30th November, cellist Asier Polo with the Murcia Symphony Orchestra at the Auditorio Víctor Villegas in Murcia

Music by English composers Elgar and Britten at the regional auditorium in Murcia

In the third event of their 2019-20 cycle of concerts at the Auditorio Víctor Villegas in the regional capital the Region of Murcia Symphony Orchestra (OSRM) perform under the baton of guest conductor George Pehlivanian and with cellist Asier Polo.

On the programme for the evening is a selection of very English music, starting with Elgar’s cello concerto and continuing with two works by Benjamin Britten, the “Canadian Carnival” overture and the Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes.

Elgar: Concerto for cello

Britten: Canadian carnival overture

Britten: Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes

Considered by the specialist music press to be one of the most important cellists of his generation, Asier Polo has worked with many of the major international orchestras, including the Philharmonia Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Dresdner Philharmonie, the Orchestre de Paris, the BBC Philharmonic, the Berliner Symphoniker and countless others, under the baton of distinguished conductors such as John Axelrod, Pinchas Steinberg, Christian Badea, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Juanjo Mena, Antoni Wit and Anne Manson.

He is a regular guest at prestigious festivals, such as those held in Schleswig-Holstein, Nantes, the Biennale di Venezia, Rome, Lisbon, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Morelia and the Quincena Musical in San Sebastián, and has been described as “today’s most celebrated Spanish cellist”.

The great artists with whom he has appeared include Silvia Marcovici, Sol Ga­betta, Maxim Rysanov, Isabelle van Keulen, Josep Colom, Eldar Nebolsin, Gerard Caussé, Cuarteto Janácek and the tenor Alfredo Kraus, who in the last years of his career invited him to perform as soloist at his concerts: this took Asier to the Royal Opera House and Covent Garden in London, the Tonhalle in Zurich and the prestigious Musikverein in Vienna as well as a successful tour of Japan.

He is devoted to contemporary music and enjoys combining modern music with the great classical repertoire. He has recorded 17 albums for major record labels two more are on the way with the Spanish National Orchestra.

Asier Polo plays a Francesco Ruggeri cello (Cremona, 1689) purchased in collaboration with the Fundación Banco Santander.

George Pehlivanian is a French-American conductor, born in Beirut into a musical family of Armenian origin. His musical career began with piano and violin lessons and after emigrating to Los Angeles in 1975 Pehilvanian studied conducting with Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel and Ferdinand Leitner.

In 1991 he was unanimously awarded the Grand Prize of the Besançon International Conducting Competition, and even today he is still the only American to receive this honour over the course of the last seven decades. Since then Maestro Pehlivanian has consolidated his reputation as one of the leading conductors of his generation, leading many of the world’s leading orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philharmonia, the Israel Philharmonic, Filarmonica della Scala, the BBC Philharmonic, the Orchestra of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and countless others in Europe as well as a host of symphony orchestras in North America.

Equally at home in the worlds of opera and symphonies, in 2011 George Pehlivanian founded the Touquet International Music Masters in France, a unique festival assembling the National Youth Orchestras of Europe. Since 2012, Maestro Pehlivanian has been a Professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (CNSMDP) and since 2013 has taught conducting at the Higher School of Music Education ‘Katarina Gurska’ in Madrid.

The performance at the Auditorio Víctor Villegas in Murcia begins at 20.00 with tickets priced at between 11 and 18 euros. Alternatively, this is the third of eleven events in the 2019-20 OSRM cycle at the auditorium, and season tickets can be purchased for between 64 and 111 euros: click for further information.

Ticket purchase information:

* In the box office of the auditorium on Avenida Primero de Mayo (open September to July between 9.00 and 14.00 Monday to Friday and two hours before performances).

* By telephone on 968 343080 during auditorium box office hours. Credit or debit card payment.

* In the box office of the Filmoteca Regional in Plaza Fontes Murcia, open 18.00 to 21.00 between Tuesday and Saturday.

For full venue details and information regarding other events scheduled at the Auditorio Víctor Villegas go to the English language Murcia Auditorium website or see the feed below.