As cover Conductor: San Diego Symphony. “Singing with the Devil: Rafael Payare and Cantata Criolla”

Rafael Payare, conductor
Aquiles Machado, tenor
Gustavo Castillo, baritone
San Diego Master Chorale

Gabriel Fauré: Suite from Pelléas et Mélisande, Op. 80
Paul Dukas: La Péri, Poème Dansé (Dance Poem in One Scene)
Evencio Castellanos: Santa Cruz de Pacairigua
Antonio Estévez: Cantata criolla, “Florentino, el que canto con el Diablo” (Florentino, the One who Sang with the Devil)

Music Director Rafael Payare leads the Orchestra in works by two of Venezuela’s most notable composers. Antonio Estévez’s best-known music is the 1954 Cantata Criolla, a lively work based on the Venezuelan mythic poem about a singing contest between Florentino and the Devil. And Evencio Castellanos’ Santa Cruz de Pacairigua is filled with the influences of the country’s folk melodies, popular dance rhythms and even medieval carols. Plus, French composer Paul Dukas’ La Péri, a dance poem based on a Persian folk story, is filled with grandiosity, mystery and introspection—and an ebullient fanfare closing.

Note: gates for the Friday and Saturday performances will open at 6pm.