From the Depths to the Heights: 'Ein Heldenleben'

Rafael Payare, conductor

Alisa Weilerstein, cello

San Diego Symphony Orchestra

GABRIELA ORTIZ: "Dzonot"

R. STRAUSS: "Ein Heldenleben," Op. 40

The legendary Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz writes music of terrific and visceral energy and notable melodic sweetness, and the San Diego Symphony Orchestra is thrilled to be taking part in these performances of her new cello concerto Dzonot, specially written for our very own Alisa Weilerstein. Ortiz is well-known not only for the deep connection to Latin American folk-music in her compositions, but also for her passionate concern for the vulnerable and fragile environment of our planet. In this concerto, she was inspired by the "cenotes", the vast and world-famous limestone sinkholes in Mexico, which are like underground worlds all their own, with their own rivers, lakes, and plant and animal life.

The orchestra pairs this new work with one of the most famous, sumptuous and outrageous orchestral scores of all time, Richard Strauss’s "Ein Heldenleben" (A Hero’s Life) in which the composer mockingly and laughingly portrays himself as a lone hero fighting against the petty world of music critics and small-minded enemies, before turning in almost cinematic detail to his home love-life with his wife Pauline, and at the end setting out into the mountains for a spot of rest and recreation. An orchestral treat and one of the funniest pieces in the symphonic repertoire!

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