The first to go on stage were the members of the Mendoza Baroque Orchestra, under the direction of maestro Hugo Mariano Peralta. The ensemble, which began its activities in 2017, had performed at the opening of the Cine Teatro during the first two performances held on December 3 and 4, 2022.
“The warmth of the public in San Luis was wonderful in that first presentation and I really wanted to return. We are taking this path of incorporating face-to-face symphonic music in the Cinema Theater and we take it as a challenge with great respect that motivates us”, said the director of the Mendoza Baroque Orchestra, maestro Hugo Mariano Peralta.
“We hope that little by little we can reach more people with all kinds of repertoires, whether they are known or not, and that people can love them. When the orchestral is combined with the choral, magic is generated”, added Peralta.
On this occasion, the Orchestra performed Symphony No. 5 in C minor, op. 67, by Ludwig van Beethoven; a work composed between the years 1807 and 1808, and dedicated to the Austrian prince, Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz and the Petersburg count, Andréi Razumovski.
Beethoven’s Fifth is a musical piece in which mystery is conjugated, a cyclical beginning accompanied by a dynamic rhythm and a classical harmony that explodes to its ultimate consequences. Its organization and tonal structure, like the character of its final movement, suggested, in the artist’s own words, “a journey to the stars through difficulties”.
After enjoying the first work, the choirs from San Luis Lírica and the Universidad Católica de Cuyo, directed by Cristina Duarte, took the stage; Mezzoforte, directed by Ibar Escudero; La Camerata Vocal Da Capo, directed by Pablo Eggarter; and the Santa Cecilia Polyphonic Choir, under the direction of Sister Cecilia López.
Four soloists also appeared on stage: the tenor, María Graciela Armendáriz; the contralto, Andrea Vaia; the tenor, Edgardo Casirola and the baritone, Rubén Caparrotta. All of them, accompanied by the Mendoza Baroque Orchestra, delighted the public with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Kv 317 Coronation Mass.
It was one of the most important works in his sacred liturgical catalogue, which was written by the musician for the Easter celebrations in 1779 and which also alludes to the Coronation of the Virgin Mary.
“They are one of the first times that all the choirs of San Luis have come together with the Baroque Orchestra, just as it happened when we did the Mozart Requiem in December and luckily we have the unconditional support of the people who filled the room,” said the director. of San Luis Lírica and the Choir of the Catholic University of Cuyo, Cristina Duarte.
“I thank Culture and the Government of the Province because without their collaboration things of this magnitude cannot be done,” said Duarte.
For his part, the tenor, Edgardo Casirola, confessed: “It made me very happy. The audience was very warm and respectful and it makes you enjoy this job in a different way, which is so demanding many times. I could see in their faces how they were experiencing the concert and I felt that there was an empathy between what came out from the stage and what they received. It was a very interesting communion.”
Prior to the end of the concert, the audience that filled the San Luis Cinema Theater room stood up and gave a warm and long applause to all the artists who entertained them with their voices and melodies performing two works full of emotion and feeling.
“I thought the Easter Concert was fantastic. I have no words to define what it felt like to listen to the choir and the orchestra”, commented Alicia, a spectator. And she added: “It is the first time I come to the theater. It has a beautiful design and very good acoustics. I loved”.
“The play was spectacular. They should repeat this type of concert, since in San Luis they do not do much, ”said Walter, who attended near Av. Justo Daract and Professor Berrondo with his wife. Regarding his theater impression, he specified: “I had the good fortune to tour the Colón and this has nothing to envy.”
“It was very nice to come back and participate in the concert, demonstrating not only our art, but also that we can work as a team. Getting together among so many choirs has paid off,” said Tatiana Oviedo, who is a member of the Santa Cecilia Polyphonic Choir and who participated in the double function in December, after the inauguration of the cultural space. Likewise, the young woman stated: “The theater is wonderful. For many it was a dream come true to live this experience.
At the end of the celebration, the general director, Andrea Cabrera, accompanied by the artistic director, Marcelo Palacio and the director of Music of the Cinema Theater, Marcos Árquez, presented bouquets of flowers and wine in recognition of the director of the Mendoza Baroque Orchestra , to the directors of each of the choirs and to the four soloists, as the closing of a new evening in the cultural space of San Luis.
