Lyceum Orchestra of Havana in Concert during Europe Month in Cuba

The Lyceum Orchestra of Havana will be celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Cuban European Youth Academy as part of Europe Month in Cuba on April 13.

The concert will be free and will take place at the Havana Cathedral at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, under the direction of maestro José Antonio Méndez Padrón.

The program will include Johann Christian Bach’s Sinfonia Concertante in A major, featuring two of the Academy’s professors as soloists, Pablo Hernán on the violin and Lorenzo Meseguer on the cello, and Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 in E minor.

Throughout the week leading up to the concert, members of the Lyceum orchestra will be working with professors from the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble in sectional rehearsals, individual classes, and chamber music, in line with the objectives of this educational and cultural exchange initiative.

The Cuban European Youth Academy has existed since 2014 as a joint project of the Lyceum Mozartiano and the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, led by renowned German conductor Thomas Hengelbrock. As a result of this collaboration, several concerts have been held over the past decade, the latest in April 2023, also at the Havana Cathedral, featuring the celebrated Requiem by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

This event by the Lyceum Mozartiano of Havana, from the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana, is carried out in collaboration with the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, the Embassy of Germany in Cuba, with the support of the Chair of Sacred Music of the Father Félix Varela Cultural Center and the Esteban Salas Musical Heritage Office, of the San Gerónimo University College of Havana. Translated by Luis E. Amador Dominguez