When your parents are established musicians, often the children are referred to by the moniker “the son or daughter of” the famous parent, which has been true for François López-Ferrer, the son of former CSO Music Director Jesús López Cobos. François, however, is now at the dawn of what is becoming his own amazing career in music. And just as the CSO was influential in his early years, I am very proud that the CSO is playing an important part in assisting him to develop his own artistic voice and to hone his conducting skills.

To François: most of the work of the Assistant Conductor is unseen by the audience and involves a lot of time sitting in rehearsal to be my eyes and ears. I am so thrilled that this weekend I will be in the Hall applauding your amazing talent!

—Louis Langrée

INSIGHTS

from Assistant Conductor
François López-Ferrer

It is a great privilege to be making my U.S. subscription debut with none other than the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

The CSO is near and dear to my heart, as it is the orchestra that played an integral part during my formative years as a person and musician, while my father, Jesús López Cobos, was Music Director. The legendary backstage “Green Room” was my playground as a child, and the place where I later had the chance to meet and learn from some of the most established names in classical music. For me, Music Hall is a sphere of curiosity and discovery, and the CSO’s musicians and conductors, both past and present, are the fountain of knowledge and friendship that have accompanied me on my path into this infinite world of music.

This program highlights my passions for French and Spanish culture. As a Cincinnati-raised, Swiss-born American son of a Spanish conductor and a Cuban soprano, my love for the sometimes subtle but pervasive relationships between cultures is ingrained in me.

The border that separates Spain from France is not nearly as thin as the line that separates their music. The love of folklore, reflection on life, poetry, and art are shared between these neighboring countries, and that influence is heard in the music of Bizet, Debussy and Ravel, as well as Falla and Rodrigo. And, of course, without French food and Spanish wine (apologies for the bias), we would not be able to appreciate the exoticism and freshness of their art.

For this program, we will perform pieces that reflect on this cultural exchange. To acknowledge the mark left on the Iberian Peninsula by 800 years of Moorish rule, we open our concert with Kareem Roustom’s Dabke, an Arabian folk dance. It’s the perfect appetizer to prepare our ears for the flamenco-infused Aranjuez Concerto, by composer Joaquín Rodrigo, who this year would have celebrated his 120th birthday. Last but not least, we close the program with the then 17-year-old Bizet’s sprightly Symphony in C Major—a piece that established Bizet’s unique musical spirit for years to come.

FRANÇOIS LÓPEZ-FERRER recently came to international attention after a critically acclaimed debut with the Verbier Festival Orchestra, jumping in for Iván Fischer and conducting alongside Sir Simon Rattle and Gábor Takács-Nagy at the 2018 edition of the festival. Appointed Assistant Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and May Festival in September 2019, he conducts the CSO’s Young People’s Concerts and provides artistic support to CSO Music Director Louis Langrée and May Festival Principal Conductor Juanjo Mena. López-Ferrer holds a master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting from the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne and a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. View François Full Bio

KAREEM ROUSTOM

Dabke

The dabke is a folk dance from Palestine, Syria and Lebanon that is typically performed at joyous occasions. The dabke is also a type of line dance where the leader, called a hawaash, directs the movements of the dancers. There are many variants of this dance, but Kareem Roustom’s (b. 1971, Damascus, Syria) highly rhythmic and coloristic arrangement is based on a six-beat dabke rhythm called sudaasi. Dabke is Roustom’s arrangement of the third movement of his A Voice Exclaiming, commissioned in 2013 by the Providence, RI-based Community MusicWorks and FirstWorks for the Kronos Quartet and musicians of Community MusicWorks. Dedicated to the memory of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish and scored for triple string quartet, A Voice Exclaiming premiered on Nov. 8, 2013 in Providence.

More information about A Voice Exclaiming

Read more about Kareem Roustom

JOAQUÍN RODRIGO

Concierto de Aranjuez for Guitar and Orchestra

Joaquín Rodrigo (b. November 22, 1901, Sagunto, Spain; d. July 6, 1999, Madrid, Spain) composed Concierto de Aranjuez at the suggestion of the guitarist Regino Sainz de la Maza in early 1939. Rodrigo, who first turned to music when he was four years old after becoming almost totally blind at age three due to diphtheria, wrote the Concierto while he lived in Paris, during the latter stages of the Spanish Civil War. Sainz de la Maza gave the piece its premiere in Barcelona on November 9, 1940.

GEORGES BIZET

Symphony No. 1 in C Major

Georges Bizet’s (born October 25, 1838, Paris; d. June 3, 1875, Bougival, near Paris) Symphony No. 1 is the composer’s first substantial musical work. He completed it when he was 17 years old, while studying at the Paris Conservatoire. Bizet never mentioned the piece in his extensive letters, and it laid unknown in the Paris Conservatoire library until 1933, when it was “discovered” by a French musicologist. Shortly thereafter, in 1935, it received its world premiere in Basel, Switzerland and swiftly entered the standard repertoire for orchestra.

KAREEM ROUSTOM

Dabke

Born: 1971, Damascus, Syria

Composition History: Dabke is Roustom’s arrangement of the third movement of his A Voice Exclaiming, commissioned in 2013 by the Providence, RI-based Community MusicWorks and FirstWorks for the Kronos Quartet and musicians of Community MusicWorks. Dedicated to the memory of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish and scored for triple string quartet, A Voice Exclaiming premiered on Nov. 8, 2013 in Providence.

Instrumentation: strings

CSO Subscription Performances: These performances are the work’s CSO premiere.

JOAQUÍN RODRIGO

Concierto de Aranjuez for Guitar and Orchestra

Born: November 22, 1901, Sagunto, Spain

Died: July 6, 1999, Madrid

Composition History: Joaquín Rodrigo composed Concierto de Aranjuez at the suggestion of the guitarist Regino Sainz de la Maza in early 1939. Sainz de la Maza gave the piece its premiere in Barcelona on November 9, 1940.

Instrumentation: solo guitar, 2 flutes (incl. piccolo), 3 oboes (incl. English horn), 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, strings

CSO Subscription Performances: Four previous subscription performances, including the premiere, in January 1987, with guitarist Angel Romero, Jesús López Cobos conducting, and the most recent, in November 2013, with guitarist Pepe Romero (brother of Angel), Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos conducting. In addition to playing the CSO premiere of the Concierto, Angel Romero returned to perform the work, again with Maestro López Cobos, in May 1992. Pepe Romero also played the piece twice—first in December 1995 with Maestro López Cobos, and then in 2013 as noted above. Guitarist Christopher Parkening joined Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops for May 2003 performances of the work.

GEORGES BIZET

Symphony No. 1 in C Major

Born: October 25, 1838, Paris

Died: June 3, 1875, Bougival, near Paris

Composition History: Bizet completed the Symphony No. 1 in 1855, when he was 17 years old and studying at the Paris Conservatoire. It laid unknown in the Paris Conservatoire library until 1933, when it was “discovered” by a French musicologist. Shortly thereafter, in 1935, it received its world premiere in Basel, Switzerland.

Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings

CSO Subscription Performances: Seven previous subscription performances. Eugene Goossens conducted the CSO premiere of the work in March 1936; Paavo Järvi led the most recent, in March 2010. Jesús López Cobos led the Orchestra in its 1990 recording of the work, for Telarc, and Max Rudolf conducted the 1969 release for Decca.