Spanish harpist Claudia Besné will give the premiere of a harp concerto dedicated to Nicanor Zabaleta on Nov. 5 at the Teatro Coliseo in Eibar, Spain. Besné will perform with the Andrés Egiguren Orchestra, conducted by Pedro Palacín, as part of a concert paying tribute to the musician and composer Francisco de Madina Igarzabal for the 50-year anniversary of his death. As Besné explains, Madina’s Concerto for harp and orchestra was composed in 1953 “for his great friend Nicanor Zabaleta, but sadly [Zabaleta] never played [the concerto] because Madina did not write the orchestra part.” The only existing manuscript is for solo harp with piano reduction, so conductor Pedro Palacín orchestrated the part, using his familiarity with many of Madina’s other pieces, and Besné revised the harp part.
Besné continues, “Francisco de Madina was a Spanish priest, musician, and composer, who actually wrote many pieces for harp, especially for Zabaleta, since they were both from Basque Country (as Pedro and I are).” Although many of his pieces are either lost or unpublished, Besné believes that Madina’s music is “really good and challenging,” and well worth playing.
The concert program for Nov. 5 also includes the first version of Mozart’s Symphony K 550 in G minor. Tickets are available at the Teatro Coliseo’s box office and through the Kutxabank website.
