Love in the air at DFP

DEWAN FILHARMONIK PETRONAS (DFP) will ring with the sound of love over this weekend.

Tonight and tomorrow night at 8.30pm, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra ( MPO) presents From Spain With Love, featuring conductor David Giménez leading the orchestra in a programme of famed Spanish works.

These include Manuel de Fall’s suite from El amor brujo which contains the influence of Andalusian folk songs and gypsy music, Joaquín Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, a familiar tune used in Spanish commercials; Enrique Granados’ Intermezzo des Goyescas, which is inspired by the paintings and tapestries of famed artist Goya; Georges Bizet’s colourful Suite No.2 from Carmen, as well as Nikolai RimskyKorsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol that ebulliently captures the flavour the country.

Barcelona-born Giménez ( right) has led prominent orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, London Symphony and the Philharmonia, collaborated with luminaries such as Yo-Yo Ma, Kiri Te Kanawa, and Antonio Meneses, and performed at prestigious venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, New York’s Carnegie Hall and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. This will be the conductor’s second collaboration with the MPO, after the José Carreras concert at Kuala Lumpu r Convention Centre in 2005. The concerts will also feature flamenco guitarist and composer Juan Manuel Cañizares ( left), who has a career spanning over four decades. Meanwhile, on Sunday at 3pm, the Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (MPYO) will be showcasing a performance themed An Afternoon With MPYO – Devotion of Love. Under the baton of Hong Kongborn conductor Francis Kan, the MPYO ( above) will open with Overture to Russlan and Ludmilla, from Mikhail Glinka’s second opera, which is based on the Aleksandr Pushkin poem.

This will be followed by Sergei Prokofiev’s excerpts from Romeo and Juliet, the composer’s most successful full-length, three-act ballet score of the 20th century.

The concert will close with Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No.2, an idyllic pastoral with a wealth of melodies, and also the grace and charms of the south Austrian countryside.

It premiered in 1877, performed by the Vienna Philharmonic.

For more, visit the MPO website.