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AUGUST 18 · 7:30PM
Organ & Orchestra Celebration!
Raúl Prieto Ramírez (soloist-organ), Alejandro Gómez Guillén (conductor), Jeff Thayer (concertmaster)
PROGRAM
This concert is kindly sponsored by: Elaine Baldwin and Carl Nelson, Ed and Eveline Eng
Francis Poulenc (1899 – 1963)
Concerto in G minor for Organ, Strings and Timpani
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750)
Concerto for Harpsichord in A major BWV 1055
I. Allegro
II. Larghetto
III. Allegro ma non tanto
Raúl Prieto Ramírez (b. 1979)
Concerto No.1 for Organ and Orchestra
Horatio William Parker (1863 - 1919)
Concerto for Organ and Orchestra Op.55
I. Allegro moderato
II. Allegretto, ma ben moderato
III. Allegro moderato, molto resoluto
Alejandro Gómez Guillén
Raúl Prieto Ramírez
Jeff Thayer
Organist - Soloist
Concertmaster
Conductor
ALEJANDRO GÓMEZ GUILLÉN
Alejandro Gómez Guillén is a conductor and violinist committed to making music compelling, uplifting, and educational. He is the Director of Orchestras at Arizona State University, where he recently led the Arizona collegiate premiere of William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony. He also serves as Music Director of Sphere Ensemble, where he explores string orchestra masterpieces across genres and eras.
Previously, Alejandro served as Assistant Conductor of the Omaha Symphony, participating in the premiere of Andy Akiho’s Grammy-nominated Sculptures, and as Artistic Director of the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, conducting the Indiana premiere of Florence Price’s Fourth Symphony. As Associate Conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony, he led community and education programs, collaborating with artists such as Time for Three and Cecilia Duarte.
As a guest conductor, Alejandro has worked with orchestras across the U.S. and abroad, including the Orlando Philharmonic, Virginia Symphony, Illinois Symphony, and Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá. He has performed at the Oregon Bach Festival and collaborated with conductors like Robert Spano and Tito Muñóz.
A Colombian-American conductor and violinist, Alejandro holds degrees in conducting and violin from Texas Christian University School of Music and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Off the podium, he enjoys trail running, singing, and making music with his family.
RAÚL PRIETO RAMÍREZ
With words such as “sizzling”, iconoclastic”, “impeccable”, and “transcendent” used to describe his performances, Raúl Prieto Ramírez is the first Spanish organist in recent times to establish himself among the elite of the international pipe organ scene. "The powerful personality, passionate expressiveness, gift for communication, and outstanding technique of Spanish organist Raúl Prieto Ramírez make him shine in a wide range of repertoire and styles". (Los Angeles Philharmonic) He is San Diego Civic Organist and Artistic Director of the Spreckels Organ Society, where he presides over the famed Austin organ at the city’s Balboa Park Pavilion – the largest open-air musical instrument in the world. Mr. Ramírez is the eighth Civic Organist to serve San Diego on the Spreckels organ bench. At age 27, as the first Organist of Spain’s National Concert Hall in Madrid, Mr. Ramírez increased attendance by a multiple of 30 and critics hailed him as one of the most exciting talents in the music scene. He later founded the International Organ Festival/Academy in Barcelona, the Sursa American Organ Competition in partnership with Moscow and served as organ consultant for both religious and civil institutions.
His global schedule takes him to major festivals and concert halls (from the Mariinsky Theater and Moscow House of Music in Russia to organ churches and cathedrals through Europe and the US), performances and lectures for universities and institutions (such as Indiana University, Baylor, Moscow Conservatory, Graz University, and Chapters of the American Guild of Organists), collaborations in summer academies, and as jury member at international competitions. After studies in Spain where he received the highest distinctions and awards, Mr. Ramírez moved to Stuttgart on a scholarship from the German government to study organ performance with Ludger Lohmann. At the same time, he was developing his technique with pianist Leonid Sintsev at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St. Petersburg, Russia. He also worked on interpretation of the different schools of organ literature with Marie-Claire Alain, Guy Bovet, Eric Lebrun, Lionel Rogg, Zsigmond Szathmáry, and Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, and he also intensively studied composition, orchestral conducting, improvisation, and continuo playing. The premieres of his works have been recorded and broadcast in Spain, including chamber music, organ music, many pieces for solo instruments and a concerto for organ and orchestra that was premiered in Barcelona. As a result of his varied studies, Mr. Prieto Ramírez possesses a wide and deep knowledge of organ repertoire, styles, and schools, from the 14th century Robertsbridge Codex to the new compositions he commissions.
He is respected as a specialist in such disparate subjects as Spanish music, historic keyboard techniques, and modern symphonic transcriptions for the organ. His transcriptions of Liszt’s piano études and Mephisto Waltz have been praised by audience and critics alike in Italy, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Critics have also highly praised his interpretations of the music of Buxtehude, Bach, Franck, and Reger. His first two compact discs, on the Brilliant Classics label, were recorded at Milan Cathedral in Italy (music of Franck, Liszt, Reger, and Saint-Saëns) and at the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona (music for piano and organ duet). In June 2016, Mr. Ramirez and his wife, Spanish pianist Maria Teresa Sierra, were featured duo artists at the American Guild of Organists’ national convention in Houston.
Raúl Prieto Ramírez is represented exclusively in North America by Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists, LLC.
JEFF THAYER
Violinist Jeff Thayer holds the Deborah Pate and John Forrest Concertmaster Chair of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Thayer is also a founding member of the Camera Lucida chamber music ensemble, formerly in residence at UCSD’s Conrad Prebys Music Center. Previous positions include assistant concertmaster of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, associate concertmaster of the North Carolina Symphony and concertmaster of the Canton (OH) Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Thayer was also formerly on the violin faculty of the Music Academy of the West where he also served as concertmaster for 13 years. He is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard School’s Pre-College Division. His teachers include Zvi Zeitlin, Donald Weilerstein, Dorothy DeLay and William Preucil.
A native of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Mr. Thayer began violin lessons with his mother at the age of three. Festivals include Interlochen, the Pierre Monteux Festival, Astoria Music Festival, the National Orchestral Institute, the National Youth Symphony, the Grand Teton Music Festival, Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, La Jolla SummerFest, Mainly Mozart Festival (San Diego), Festival der Zukunft and the Tibor Varga Festival (Switzerland).