# Cuban José Antonio Méndez directed the Philharmonic Orchestra of Bogotá and French organist Thomas Ospital

**Date:** 08/27/2022

Cuban conductor José Antonio Méndez will have the Philharmonic Orchestra of Bogotá and French organist Thomas Ospital under his baton again today, in a unique concert that promises to be legendary.

Yesterday Friday, the Primada Cathedral in the historic center of Bogotá capital was the setting for the presentation of this essential Colombian music group whose special guests were Méndez and Ospital, who is considered one of the best exponents in the world of organ music.

It was a symbiosis of music, sensitivity and virtuosity in a space conducive to this type of concerts that are not often offered. In an interview with Prensa Latina, the Cuban conductor, who founded the Orchestra of the University of the Arts, thanked the invitation to these presentations in the context of the 55th anniversary of the Philharmonic of Bogotá.

"For me it was a pleasure and an honor to have been invited to these events with the presence of Cuban musicians who preceded me such as the maestros and pianists José María Vitier and Marcos Madrigal, and which will continue with maestro Dayana García," he expressed.

In referring to his work with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Bogotá, whose general director is David García, he affirmed that it is very good to work with musicians of a high level, who react very quickly to any suggestion, and the dialogue in that sense has gone very well, both in the few days of rehearsal and in Friday's concert.

He expressed that when he was told he would work with the Colombian orchestra and with Thomas Ospital, who is a musician of international renown with an impressive career, he felt "a double pride and double pleasure."

"Normally for an orchestra conductor this repertoire (which includes the organ) is not common, it is not done much because there is not always the space: having a good instrument in a good church, with a good orchestra, are factors that don't always come together and having the possibility to do it now in Colombia, is a dream as a musician as well," Méndez emphasized.

He detailed that the organ concerto was chosen by Thomas and him, the rest of the program with music by Felix Mendelssohn, a German composer who dedicated most of his short life to rescuing the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.

The entire program we have chosen has to do with the church, the Overture of St. Paul's Overture, his entire conversion to Christianity, said Méndez who has had a rich career developed in Havana, the United States, Austria and Germany.

We also chose the Symphony of the Reformation about the conversion from Catholicism to Protestantism, and within which you can hear Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish chorales, because Mendelssohn's parents and his family were of Jewish origin, he added.

"So it is a tremendous symbiosis, eclecticism, polytheism within music that in the end is that, someone can have whatever belief they want, but in the end we are all human beings and we all share the same essence which is life, so beyond any region music unites us," he emphasized.

Méndez founded in 2009 the Orchestra of the main higher education institution of the arts in Cuba, attached to the Lyceum Mozartiano of Havana and since then the group has grown a lot, both quantitatively and qualitatively.

It currently has about 60 musicians of high professional level and many of those who have passed through it play in great orchestras of the world "and that for me is tremendous pride," Méndez expressed, a musician of great humility, very passionate about his work, and admirable professionalism.

Friday's presentation was applauded again and again for the quality of the interpretation of the program in this spectacular trilogy, which overflowed with beautiful harmonies in the Primada of Bogotá. Today, also in this city, the church El Divino Salvador will receive the great artists in another concert that promises to be excellent for the musicians themselves and for the public of this city that displays a special multiculturality.