Dúo Ondina: a song in the tireless search for beauty, in concert on March 19 at the Basilica

March 18, 2022

Dúo Ondina -one of the most paradigmatic chamber ensembles in Cuba and the American continent- made up of maestras Niurka González on flute and María del Henar Navarro on piano, invites us to a song in the tireless search for beauty this Saturday, March 19, at 6:00 p.m., at the Basilica Menor del Convento de San Francisco de Asís in Havana.

Regarding the event, maestra Niurka González stated exclusively for Radio Enciclopedia that it is a celebratory concert: "We are celebrating my 45th birthday, which is next March 21, and the 25th anniversary of Dúo Ondina. It is also a celebration because we are just returning to in-person performances and learning to live with this new situation, as it has been a very complicated period of two years for all of humanity with the COVID-19 pandemic," commented the distinguished Cuban flutist.

During the event we will enjoy two world premieres: the Spring Sonata by maestro Leo Brouwer, who specially dedicated the piece to the versatile performer Niurka González, and the work Ventundina by maestro Jorge López Marín, written for Dúo Ondina and Ventus Habana.

In addition, the repertoire will include the Quartet in D Major KV. 285 by Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with the participation of violinist Amelia Febles, violist Gretchen Labrada, and cellist Gabriela Nardo. The Beatitudes I and XX by maestro José María Vitier will also be heard, with the participation of Malva Rodríguez on piano, and the challenging Suite for flute and piano by Frenchman Charles-Marie Widor.

The dramaturgy of the program

In speaking with maestra Niurka González about how the process of putting together this program came about, she explained to us: "I wanted to start by creating a very joyful atmosphere and Mozart's Quartet in D Major fascinates me to work on because of the perfection of its phrasing. It is a song to positive energy and a call to always continue fighting for the tireless search for beauty and in that genius of Mozart that is present".

Regarding the second piece she is undertaking, she expressed with joy: "I could not miss in this my first concert after this forced pause of two years, the extraordinary gift I had from maestro Leo Brouwer, who last year for my birthday gave me the Spring Sonata, and it had not yet been heard".

Regarding the third piece, she emphasized that it is a self-gift, as she has the joy of playing with her daughter Malva Rodríguez and performing two of the Beatitudes by maestro José María Vitier. "These creations by Vitier have been a beautiful gift, loaded with symbolism, with Cubanness, with expression, which these two years have brought and were collected on a recording we made together. It is also a gift for the same meaning of the word beatitude; after a disastrous time, as we long for that, to be blessed, and I hope it will be so, and being able to play with Malva is somewhat being blessed," she added with pleasure.

They will then take on the Suite for flute and piano by Parisian composer Charles-Marie Widor, performed by Dúo Ondina, and Niurka emphasized that its four movements prove to be very inspired music and are true chamber music for the two instruments.

And as the closing of this program will be the world premiere of the work by maestro Jorge López Marín. A deeply beautiful piece

The exalted soloist Niurka González has had the fortune and privilege of being drawn by maestro Leo Brouwer, with whom she made her debut leading the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba in Carl Maria von Weber's Concertino for clarinet and orchestra. For decades these connections have been drawing considerably closer, as he is frequently heard performing the Sonata for solo flute which was recorded on her first album, as well as the two Martianas Elegies and the Ballad in a version for flute and piano; they collaborated on the maestro's CD Homo Ludens, among others. And now the maestro has desired to honor the performer with this special dedication of the Spring Sonata.

"It is a work that comes to stay in the Cuban flute repertoire with great force. It has three movements and it is a very beautiful piece in which Leo is already back, here there is nothing to prove, everything has been said." González expressed that this is a work of tremendous maturity, as it shows full knowledge of the expressive possibilities of the instrument and the dramaturgy of the composition.

"Maestro Brouwer wove this work from beginning to end. It lasts approximately fifteen minutes and the word that comes to mind to describe it is that it is profoundly beautiful". Regarding the interpretive challenges, she asserted that, in addition to the technical part which is the foundation of the work, it is giving coherence to all those ideas that the composer captured and elaborated on how to find the keys to do so: "He himself with the titles -which he gave to the movements-, conditions a certain expression.

Everything is related to spring, because it is dedicated to me, since my birthday is March 21, the day of the spring equinox, and that is what the first movement is called, the second, Spring Birds, and the third, Spring Rituals". Similarly, she felt that it is very pleasant for her that the work is a song to spring, because it is a season in which everything is reborn, and in her view, that is what humanity needs: a rebirth. A very sparkling work

Dúo Ondina has had a cherished relationship with Cuban composer Jorge López Marín, whose extensive catalog they have worked on and many works have been conceived for them, and in this concert they will again have the privilege of premiering one of his works. Regarding this, Niurka declared: "López Marín's work -which is called Ventundina- presents a very rich format, it is a septet, and explores the sonorities of both groups, it has moments of quintets, of duet with flute and piano, and of all seven instruments together; it is really very sparkling". She also detailed that the piece exploits Cuban rhythms and complex rhythms, and although it is a work for chamber ensemble in a single movement, it has several themes, some more lyrical, others rhythmic, a guajira, and ends with a montuno. Regarding the importance of this maestro's repertoire in the Cuban scene, she stated: "It is fundamental within the creation for flutes by Cuban composers.

López is a composer of tremendous training with very solid foundations and with a very Cuban language," she observed.

Dúo Ondina: a quarter century of brotherhood

Dúo Ondina is a formation made up since 1997 by Cuban flutist Niurka González and pianist María del Henar Navarro, both soloists who through their knowledge have contributed considerably to this ensemble, achieving recognition as one of the most renowned chamber groups in Cuba and Ibero-America. For more than two decades, both instrumentalists, in perfect harmony, have offered the public pleasant encounters with sonic art and two imperishable recordings such as Flauta Virtuosa, awarded the Cubadisco 2004 prize for best Debut Album, and the divine lyricism of composers and maestros from the Superior Conservatory of Music in Paris on the CD Havana-Paris.

With performances considered by critics to be masterful and of very high caliber, these two artists challenge, in each concert, our ears and imagination in a delicious fellowship, the result of deep friendship and the combination of two virtuoso performers.

Regarding sharing work like this for so long, maestra Niurka González said: "Working 25 years with a person, that already transcends work, just that fact in itself makes her part of your family. The work with María del Henar, the friendship, the brotherhood between the two of us, transcends musical matters. We are family and we share music which is a way of life and there is a history".

She mentioned that there is a series of intense moments lived together that are integrated by concerts, rehearsals, at home, daily life, teaching, in recording studios, playing in Spain, Brazil… "It has really been a life; it is a quarter century of that brotherhood, it is something very cherished and I believe that one of the greatest satisfactions is that composers have dedicated their works to us, and between the two of us, we have been able to discover them and premiere them together," she said.

The promising future of continuing to leave a mark

An important path has been traveled by Dúo Ondina, who has left an imprint on the concert halls of the greatest Caribbean archipelago and, however, its members continue with great desire to continue defending the best creations of chamber music. "We dream of being able to continue playing, that composers continue writing works for us and we can perform their premieres.

In addition, we wish to continue enjoying the privilege that music is, both in separate projects with other musicians and also together; this enriches us, broadens our creative universe; also joining forces with other formats and other ways of working enriches us, we dream of that, of continuing," she concluded.