The general director of the Venezuelan Symphonic Orchestra (OSV),
Alejandro Montes de Oca, said during a press conference on Thursday at
Havana’s Casa del ALBA Cultural center, that this is a dream come true and
mentioned that they will also visit the National Art School (ENA) and the
Amadeo Roldan Conservatory, also in the Cuban capital.

Montes de Oca affirmed that on Sunday’s concert they will perform pieces
by Latin American composers such as Mexicans Arturo Marquez and Pablo
Moncayo, Cuban Alejandro Garcia Caturla, and by Venezuelan musicians.

He noted that singers Cecilia Todd, from Venezuela; and Argelia Fragoso,
from Cuba; will also join the orchestras during their performance.

The OSV, directed by Ukrainian maestro Theodore Kuchar, will also perform
on Friday at that same theatre, where they will pay homage to Russian
maestros Piotr Tchaikovsky and Serguei Prokofiev.

They will play the piece Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and
Orchestra, by Tchaikovsky, with 16-year old soloist cellist Enmanuel
Acurero; Symphony No. 5 by Prokofiev; and Tocatta Bachiana and Pajarillo
Aldemaroso by Venezuelan pianist and composer Aldemaro Romero.

The OSV, the oldest orchestra of its kind in Latin America ––it was
founded in 1930––, is visiting Cuba for the third time on the occasion of
the “2011 Venezuela-Cuba Meeting: Music, the Caribbean, and Latin America”.

It has performed along renowned musicians such as Wilhelm Furtwängler,
Igor Stravinsky, Eugene Ormandy, Otto Klemperer, Sergio Celibidache, Andre
Kostelanetz, Hector Villa-Lobos, Carlos Chavez, Pierre Ovules, Eduardo
Mata, Mstislav Rostropovich, Jascha Heifetz, Henryk Szeryng, Artur
Rubinstein, Claudio Arrau, Martha Argerich, Yo-Yo Ma, Pablo Casals, and
Wilhelm Kemp, among many others.