Manuel López-Gómez, conductor
Juliana Athayde, violin

Venezuela's national network of public conservatories and highly-regarded El Sistema music program have established the coastal nation as among the world's leading producers of contemporary classical conductors, composers and instrumentalists. One such luminary is the phenom Manuel López-Gómez. López-Gómez serves as Associate Conductor of the Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra and is active in music education across the globe. For this evening's night at the podium, his third with the NOI+F, Maestro López-Gómez contrasts two creative trailblazers separated by country and century: Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla and The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, alongside his musical predecessor Sergei Rachmaninoff and his Symphony No. 2 in E Minor. Piazzola's work cleverly references Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, but does so within the form of nuevo tango, resulting in a uniquely South American take on the classical tradition. Juliana Athayde, longtime NOI+F faculty member and Concertmaster of the Rochester Philharmonic, joins the orchestra as violin soloist for Piazzola's masterpiece. The second symphony is likewise Rachmaninoff's tour de force and it is no less complex than it is lyrical. The concert begins with another work from a Venezuelan artist: Evencio Castellanos' ruggedly energetic and nearly evangelical composition Santa Cruz de Pacairigua.