The orchestras of the three public universities in São Paulo will meet for a free concert, open to the public, next Sunday (28), at 7 pm, at the Simon Bolívar Auditorium at Memorial da América Latina, in Barra Funda, west of the city of São Paulo. It is the first time that the three orchestras perform together and the meeting, which will have as its theme “The Week of 22 revisited”, is part of Unesp’s Centennial Festival.
There will be about 100 musicians from the Academic Orchestra of Unesp [Universidade Estadual Paulista]by the USP Symphony Orchestra [Universidade de São Paulo] and the Unicamp Symphony Orchestra [Universidade Estadual de Campinas] for the execution of compositions that dialogue with the history of classical music in Brazil and the construction of its academic environment. Organized by Unesp, the festival is held in celebration of the centenary of the Week of Modern Art and the bicentennial of the Independence of Brazil, both celebrated in 2022.
The concert program includes works by Henrique Oswald, Francisco Braga, J. Delgado de Carvalho, Paulo Costa Lima, Ernani Aguiar, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Ivenise Nitchepurenco, a violinist who graduated from the Institute of Arts (IA) at Unesp, which today is member of the Unicamp Symphony Orchestra – she is the author of an arrangement called “Tico Tico em Ipanema”, a mix that celebrates classics of Brazilian music.
The only composition by a foreigner will be the Overture of an Academic Festival, by the German Johannes Brahms, written when he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Breslau – this piece will be performed jointly by the three orchestras.
According to the pro-rector of university extension and culture at Unesp, Raul Borges Guimarães, the concert has a double meaning as it is the first meeting of the orchestras, which reflects an important institutional approach and articulation, at a time when questions regarding the role and importance of public higher education have come to the fore.
“In another sense, the program focuses on representative works of our music, by composers who engaged in the construction of a Brazilian musical tradition, at a time when the ephemeris related to Independence and the Week of Modern Art occupy attention and arouse critical reflections for beyond the simple celebration”, said the professor.
The conductor of the Unicamp Symphony Orchestra, Cinthia Alireti, stressed that a show accessible to the general public will be an opportunity to show the work that is behind the daily lives of musicians in an orchestra, professional or not. “It is an event of great representation for universities and also for Brazilian music”, she said.
