Saturday, July 29, 2017

Marlon Daniel: Violinist.com: Dispatch from Havana: The Havana Lyceum Orchestra

Marlon Daniel

The Havana Lyceum Orchestra


Samuel Thompson

June 28, 2017, 7:18 PM · In October 2016, conductor Marlon Daniel asked me to join him for a trip to Cuba for the purpose of documenting both master classes and his time conducting. What started as a 'simple writing assignment' - as well as a tremendous opportunity to see a nation closed to Americans until very recently, turned into a tremendous educational journey and one of the most meaningful trips that I have ever taken.
On Tuesday, May 2, Marlon Daniel, violinist Eric Silberger and I hailed a taxi in the Vedado district of Havana that took us on a fast ride on the Calle Malecon into Old Havana, where we then walked to the Lyceum Mozartiano de la Habana where Eric Silberger gave the first of two master classes and Marlon rehearsed the Havana Lyceum Orchestra (Orquesta del Lyceum de la Habana).
Currently wrapping up an eighteen-day east coast tour with pianist Simone Dinnerstein, the Havana Lyceum Orchestra was founded in 2009 in collaboration with the Lyceum Mozartiano de la Habana, an institution founded jointly by by the office of the Historiador de La Havana Eusebio Leal, the Universidad de las Artes (the most important institution in Cuba for musical training) and the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation.
The Havana Lyceum Orchestra is comprised of students, recent graduates and professors from the University of the Arts, the National School of Music and the Amadeo Roldan Conservatory. Since its founding in 2009, the Lyceum Orchestra has performed to critical and cognoscenti acclaim both in Cuba and throughout the world: in 2015 the orchestra made its European debut with Cuban flutist Niurka Gonzales during Salzburg's annual “Mozart Week”, and At home in Havana, the orchestra has quickly established itself as an important element of western classical music performance, having won a series of Cubadisco prizes for its work.
During the first week of May 2017, Marlon Daniel prepared the Havana Lyceum Orchestra for a concert that took place on May 6 that featured Beethoven's “Coriolan” Overture, Mendelssohn's “Italian” Symphony, and Max Bruch's Concerto No. 1 in G Minor. The week also consisted of master classes that were taught by Mr. Kameda, Eric Silberger, and myself that were taught at the Lyceum Mozartiana, which is housed in the same beautifully-restored seventeenth century building as the Oratoria San Felipe Neri.

Comment by email:
Thank you Bill.  Hope all is well. Marlon [Marlon Daniel]

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