Valentine's Day musical mosaic - Virginia Martinez and Antonio Garcia Egea with Symfonica Torrevieja

The Auditorio Internacional in Torrevieja is associated with elegance, dignity and a high level of classical music performances. Once again, I sat in a comfortable chair, knowing that I was about to witness something special. Every concert by the Symphony Orchestra of Torrevieja is an event in itself, but this time the atmosphere was somehow extraordinarily special, because guest performer maestra Virginia Martinez is a name that in the world of classical music sounds like a promise of something extraordinarily special. And if we add an offering with an extremely interesting program ...?

And the feast began. One immediately felt maestra Martinez's readiness to collide artistically with the matter of sound. And there was something to collide with, because the overture to the opera "Ruslan and Lyudmila" by Mikhail Glinka (1804 - 1857) is an energetic piece, characterized by a very fast tempo, brilliant passages of strings and wind instruments, and the whole is additionally encrusted with elements of vivid Russian folklore. The opera in/of A.Pushkin's poem alludes to fantastic and fabulous content, where, for example, Ruslan's kiss was able to awaken Lyudmila from a deadly sleep. - How do we know this...? Maestra Virginia Martinez provoked the orchestra, with her energy, to a real show of virtuosity, offering a performance of the vibrant, pulsing with emotion and dancing vigor. A great "appetizer" for the next courses of romantic musical aura.

Such a tasty dish was the performance of the orchestra's new concertmaster Antonio Garcia Egea and his interpretation of the popular Violin Concerto by Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847). The artist enchanted from the first bars of the work, drawing listeners into his world and his reality. With his subtle interpretation, he created an atmosphere that was hardly tumultuous, yet emotional in its restraint. However, when the score demanded it, he was able to surprise with a kind of predation, inducing a slight shudder in the listener. The soloist presented mature and complete playing. His sound is precisely set, his phrasing is conducted with extraordinary musicality, and the whole is marked by noble lyricism. Of course, Garcia Egea also demonstrated excellent technical preparation, impressing at the extremes of the work with technical proficiency with selective precision. However, what was most significant about his performance art was playing with a large dose of emotional truth. This was the Mendelssohn I personally like very much. Contributing to the soloist's undoubted success was the orchestra with maestra Martinez, masterfully accompanying the soloist and remaining modestly in the background. Antonio Garcia Egea was thanked for his well-deserved applause with an encore, and it was a rendition of Astor Piazzolla's tango "Oblivion" accompanied by a reduced orchestra without a conductor. Wonderful musicianship !

Extremely successful performance, !!! Bravo !!!

And after the intermission...? Performing the suite "Peleas and Mélisande" by Gabriel Faure (1845 - 1924) requires a great deal of musical imagination, elegance and experience, and I can state without delay that maestra Virginia Martinez and OST raised my expectations to the highest level. Every phrase of the piece was smoothed and polished, creating poetry in its truest form. The story of the forbidden and unlucky love of the characters in Maeterlinck's drama , was told musically by the orchestra, which, celebrating the beautiful color of sounds and consonances, polished each element with appropriate expression and extraordinary lyricism.

The Shakespearean love story of two young people who became models of romantic lovers is told in the overture-fantasy "Romeo and Juliet" by Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893). This work, rich in beautiful melodics, is compact, formally clear and has great emotional power. The OST musicians showed the height of artistry, displaying technical virtuosity in full splendor and responding to the conductor's plastic movements with extreme alertness and precision. Maestra Martinez was able to bring out the full palette of nuances, colors and contrasts in the orchestra. It can be said that she is unparalleled in creating ensemble color. In leading the musicians, maestra Martinez was also able to combine energy with stylish elegance, perfectly embedding each piece performed in the proper sound style. And to think that someone might have some doubts about the women with the baton .... The concert, in short, passed really concert-like. Hearty congratulations !!!