Concerto Venezolano
Paquito D'Rivera (b. 1948)

THE STORY

Composer and performer Paquito D’Rivera has made an indelible imprint on the last 60 years of music in the Americas. Born in Havana, Cuba, he began his professional music career at the age of 10, enrolling soon after at the Havana Conservatory of Music. His achievements in classical music include appearing as an alto saxophone/clarinet soloist with orchestras across the world and promoting Latin repertoire. As a composer, he has received commissions from the Library of Congress, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the National Symphony Orchestra, among many others. In 2005, President George W. Bush awarded him the National Medal of Arts.

Initially premiered in 2019 by Carlos Miguel Prieto conducting the Orquesta Sinfonica de Minería in Mexico, D’Rivera’s Concerto Venezolano was expressly composed for this evening’s soloist, Pacho Flores. As one of several shared commissions—each composed for Flores—D’Rivera’s concerto broadens the trumpet repertoire and highlights the passionate virtuosity of one of our generation’s most respected trumpeters. Composed in a single movement, the Concerto Venezolano is an auditory journey into D’Rivera’s vivid reminiscence of his travels in Venezuela and his love for the people who call it home.

LISTEN FOR

• The range of tone colors achieved by Flores throughout the work as D’Rivera incorporates the use of four distinct trumpets
• The use of the cuatro, a traditional Venezuelan guitar-like instrument, as an indispensable collaborator with both violin and trumpet
• D’Rivera’s use of percussion to create atmosphere—notably the driving rhythms of the drums in the first section, the gentle swing of the second, and the vibrant dance that envelops the ending of the trumpet cadenza

INSTRUMENTATION

Solo trumpet, cuatro; two flutes, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, two trumpets, trombone, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, percussion, piano, celesta, harp, strings