Spanish Reflections

Spanish classical pianist Javier Perianes, winner of Spain’s 2012 National Music Prize, joins the Toronto Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Spanish music director Gustavo Gimeno in a solo performance of Manuel de Falla’s “Fantasia Baetica” and more.

Gustavo Gimeno, whose tenure as the tenth Music Director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra began in 2020/21, conducts the program featuring Manual de Falla’s technically challenging piano work, Fantasia Baetica, which incorporates elements of Andalusian folk music, gypsy, Middle-Eastern, Indian, and influences from his time in to capture the spirit of flamenco.

Pianist Javier Perianes also introduces a piece written for him by fellow countryman Francisco Coll, the contemporary fantasia for piano and orchestra Ciudad sin sueño (Sleepless City).

The program concludes with Falla’s iconic Suites Nos. 1 and 2 from The Three-Cornered Hat, employing fandango and fiery flamenco orchestration from his highly successful ballet based on a comic novella.

About the pianist

The international career of Javier Perianes has led him to perform in such prestigious concert halls as Carnegie Hall in New York City, the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, the Shanghai Conservatory, Madrid’s Auditorio Nacional, Palau in Barcelona, and the Konzerthaus in Berlin. He has also given recitals at the Ravinia and Gilmore International Festivals in Chicago, as well as the Festival de La Roque-d’Anthéron in France.

He has performed with the world’s foremost orchestras, working with celebrated conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Charles Dutoit, Zubin Mehta, Gustavo Dudamel, Klaus Mäkelä, Gianandrea Noseda, Gustavo Gimeno, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Simone Young, Vladimir Jurowski, and François-Xavier Roth.

The 2023/24 season features an array of high-profile concerts including the US and Canadian premieres of Jimmy López Bellido’s Ephemerae with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, and the world premiere of a new concerto by Francisco Coll with London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Canadian premiere with Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

Perianes was awarded the National Music Prize in 2012 by the Ministry of Culture of Spain and named Artist of the Year at the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) in 2019.

A pianist of impeccable and refined tastes, blessed with a warmth of touch.

—The Telegraph

About the music director

Gustavo Gimeno is a prominent Spanish conductor who currently holds the position of Music Director of the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He has been praised for reinvigorating the artistic profile of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra since his appointment in 2020/21, engaging with musicians and audiences, and overseeing renewed community engagement. Additionally, he is set to become the Music Director of Teatro Real in Madrid in the 2025/26 season.

As an opera conductor, he has appeared at renowned houses such as the Liceu Opera Barcelona; Opernhaus Zürich; Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, Valencia; and Teatro Real, Madrid. He is also much sought-after as a symphonic guest conductor worldwide: in 2023/24 he returns to orchestras such as London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouworkest, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, NSO Washington, Dallas and Cincinnati symphony orchestras.

During the 2023/24 season, Gimeno and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra are starting a new chapter in the Orchestra’s 101st year. They will perform major symphonic works like Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, Brahms’s Symphony No. 1, Respighi’s Pines of Rome, and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Pulcinella. Gimeno will share the stage with, among other soloists, Daniil Trifonov, James Ehnes, Emily D’Angelo, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Javier Perianes and Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

In February 2024, the first commercial recording of Gimeno and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra together will be released. This recording captures Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie from their collaboration in May 2023, under the Harmonia Mundi label. Gimeno has previously recorded Stabat Mater, Puccini’s Messa di Gloria, and Stravinsky’s ballets The Firebird and Apollon musagète with Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg for the same label.