The Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the renowned institution with a European tour. The Freixenet Symphony Orchestra performs, with violinist Arabella Steinbacher and under the baton of Andrés Orozco-Estrada, in the Teatro Real in Madrid on October 7; on October 9 at the Reduta Concert Hall, as part of the Bratislava Music Festival programme; on October 10 at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest; and on October 12 in the Vienna Musikverein, organized by Jeunesses Musicales Austria.
Since its foundation in 1993, the ensemble sponsored by Freixenet has worked with great conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Rudolf Barshai, Luciano Berio, Péter Csaba, Sir Colin Davis, Péter Eötvös, Leon Fleisher, Zoltán Kocsis, Lorin Maazel, Yehudi Menuhin, Zubin Mehta, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Tamás Vásáry, among others.
The mission of the orchestra is twofold; besides providing orchestral experience for the students of the institution, it also aims to bring classical music closer to the public. At present, they perform in both symphony and chamber orchestra formations, directed by principal conductors Andrés Orozco-Estrada, and András Schiff.
In addition to a piece by Albéniz, the programme of the Budapest concert on October 10 includes Violin concerto No. 1 in D major by Prokofiev and Symphony No. 8 by Dvořák. The soloist of the evening will be two-time ECHO Klassik Award winner violinist Arabella Steinbacher, who regularly performs, among others, with the New York, the Boston, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestras, the Symphonic Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, and the Elbphilharmonie Orchestra from Hamburg.
After being the principal conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, from season 2021/2022, Andrés Orozco-Estrada is the music director of the Wiener Symphoniker. The Colombian director has conducted the most renowned European and American orchestras, and performed in the Vienna State Opera and at the Salzburg Festival as well. He has been working together with the Freixenet Symphony Orchestra since 2018.
The Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid was founded by Paloma O’Shea with the purpose of establishing in Spain a high-standard arts centre led by renowned international professors, open for talented young musicians from all over the world. The school, led by four excellent professors, Dmitri Bashkirov, Zakhar Bron, Daniel Benyamini and Ivan Monighetti in its beginning, opened in Madrid in 1991. Every year, 150 young musicians coming from more than 30 countries study with renowned teachers, under the best conditions, in an inspiring building at the centre of Madrid. All of them enjoy free-tuition, thanks to the scholarships granted by sponsors. Furthermore, the School organizes over 300 concerts a year in order to give students the opportunity to mature on stage
Tickets for the concert at the Academy of Music are available at the venue, at the jegy.hu webshop, and in the national Jegypont network of InterTicket.
The concert series has the support of the Abu Dhabi Festival, as Cultural Partner, and of IF International Foundation, and is promoted in Hungary by cultural portal Papageno and Jeunesses Musicales Hungary.
