Posthumous tribute to Victor Urban Velasco to be paid at the National Auditorium

A grand concert, the release of four remastered albums, as well as the publication of a book about Miguel Bernal Jiménez, are the central points of the posthumous tribute that the National Auditorium will pay to the organist and composer Víctor Urbán Velasco (1934-2024), who died on May 18 at the age of 90, his family reported to The Day.

Member of a dynasty of eight generations of musicians and passionate about the organ, the teacher also dedicated himself until the last moment of his long and prolific existence to revive the organistic culture of Mexicowhose heyday in contemporary history, he claimed, was in the 1960s and 1970s.

One of the most important steps towards achieving this goal was his appointment as head of the Monumental Organ of the National Auditorium (OMAN), a position he held for 23 years, starting in 2001.

Over time, the artist from Tultepec, State of Mexico, managed to reposition this imposing instrument, which with its 305 keys and 15,633 flutes is one of the most important in the world, after its rehabilitation and reopening in 2000.

The maestro developed a programme dedicated to disseminating the importance of OMAN and organ music, through various concerts in which he encouraged the participation of prominent national and international exponents.

The grand concert with which the National Auditorium will recognize the legacy of Víctor Urbán will be this Saturday at 1:00 p.m., with the participation of renowned performers who were his students and friends: Mexicans Héctor Guzmán and Eliseo Martínez, Italian Davide Pinna and Austrian Stephan Kofler.

The repertoire includes works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Tomaso Albinoni, César Franck, Franz Liszt, Miguel Bernal Jiménez, Jesús Villaseñor, Astor Piazzolla and Víctor Urbán himself.

As a family, we are very grateful for the affection and tributes to my father, in particular this one from the National Auditorium, which was his home for more than 20 years as the titular organist.said Adele Urbán Flores, one of the teacher’s eight children.

“My father dedicated his whole life to music, specifically to the organ. In fact, he never gave it up. He turned 90 in January and was still active; he continued to give concerts and compose. He had a concert scheduled for the end of May at the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, ​​but he passed away on the 18th of that month. He also left several unfinished works, and he was very excited because he managed to remaster his album.” The three giantswhich he recorded in the 70s at the National Auditorium.”

The new edition of this album is part of the tribute that this institution pays to the organist and that includes three more discs, recorded by him in this building at different times. One is dedicated to OMAN; another, with works by Manuel Urbán Silva, The romantic of Tultepecthe maestro’s father; and the last one, with Christmas music by Miguel Bernal Jiménez, recorded with the Navy Music Band, reported the promoter and cultural manager.

He also added that a book will be published with research carried out by Víctor Urbán over 20 years on the work. Medieval altarpiece, concertino for organ and orchestraby Bernal Jimenez.

In an interview, Adele Urbán highlighted the importance of the OMAN in her father’s life, as it was an instrument that, she said, she learned about from a very young age thanks to the organist Jesús Estrada, her teacher, who was in charge of managing that instrument’s transfer from the Palacio de Bellas Artes to the National Auditorium in the late 1950s, since there was no room for it in that building.

My father saw how that monumental organ was built, which came from Cremona, Italy. He was an assistant to Jesús Estrada, the auditorium’s first organist. Since then, he had a great affection for that instrument. Then he went to study in Italy and Germany, and came back with a different vision. The OMAN was abandoned for a while, but when it was moved to the National Auditorium, it was recognized that it existed and it was restored.refers.

In 2001, my father was named principal organist in this new era, which for him was the greatest honor, the highest point he reached as an organist, and he gave concerts in various parts of the world, even before several popes and authorities from other countries.

The family of the organist and composer, his daughter announced, will donate the archive and his personal instrument to the future conservatory of Tultepec, where there is already a cultural center with his name.

This collection, he said, is made up not only of works of his own authorship, but also of an extensive catalogue of scores dedicated to him by various composers, in addition to the archive he inherited from maestro Jesús Estrada.