Bogotá is Baroque festival hosts free concerts in eight city localities.

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Ph: Kike Barona

The V International Classical Music Festival of Bogotá, with its theme Bogotá is Baroque (Bogotá Es Barroco), welcomes to the Colombian capital some of the most important names in the industry, among them conductors, soloists and vocalists.

While the city’s main concert halls and theaters will host mostly paid performances, for many Bogotá residents, the opportunity to hear classical music won’t be restricted to the cost of admission, and part of a long-standing objective by national governments and local administrations to democratize the capital’s cultural offering. The importance placed on music diversity is one reason why Bogotá was declared in 2012 by UNESCO as “World Capital of Music.”

Together with the Mayor’s Office, district Arts Institute – IDARTES, Secretariat of Culture, and Ministry of Culture, the International Classical Music Festival of Bogotá is heading to eight localities to present works by Bach, Händel and Vivaldi, the lead protagonists of Bogotá Es Barroco.

In this fifth edition, from November 12 to 15, residents of Ciudad Bolívar, Barrios Unidos, La Candelaria, Santa Fe, Tunjuelito, Kennedy, Teusaquillo and Suba will be able to participate in a free program that includes performances by the German conductor and organist Jürgen Wolf, violinist and music director Adrián Chamorro; organist, pianist and harpsichordist Ana María Ospina; French organist Maude Gratton; Colombian guitarist, composer and producer Camilo Giraldo; lutist and plucked instrument expert Diego Salamanca; as well as the wind and string ensembles of the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia and Spicata. The lecture series on the lives and musical styles of composers Händel and Bach, is also part of an extraordinary grid of free events, and which has the Baroque era as its central theme.

When it comes to the eight localities in this classical circuit, we begin in Ciudad Bolívar, home to some 800,000 inhabitants and where at the El Ensueño Theatre on November 13 (4:00 p.m.) the National Orchestra of Colombia, under the direction of Jürgen Wolf and accompanied by soloists Rafael Aponte on flute, and Hungary’s Tamás Balla on oboe, will interpret Bach’s Suite Nº 2 in B minor and Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major. On November 15 (4:00 p.m), on the same stage, a complete repertoire by Antonio Vivaldi, which includes his renowned creation The Four Seasons with Adrián Chamorro and Young Philharmonic Orchestra of Colombia.

In Bogotá’s historic La Candelaria, the Huitaca Auditorium of Palacio Liévano (Mayoralty) welcomes on November 14 (11:00 a.m) Colombian pianist, organist and harpsichordist Ana María Ospina with an all-Bach recital.

The Primary Cathedral of Colombia on November 13 (3:00 p.m) is the venue for an outstanding organ concert by French harpsichordist and organist Maude Gratton. Gratton, founder of IL Covito will play fugues by Bach and Vivaldi’s Concierto in A minor. The Cathedral, on November 15 (3:00 pm), is also the venue for a concert with German conductor Jürgen Wolf.

On November 14 (3:00 pm) at El Tunal Public Library in Tunjuelito, guitarist and composer Camilo Giraldo Ángel will perform works by Bach. In Kennedy, El Tintal Public Library, on November 15 (3:00 p.m) presents the wind and string ensemble of the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonidas Cáceres. The repertoire includes works by Back and Händel.

The Virgilio Barco Public Library in Teusaquillo and designed by architect Rogelio Salmona on November 14 (3:00 p.m) opens its doors to a lute and historical plucked instruments recital with  Diego Salamanca. The program is also all-Bach. The Fabio Lozano Auditorium of the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University in Santa Fe joins the V International Festival of Classical Music of Bogotá presenting the quartet of strings and winds of the National Symphony Orchestra. The open rehearsal is on November 12 (10:00 a.m to 1:30 p.m), and on November 13, 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

For the residents of Suba, the Julio Mario Santo Domingo Public Library, hosts the award-winning Ensamble Spicata (November 15 at 11:00 am) who will perform sonatas and chamber works by Bach, Händel and Vivaldi. On the same stage at Teatro Mayor, starting November 13 (10:00 a.m), Clemens Birnbaum, director of the Händel Festival of Halle in Germany and Yalilé Cardona Alonso, co-director of the International Festival of Classical Music of Bogotá, will open the lecture series with “A Conversation with Händel.” The following day, (November 14 at 10:00 am), there’s the “Bach Conversation” with Michael Maul, director of the Leipzig Bach Festival in Germany.  The final talk on November 15 (10:30 a.m) is titled “Bach’s Messiah or Salvation?.” The keynote speakers in this lecture are Clemens Birnbaum, Michael Maul and Yalilé Cardona Alonso.

For the complete listing of concerts, locations visit: www.festivalmusicaclasicadebogota.org

 

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