Great surprises are not those you get on your birthday or on your anniversary. Great surprises are the extraordinary experiences that occur when you least expect it.
I came across the season schedule for the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra by chance. I was searching for information on another concert. The Orchestra had a performance two weeks before my mother’s 50th birthday, making it the perfect present. As my mom and I rushed to the Centro de Bellas Artes Luis A. Ferré, I expected an ordinary but incredible performance by the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra.
Once inside, we headed to the left side of the fifth row, which I picked to feel like I was among the violins. Someone was already in my seat. I politely tell him that I have the ticket to this seat and without producing any ticket of his own he moves down a few chairs. I find it odd, but don’t pay much attention to it. I’m eager to hear Piotr I.Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 13.
Upon opening the program, however, I realize that a new piece will be premiering that night. The piece is Ataque y volavénrunt, by Manuel Calzada. My interest is short lived as the first violinist walks on stage. He plays a note and the strings follow sending flutters through my stomach and spine. The director, Roselín Pabón, follows and I feel the anxiousness of a performance about to begin.
Ataque y volavénrunt begins with a strong violin presence that keeps me at the edge of my seat while the percussion, including bells, bongos, tumbadoras, güiro, güira and timbales, is introduced in the most unexpected ways. There’s one loud clap made with a slapstick that pierces my heart in surprise while the violins quickly set the pace. The unparalleled mix of melodies and styles keeps my senses awake. The classical strings merge with the Latin drums with fever.
When it ends, I’m left empty and full simultaneously. I wish it had never ended, but I’m thankful I can show my appreciation with applause. The director points and applauds to the man who was in my seat. He stands as he is beckoned to the stage. Manuel Calzada: the brain behind the masterpiece that had just pierced through my veins.
In the program, he says his inspiration came from Francisco Goya’s Caprichos satirical paintings and a story of two witches who flew very low in rural Dominican Republic and one fell off her broom. Ataque y volavénrunt is meant to describe an imaginary flight in which the witches try to attack Caribbean cultural values and rid the region of its identity to take advantage of the natural resources. The Caribbean people fight back and stop the witches from getting their way.
Calzada says Ataque y volavénrunt shows his passion for mixing Caribbean sounds to orchestra music. The piece, he added, has strong influences from bomba, merengue and montuno. The development of the piece is more traditional European, but it balances on an imaginary line that divides classical and popular music with the intent to remain indefinable, says Calzada.
Josué Casillas beautifully led the next piece, Carl Nielsen’s Concert for Flute and Orchestra, FS 119, with a flute solo, giving a stunning performance. The main show, Tchaikovsky’s piece, was also a great performance, but neither surprised me more than Ataque y volavénrunt.
The orchestra has five concerts remaining in the season. For more information, click here.
Thanks to Manuel Calzada for identifying the instruments used in his piece and for his beautiful art.