Conductor Guillermo Figueroa anticipating second season with Music in the Mountains

DURANGO, Colo. – Charismatic Music Director and Conductor Guillermo Figueroa looks forward to enthusiastic audiences when he returns for his second season with Music in the Mountains. In his debut last summer, he developed a solid rapport with Festival attendees through his concert introductions and thrilled concertgoers with his varied repertoire and solo performances.

“For me, it will be close to coming home once again to be in those beautiful mountain venues where musicians can so readily develop such close relationships with audiences,” said Figueroa from Albuquerque, where he is Music Director and Conductor of the New Mexico Symphony.

A fourth generation member of Puerto Rico’s most distinguished musical family, Figueroa also is Principal Guest Conductor of the Puerto Rico Symphony. He earned critical acclaim following the debuts of the Puerto Rico Symphony under his baton at Carnegie Hall in 2003, the Kennedy Center in 2004 and Spain in 2005. In October 2009, he will make his debut with the Orquesta de Cordoba in Spain.

This season, Figueroa will conduct six Festival Orchestra concerts. Four are scheduled in the Festival Tent at Durango Mountain Resort (July 18, 19, August 1 and August 2). One will be held in the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College (July 26), and one is planned for BootJack Ranch in Pagosa Springs (July 31).

“I’m particularly excited about working with this outstanding group of musicians once again,” said Figueroa of the orchestra members drawn from the ranks of major symphony orchestras across the U.S. The majority will return following multiple seasons with the Festival.

Also a renowned violinist, Figueroa has presented the world premieres of four violin concertos written for him: in 1995, the Concertino for Violin and Orchestra by Mario Davidovsky, at Carnegie Hall with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra; in 2007, the Double Concerto by Harold Farberman, with the American Symphony at Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center; in 2008, the Violin Concert/The Journey of a Lifetime by Miguel del Aguila, commissioned by Figueroa and the New Mexico Symphony, and in 2009, Insula, Suite Concertante for Violin and Strings by Ernesto Cordero with the Solisti di Zagreb, in Zagreb, Croatia.

Figueroa will be the featured soloist along with his sister – pianist Ivonne Figueroa – in two Music in the Mountains Chamber Music concerts. They will perform Grieg’s Sonata No. 3 in C minor and Dvorak’s Piano Quintet in A in concerts at BootJack Ranch in Pagosa Springs (July 28) and in the Festival Tent at Durango Mountain Resort (July 29).

“These are two of the most intensely passionate pieces written by these two composers, and they fit perfectly with our overall theme of ¡Pasión! this season,” said Figueroa. “And they’re such audience-friendly works that I’m confident our concertgoers will enjoy hearing them as much as we enjoy performing them.”

Music in the Mountains runs July 10 through August 2, 2009. Tickets are available online at www.musicinthemountains.com, in person at the Festival Office, 1063 Main Avenue and at the Community Concert Hall Ticket Office, 707 ½ Main Avenue in Durango, or by calling (970) 385-6820. Student, Group, Series ticket discounts are available. Pagosa Springs concert tickets may also be purchased at the Pagosa Springs Chamber of Commerce, 402 San Juan in Pagosa Springs.

 

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