Oud virtuoso Joseph Tawadros joins CSO for a celebration of dance from Egypt to Mexico.
Jessica Cottis describes Arturo Márquez’s Danzón No. 2 as ‘one of the most vibrant, lively, toe-tapping dance pieces in the classical music world’. Inspired by the dance halls of Mexico, Márquez’s Danzón opens CSO’s final Llewellyn Series concert for 2027 with sensual wind melodies, underpinned by the rhythm of the clave, and driving orchestral momentum.
The energy intensifies when Egyptian-Australian oud player Joseph Tawadros makes his CSO debut, performing his Concerto for Oud and Orchestra, joined on the Llewellyn Hall stage by his brother and percussionist James Tawadros. Combining elements of traditional Arabic music, as well as jazz, blues, classical and baroque music, Tawadros’ Concerto featured on his album Live at the Sydney Opera House, which won the ARIA Award for Best World Music Album in 2020.
We finish with Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, the composer at his most rhythmic. Like the other two composers on this program, Rachmaninoff weaves in influences from different sources: his use of the saxophone in the first movement suggests the world of jazz while the final movement quotes the ‘Dies irae’ (Day of wrath) plainchant melody, as well as his own All-Night Vigil. The central movement is a delightfully off-kilter waltz.
PROGRAM
Arturo Márquez
Dánzon No.2
Joseph Tawadros
Oud Concerto
(orchestrated by Jessica Wells)
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Symphonic Dances
ARTISTS
Jessica Cottis: conductor
Joseph Tawadros: oud
James Tawadros: riqq, bendir
Canberra Symphony Orchestra