Old Friends New Friends

The World's Most Adventurous Community Orchestra presents...
"Old Friends New Friends"

November 24, 2019
All Saints Catholic Church
6403 Clemens Ave, University City, MO 63130

2:15 PM Pre-concert conductor's talk
3:00 PM Concert
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PROGRAM

Vicente Ariño Pellicer, Guest Conductor

Symphonie 7, Ludwig van Beethoven

"Normando", Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Pedro Vilarroig
- Alejandro Drago, violin
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Vicente Ariño Pellicer

We are most fortunate, indeed, to have "New Friend" Vicente Ariño Pellicer make a wonderful tour-stop, here! He will lend us his tremendous wealth of talent and experience as he conducts our orchestra in both Beethoven's captivating 7th Symphony, and the courageous and spiritual Concerto for Violin and Orchestra composed by his fellow countrymen, Pedro Vilarroig.

While Maestro Ariño travels throughout the world as a favored guest conductor, he centers his life in the city of Alcalá de Henares, a historic Spanish hub of culture and education which UNESCO has designated a World Heritage Site.

He is the director of two important international purveyors of music based there. La Orquesta Sinfónica Ciudad de Alcalá which performs across Europe and the United States, and the Sociedad Lírica Complutense which exists to perform choral masterworks from a broad spectrum of genre throughout much of Europe.
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Alejandro Drago, violin

Our orchestra family cannot be more excited to wait in anticipation of the electricity generated by our "Old Friend", violinist, Alejandro Drago as he returns to our stage!

- from his biography
"Hailed by music critics as “a superb musician” with the “classical virtuosity of a Heifetz or Perlman,” the "suave café style of Florian Zabach” and the “jazzy insouciance of Stephane Grappelli. His versatile musicianship has allowed him to be successful with many diverse styles and genres.

"Highlights of past seasons include performances of Alban Berg's Violin Concerto with the UNIVERSITY CITY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA.

"As a soloist, Alejandro has performed in concert halls such as the Great Hall at the Moscow Conservatory, the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Hall, Teatro Colón de Buenos Aires, The Kennedy Center and the Kolarac Zal of Belgrade, with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra, the Belgrade Philharmonic, and the Belarus State Academic Symphony, among many others.

"His discography in France, USA and Argentina includes string quartets, concertos, avant-garde tangos for the EMI International label and a two-volume CD of works for solo violin distributed internationally by Naxos Music Library Japan and CD Tradition.

"Alejandro's many awards include a special prize in the Rodolfo Lipizer International Competition (Italy, 1992), third prize in the Petar Konjovich International Young Musicians Competition (Yugoslavia, 1993) and the first prize in the "New Talents in Classical Music" Competition (Buenos Aires, 1997)."