Poster Venezuelan conductor Rafael Payare
Venezuelan conductor Rafael Payare
(c) BGE

Minnesota Orchestra: Debut of Venezuela's Rafael Payare

The Minnesota Orchestra returns for a live broadcast Friday night, Nov. 16, with "Sheherazade," but it's probably not the one you're used to hearing. And the conductor on the podium is probably not one you're used to seeing.

In fact, this week's concert marks the Orchestra Hall debut of Venezuelan conductor Rafael Payare, who started as a horn player in El Sistema (the System), his country's renowned music education program. Besides Maurice Ravel's "Sheherazade" — which is heard less often than the more popular work of the same name by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, also based on "The Arabian Nights" — Payare will lead the orchestra in performances of Johannes Brahms' Fourth Symphony and Paul Dukas' "The Sorcerer's Apprentice."

Listen to the live broadcast of the concert at 8 p.m. Friday on Classical MPR, hosted by Brian Newhouse.

One-minute notes, from the Minnesota Orchestra

Dukas: The Sorcerer's Apprentice — Dukas' witty scherzo chronicles the misadventures of a young man and his enchanted broom. A gradual accumulation of orchestral power leads to an outburst of chromatic scales, after which musical order is restored.

Ravel: Sheherazade — Ravel's mastery of creating evocative musical pictures is showcased in this vocal-orchestral setting of three poems written by his friend Tristan Klingsor. Ravel found his inspiration in the fantastical tales of the Orient, Klingsor's colorful text and Debussy's vivid musical imagery.

Brahms: Fourth Symphony — Brahms' Fourth is a passionate work filled with high drama. From a first movement both warm and tragic, the symphony proceeds through a moody intermezzo and a rambunctious scherzo to a most unusual conclusion: a beautifully abstract set of variations on a Bach cantata.

Personnel

Minnesota Orchestra
Rafael Payare, conductor
Virginie Verrez, mezzo

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