The 75-member National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba will be performing at the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, March 18, 2018 at 4 pm.
Returning by popular demand direct from Cuba, their performances took the United States by storm in their debut 2012 tour. Musical Director Enrique Pérez-Mesa will conduct the orchestra and will feature a Latin-flavored classical program that includes Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, Roldan’s Three Little Poems, Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, De Falla’s The Three-Cornered Hat and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.
Lehman Center for the Performing Arts is on the campus of Lehman College/CUNY at 250 Bedford Park Blvd. West, Bronx, NY 10468. Tickets are $45, $40, and $25, with a special $10 ticket price for children 12 & under and seniors, and can be purchased by calling the Lehman Center box office at 718-960-8833 (Monday through Friday, 10am–5pm and beginning at 12 noon on the day of the concert), or through online access at www.Lehma
Special discounts are built into Lehman’s concert series. “Create your own Series” offers a 10 percent discount on a minimum of three shows, 15% discount on a purchase of five family shows, or a 20 percent discount for six or more shows (not available online). Plus special $10 tickets for any seat are available for selected shows for children 12 and under. Senior discounts also apply.
The National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba, which began in 1960 as the Havana Symphony, has been instrumental in developing and introducing Cuban and Latin American music to the international classical music community. In addition, the orchestra performs a vast symphonic and chamber repertoire ranging from baroque to contemporary music. International tours have taken the orchestra to Russia, Poland, Yugoslavia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Spain, Peru and Argentina.
Among the more than 100 guest conductors who have led the orchestra include Sir Thomas Beecham, Sergiu Celibidache, Pierre Monteaux, Charles Munch, Eugene Ormandy, Wilhelm Steinberg, Leopold Stokowski, Igor Stravinsky, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Bruno Walter. Acclaimed international soloists have included Marian Anderson, Claudio Arrau, Jorge Bolet, Jose Carreras, Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein, Ruggiero Ricci, Mstislav Rostropovich Arthur Rubinstein, Andres Segovia and Isaac Stern.
Enrique Pérez-Mesa internationally-renowned artistic director of the National Symphony Orchestra has led performances in prestigious concert halls all over the world. He has collaborated with well-known soloists including Alexandra Ferri, Francesco Manara, José Manuel Carreño, Frank Fernández, Roger Woodward, Konstantin Cherbakov, Alexander Braginski, Joaquín Clerch, The Romeros Quartet, Jorge Luis Prats and Víctor Rodríguez. His recordings include a Grammy Award Nomination for Salmo de Las Americas, in the category of Classical music; His DVD recording with the Cuban pianist, Frank Fernandez, was nominated for the Cubadisco 2007.
Antonio Dorta Lazo (clarinet soloist) has served as the principal clarinetist of the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba for the last 20 years. Following early studies in Havana, Antonio participated in a competition in Germany, which led to a full scholarship to the prestigious Hans Eisler Conservatory in Berlin. He spent most of the next eight years in Germany finishing his degree, and performing with The Berlin Symphony Orchestra, The Berlin Radio Orchestra, and the Berlin Comic Orchestra. Antonio Dorta Lazo spent a year touring with tenor Andrea Bocelli. He is also on faculty of the Havana’s prestigious Institute of the Arts.
