#DCYOIBERIA Day 5 & 6: Hitting Our Stride in Malaga

 

Day 5 started off with another wonderful and intense morning of rehearsals with our new friends from Orquesta Promusica.

Feeling ready and even more excited for our concert than the day before, we took a much-needed lunch break in the charming city center of Málaga. Everyone had a chance to explore its winding marble streets in search of Andalusian cuisine, souvenirs, or just a few moments of peace and quiet in one of its cultural landmarks such as the Picasso Museum Málaga (Picasso was born in Málaga in 1881), which is housed in a historic 16^th century palace.

Nothing could top our excitement, though, once we arrived at the site of the evening’s joint concert: the Castillo de Gibralfaro. Once one of the most imposing fortresses on the Iberian peninsula, the Castillo was first built in the 10^th century by the first Umayyad Caliph of Córdoba on the ruins of a Phoenician lighthouse that dates back to the 7^th century BCE. The fortress was later expanded in the 14^th century by the sultan of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada.

We took a few moments to admire the beautiful cypress and fruit tree lined walkways of the grounds, as well as the incredible views overlooking the city from the fortress walls before our combined orchestra of over 100 musicians took to the outdoor stage. Well over 200 attendees filled the Patio de Armas, to enjoy works by Holst, Verdi, Offenbach, Turina, de Falla, and Emilio Lehmberg, a Malaga-born composer much beloved in Spain but virtually unknown in the United States. Maestro Solomon undertook the effort to create a new critical edition of his piece, Impresiones del atardecer, and presented the new score and parts as a gift to Maestro Javier Claudio, who is currently working on a film project about Lehmberg.

 

Day 6 gave us another opportunity to have lunch with our VIP tour in the Malaga city center before we headed to the nearby city of Torremolinos for our third concert at the Auditorio Municipal Principe de Asturias. The fantastic acoustics of the hall combined with absolutely stellar solos from our principals to make for what may have been the best performance of our tour program yet. We’ll know for sure tomorrow when we give our final concert of the tour in Granada…