Orchestre Victor Hugo

In a programme paying homage to travel and dance, the Orchestre Victor Hugo takes us from America’s Deep South to modern China, by way of the forests of Brazil and the colourful streets of Havana. 

Growing up on the streets of New York, the son of Russian immigrants and a self-taught genius, George Gershwin opens this programme with Catfish Row, a symphonic suite drawn from his famous opera Porgy and Bess. Echoes of the blues, magnetic arias as well as a dissonant fugue flow in succession out of these pages, to which responds the complex Cuban Overture, composed in 1932 upon his return from a trip to Havana: the rhythms and sensuality of the rumba mixes with the blues in a secret alchemy known only to Gershwin. Next stop Mexico, with the Danzon n° 2 by Arturo Màrquez, before heading off to Brazil for Two Impressions from Respighi, delightful watercolours evoking tropical nights or the fascinating coil of a serpent. From Brazil we go to China, with John Adams’ The Chairman Dances, from his opera Nixon in China, with Mao Zedong dancing a foxtrot with his mistress !

Musical director Jean-François Verdier
Orchestre Victor Hugo

^{Photo © Orchestre Victor Hugo, Yves Petit}

George Gershwin
Cuban Overture
Porgy and Bess – Symphonic suite (Catfish Row)

Ottorino Respighi
Two Brazilian Impressions

John Adams
The Chairman Dances

Arturo Màrquez
Danzon n° 2