Marlon Daniel
The Havana Lyceum Orchestra
Samuel Thompson
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]
Thank you Bill. Hope all is well. Marlon [Marlon Daniel]
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