By HRJ
The Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería (OSM) is 45 years old. To celebrate it, the 2023 Summer Season offers a journey through its history.
"This is a broad and diverse program that traces a tribute to Minería and demonstrates both our ability to play all kinds of repertoire very well and also to satisfy the tastes of an audience that demands works of different styles," says Carlos Miguel Prieto, who took over as artistic director of the OSM 17 years ago (in 2006, after the interim position assumed by Carlos Spierer following the death of Jorge Velazco).
This variety mentioned by Prieto is evidenced, for example, in the presence of Bronze Altar by Gabriela Ortiz, with Pacho Flores on solo trumpet, next to Symphony No. 2, Resurrectionby Gustav Mahler, or Mozart's Sinfonia concertante for violin and viola next to The Rite of Spring by Stravinski.
"This year there is no concept, there is a tribute to the orchestra itself. It is an enormously varied program where we include the voices of our audience, which are sometimes contrasting. I listen to our audience all the time. And there are those who seek to incorporate new works and those who want to enjoy traditional works. Our 2023 Summer Season is designed to please those different voices of our audiences.
Since Carlos Miguel Prieto has been its chief conductor, the WSO has obtained two distinctions that have given it international visibility:
- A Grammy nomination Grammy nomination (2010) for his recording of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra with Philippe Quint on the solo instrument.
- To have become, according to the Spanish newspaper El Paísthe first Mexican orchestra to the first Mexican orchestra to record with the legendary label Deutsche Grammophon (thanks to the album (thanks to the album Estirpecontaining concertos for trumpet and orchestra by Latin American composers such as Paquito D'Rivera, Arturo Márquez and Daniel Freiberg).
These awards only prove that Minería continues to fulfill one of the objectives that Jorge Velasco, its first artistic director, outlined in the inaugural season of 1978: to make symphonic music of excellence.
Spanning more than 300 years of music history, from Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) to Gabriela Montero (1970), via Emilie Mayer (1812-1883) and Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936), this book is the first of its kind in the world. (1879-1936), the Summer Season 2023 offers a tribute to the orchestra's history, but also tests its ability to perform a variety of styles in an outstanding manner: formally balanced works from Classicism, such as Symphony No. 104, London, emotionally overwrought Romantic works, such as Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, and works that explore new ways of sonic articulation, such as Ephraim Oscher's Double Bass Concerto (1974).
"At the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería, making music of excellence goes beyond a commitment: it is a responsibility. It is our social responsibility. I have always felt that orchestras, wherever they are from, play a very important role in their community. Their role goes far beyond entertainment. Orchestras are agents of music education. We have an essential role in awakening the interest of our environment in symphonic music of excellence, because it is something that enriches the lives of all people".
