Youthful Visions: Carreño, Prokofiev & Sibelius

Diego Matheuz, conductor
Aristo Sham, piano

CARREÑO: Margariteña
PROKOFIEV: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16
SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43

December opens with a captivating program of innovation and imagination, featuring music by Carreño, Prokofiev, and Sibelius – three composers who captured the spirit of change at the dawn of the 20th century.

Inocente Carreño’s Margariteña, a radiant “symphonic gloss” from the 1950s, celebrates the Venezuelan composer’s Caribbean homeland. Drawing on popular melodies, including his beloved song “Margarita es una lágrima,” the piece glows with the warmth and rhythm of island life.

Next, pianist Aristo Sham performs Prokofiev’s electrifying Piano Concerto No. 2, written when the composer was just 21. Its explosive rhythms, haunting lyricism, and sheer virtuosity shocked early audiences but revealed a bold new musical language. Reconstructed from memory after the original score was destroyed, the concerto stands among Prokofiev’s most thrilling creations.

The concert concludes with Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2, a defining work in the Finnish composer’s evolution from Romantic opulence to taut modern mastery. Built from fragments that gradually coalesce into sweeping melodies, it mirrors the growth of an idea – from uncertainty to radiant triumph. Its closing pages, among the most inspiring in all symphonic music, affirm the power of persistence, transformation, and hope.