Page 13 - ARUBA TODAY

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Thursday 2 augusT 2018

Aruba Symphony Festival 2018 Ends on a High Note

ORANJESTAD —To open the closing concert,
Aruba Symphony Festival surprised the large
audience with an emotional rendition of the
Aruban national anthem sung by the local
choir ARS NOVA directed by Mrs. Mayra Kock-
Garrido and accompanied by the Aruba Sym-
phony Orchestra consisting of almost seventy
students under the direction of Simon Gollo. The
well known Aruban musician, Franklin Grana-
dillo had arranged the music for the choir and
orchestra.

The main event for the evening was Mendels-
sohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor op.64 by the
internationally acclaimed Japanese violinist Ka-
zuhiro Takagi who played the complete piece
from memory. Maestro Takagi showed again
why he is the concertmaster of four orchestras
on three continents. The deafening applause
he received inspired him to reprise with a piece
that is not widely known, but gave him an op-
portunity to show his immense dexterity on the
violin.

The final programmed piece was Mendels-
sohn's Symphony No. 4 in A Major. Op. 90 which
the orchestra played masterly. The director Si-
mon Gollo squeezed all he could out of the mu-
sic students and they responded beautifully. At bers of the board of Aruba Symphony Festival. three. It certainly attracted more people and
the end everybody felt content and happy. For the young musicians it was an unforgettable the public responded generously with dona-
But Aruba Symphony Festival had yet another experience. Only in Aruba! tions. This is important because presenting a
pleasant surprise. With Aruba's musical icon festival of quality like the Aruba Symphony Fes-
Padú del Caribe present, Aruba Symphony Aruba Symphony Festival 2018 Is now history. tival is costly. If Aruba wants to continue as the
played, and Ars Nova sang, Padú's beloved The public's unanimous opinion is that this year's venue for the Festival, it must get strong support
waltz "Abo So". For the interpretation of this festival was better artistically than the previous from all of us. q
number Simon Gollo passed the director's ba-
ton to the popular Venezuelan musician, Jesús
David Medina who had prepared the arrange-
ment for choir and orchestra. Several people
could not resist and sang along.

For many it was a pleasure to see our Minister
of Culture, Mrs. Xiomara Ruiz-Maduro and our
temporary Governor Mrs. Yvonne Laclé-Dirksz,
two persons who have been enthusiastic sup-
porters of the Festival, climb the stage to con-
gratulate the musicians and chat with mem-