer , counting on José Luis Ruiz del Puerto on the guitar and with the pianists Marina Delicado and Xavier Torres. The program includes the popular Adagietto of Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, the 1919 suite of the ballet Igor Stravinsky’s bird of fire , Ricercare concertante for two pianos andFrancisco Llácer’s orchestra and the absolute premiere of Resonancias. Three sonorous murals for amplified guitar, string and percussion by Emilio Calandín, a work commissioned by CulturArts -the cultural institute of the Generalitat Valenciana- as a tribute to Francisco Llácer.
“It’s very nice to be able to make music in my land,” says Alapont regarding these commitments. “I have always felt very esteemed and I have had the fortune to lead a lot in the lands of Castellón and Valencia; It’s exciting to do it again now and feel once again the response of your warm audience. It is also an honor for me to have been the first Valencian to direct an opera at the Palau de Les Arts in Valencia and the first from Castellón to direct the Orchestra of Valencia, as well as having enjoyed and achieved enormous artistic satisfaction leading the educational project of the Jove Orquestra Simfònica de Castelló. On the other hand, I have been able to consolidate in my hometown the opera festival Benicàssim Lyric, which still continues on its way today . “
Later, he is expected, among other commitments, to return to Italy to conduct concerts with the soprano Maria Grazia Schiavo, the mezzo-soprano José Maria Lo Monaco and the Orchestra of the Massimo Bellini Theater of Catania in the impressive Greek Theater of Syracuse, the double operatic program composed by L’heure espagnole by Ravel and Gianni Schicchi by Puccini at the Teatro Grande de Brescia and at the Amilcare Ponchielli Theater in Cremona, Don Giovanni with the Haifa Symphony Orchestra of Israel and his commanding debut at the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast, Ireland