Update browser for a secure Made experience

It looks like you may be using a web browser version that we don't support. Make sure you're using the most recent version of your browser, or try using of these supported browsers, to get the full Made experience: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge.

In the News

Sinfónica de Minería opens Bravo! Vail’s 37th season with all-Beethoven concert

Artistic Director Anne-Marie McDermott performed Piano Concerto No. 3 as Carlos Miguel Prieto's ensemble became the first Latin-American guest orchestra
June 22, 2024

In their historic inaugural Vail residency, Sinfónica de Minería provided fresh excitement to the ubiquitous tones of Beethoven’s “Eroica” during Thursday’s Bravo! Vail opening night concert. The all-Beethoven evening also featured the summer festival’s artistic director, Anne-Marie McDermott, performing the master composer’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor.

“We’ve been dreaming about this for several years,” McDermott said of bringing conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto’s group to Vail as its first Latin-American guest orchestra. McDermott is currently working on a Beethoven concertos recording project with the ensemble — which was founded in 1978 and has been under Prieto’s baton since 2006.

McDermott described Prieto, who owns a home in Beaver Creek and has skied the local mountains much of his life, as being “one of the most sought after conductors in the world.”

“You’ll see what I mean right off the bat and throughout the weekend,” she said.

Prieto proved McDermott’s words to be prescient from the moment he turned to face the nearly-full Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater audience to conduct an impromptu participatory performance of the national anthem.

His boisterous 3/4 pattern transcended time-keeping and accomplished more than simply stating a particular mood. His hands swam up and down, jumping to the heartbeat of the music like a jubilant dolphin dancing through ocean waves. That he successfully stirred up a novel energy for such a familiar tune foreshadowed what was to come later.

Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor

McDermott captivated concertgoers from the first note of the Allegro con brio with her masterful change of dynamics and courteous conversation with the ensemble.

She was sensitive — both in her body language and musical style — to the motifs which passed back and forth between the soloist, the violins and the flutes. Then, in the flourishing first-movement cadenza — which Beethoven neglected to write out until five years after the piece debuted — the internationally acclaimed soloist stole the show.

Her nimble fingers flew up and down the length of the Yahama grand piano, defying the muscle-tightening frigid wind which had begun to stir. The way McDermott’s stormy trills and roaring scale runs dissipated into sudden pianissimo chords offered some of the most convincing and heart-stopping dynamic changes I’ve ever heard. When she gently returned to earlier ideas in the final coda, the theme clutched the soul like a familiar song playing in a distant memory.

After a noble second movement, the foreboding growls of the low strings rose up in the third just as an audibly stiff breeze rifled through the outdoor venue. The ominous rumble of a developing summer storm did little in deterring the jaunty attitude and bounce from McDermott and the orchestra in the Rondo: Allegro. In fact, the increasing speed of the presto coda section coincided with the rush of wind, until finally, its sonata form rounded into an optimistic C Major.

Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55, “Sinfonia Eroica”

While unexpected rain and a steep temperature drop forced unprepared attendees to leave at intermission, those who remained were treated to Prieto’s hearty conducting of Beethoven’s heroic Third Symphony.

Beethoven originally wrote the piece to honor Napoleon Bonaparte, whom, as the program notes stated, he viewed as “a repository of hope for the social enlightenment of mankind.” But when Bonaparte crowned himself emperor, the composer ripped the title page in half and dedicated the piece to Prince Lobkowitz instead. While the failure of individuals to live up to Beethoven’s ideals became a subplot of the composer’s life, there was no such disappointment felt from listeners on Thursday. Sinfónica de Minería lived up to the hype.

Prieto traced musical lines from the strings to the French horns, which boldly belted out fanfares during the scherzo. In the final movement, after supporting the string section’s grand crescendo, the principal oboe and flute players appeared out of the sudden silence, earning their pay with exceptional exposed solos.

After receiving a standing ovation, Prieto himself expressed gratitude toward what is almost as much a home audience as the Sala Nezahualcoyotl in Mexico City.

“Thank you so much for being here,” he said prior to a humorous, Haydn-inspired encore. Prieto’s jovial presence also provided a warmth which lifted spirits as gray clouds defined the late stages of the brisk evening.

“I think humor is the biggest quality that keeps you going,” he said before the group played through the hilarious false endings from Haydn’s Symphony No. 90.

“I have three bits of good news: first, we play another concert on Saturday. And we play a concert on Sunday,” Prieto continued. “And the third bit of good news — the weather should be warmer.”

Read the full article at VailDaily.com