Friday in Almada, Saturday in Lisbon and Sunday in Sesimbra. Violinist Ana Pereira takes the stage with Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa in Alla Turca, three shows directed by the concertino herself, who did her training at ANSO.
“It is a programme with great energy, which will be worth listening to”, promises violinist Ana Pereira, the protagonist of the three concerts that Metropolitana will perform this Friday, at 9pm, at Joaquim Benite Municipal Theatre, in Almada; Saturday, at 5pm, at the Coach Museum, in Lisbon; and Sunday, at 4pm, at Nossa Senhora da Consolação do Castelo Church, in Sesimbra.
And what will the audience see when they attend the concerts this weekend? “It is a journey around Mozart and the repertoire for violin”, summarises the violinist, adding that it will also be “a reliving of Metropolitana’s 30 years”, as the programme will include “a piece written by one of the Metropolitana’s former students, Tiago Derriça”.
It is, in fact, by Estudo entre Estudo, a piece that since the 2010 edition of the Young Musicians Prize has been a mandatory presence in national competitions, that the concerts on Friday, Saturday and Sunday will begin “Although the piece was written quite some time ago, I remember perfectly the concept with which I set out to write it. The piece tries to illustrate a violinist’s study session. This concert has in its extremities a more velvety musical language that ends up contrasting with the central part, which is more frenetic and with more expansive dynamics”, explains us the young composer.
Tiago Derriça does not hide his “enormous affection” for Metropolitana. “It was my musical cradle, it was the house that gave me the foundations and the tools that allowed me to follow this path as a composer”, he says. When he looks back, he remembers all those who have marked him. “There are many musicians from Metropolitana for whom I have a great appreciation and admiration, but in particular I must mention the composer Pedro Faria Gomes, who today is no longer in the house, but who was the Composition teacher who marked me the most”.
After Estudo entre Estudo, Ana Pereira goes into great depth on the two scores that go back to the period when Mozart, then aged 18, freed himself from the stigma of “prodigy child ” and announced his maturity to the world.
“Mozart’s Concert No. 5 for violin and orchestra is a particularly well-known concert and one that has a special meaning for me. The first competition I took, after I started working at Metropolitana, was won with this concert. When I won the exam to join Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra it was also with this concert. So, I have only good memories”, recalls Ana Pereira, also a graduate of the National Academy of Advanced Orchestral Studies. This is followed by Symphony No. 29, also by Mozart: “I will play the symphony from my position as concertino of Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra”, explains the violinist
Ana Pereira doesn’t hide the pleasure that this function also gives her. “It’s a job I like doing, because I think it’s extremely important for the orchestra. It’s an extended chamber music work, where everyone participates actively, and where each one has to give a little more of themselves, because the reaction to everything that happens has to be a little faster. I think it’s a work that unites the orchestra a lot and makes it work even more as a team. It’s basically a small family that, although not all living in the same house, works for a common goal”, she concludes.