Les Arts begins its theme of human resilience with the symphony ‘Leningrad’

• The Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, under the direction of Pablo Heras-Casado, will perform this Saturday the monumental score that Dmitri Shostakovich dedicated to the heroism of the Russian people in the face of the Nazi siege.

• The Spanish premiere of Kurtág's opera 'Fin de Partie' and María Pagés' show 'An Ode to Time' complete the thematic trilogy

Valencia (14.10.20). The Palau de les Arts begins its thematic cycle around the resilience of human beings with the concert of the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado, this Saturday, October 17, with the symphony 'Leningrad', by Shostakovich.

Les Arts proposes the start of its program as a framework for reflection on the human species' capacity to overcome adversity. "It is also a reaffirmation of the role of culture as a forum for debate in the face of the challenges the world faces after the outbreak of the coronavirus," notes Jesús Iglesias Noriega, artistic director of Les Arts.

An idea that, as he explains, will structure the first shows of the season: “From the choreographic vision of María Pagés in 'An Ode to Time', Shostakovich's 'Leningrad' symphony in our first concert or the Spanish premiere of Kurtág's opera 'Fin de partie', based on Beckett's work of the same name.”

Pablo Heras-Casado will be in charge of inaugurating 'Les Arts és Simfònic', which for the current season brings together some of the most prestigious conductors on the international scene such as the Spaniards Gustavo Gimeno, Juanjo Mena and Heras-Casado himself, as well as the Italians Daniele Gatti, Fabio Luisi and Antonello Manacorda.

Heras-Casado returns to the Auditori seven years after his debut with the resident orchestra of Les Arts in February 2013. On this occasion, he conducts one of the masterpieces of the symphonic repertoire of the past 20th century, the 'Symphony No. 7, in C Major, op. 60 'Leningrad', by Dmitri Shostakovich.

A monumental score with sumptuous and complex orchestration, Shostakovich wrote the work in 1941 during the Nazi siege of Leningrad. The pianist and composer wanted to dedicate his seventh symphony to his hometown and its people who endured more than two years of famine and confinement under the German army's siege.

The work premiered in Kuibyshev, now Samara, on March 5, 1942, while the population of Leningrad remained confined under siege by the troops of the Third Reich. The concert was broadcast by radio throughout the Soviet Union. The 'Leningrad' Symphony quickly became a symbol of the struggle against fascism, as well as a tribute to the heroism of a people who refused to surrender.

Ticket prices for the Pablo Heras-Casado concert range from 30 to 45 euros. For more information, please visit www.lesarts.com .

Pablo Heras-Casado

The Granada-born conductor Pablo Heras-Casado has developed an unusually varied career that ranges from symphonic music to opera, alternating historicist interpretations with contemporary music.

He is a regular guest conductor with orchestras such as the Paris Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, among many others. He has also conducted the Berlin, Israel, Los Angeles, and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras, as well as the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra and the San Francisco, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Philadelphia, and Montreal Symphony Orchestras. He was principal conductor of the Orchestra of St. Luke's in New York from 2011 to 2017.

Among his operatic projects, it is worth highlighting 'L'incoronazione di Poppea' at the Vienna State Opera and the Wagnerian tetralogy, which he is conducting for four consecutive seasons, until 2022, at the Teatro Real, where he is the principal guest conductor.

He has enjoyed great success at the Metropolitan Opera, the Aix-en-Provence Festival, the Baden-Baden Festival House, and the Berlin State Opera and Deutsche Oper Berlin. He collaborates with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra on tours and recordings and with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, as well as the Verbier and Granada Festivals, where he served as director. He conducted the Valencia Orchestra in a concert in 2013 and on the recording of the CD Domingo Verdi.