Jesus Florido to Perform U.S. Premiere of Claudia Montero's Violin Concerto

By Laurie Niles: A decade ago, when violinist Jesus Florido first heard Argentine composer Claudia Montero's Violin Concerto, he knew that this was a special piece of music. In fact, this was the piece he wanted to play - if he could ever play again. "That opening line got me from the first listen," Florido said. "I loved what I heard - the sublime infusion of Argentinian flavors in a classical concerto was totally delightful." Florido will perform the U.S. debut of Montero's Violin Concerto in a set of concerts with the Paragon Philharmonia next month in the Washington D.C. area. A performance will take place March 16 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. (Click here for info), preceded by a performance on March 10 at Grace Episcopal Church in The Plains, Va. (Click here for info.) But the story of how this concert came to be is filled roadblocks, difficulties, and even some heartbreaking discoveries. At the time when Florido first heard Montero's violin concerto, he was still recovering from brain surgery that he'd had in 2012, and he had not yet returned to his violin-playing career. A Los Angeles-based violinist who grew up in Venezuela, Florido's 2007 album Heading North featured an eclectic mix of classical, Latino, Afro-Cuban, jazz, rock, and fiddle influences. In 2014 Montero had submitted her album, Ausencias. Strings Chamber Works, for consideration for the Grammys. That was the first time Florido, a voting member of The Recording Academy, heard her violin concerto - and indeed, that was the piece that won Montero won her first Grammy that year - for Best Classical Contemporary Composition. She went on to win three more Grammys in the years that followed. "At that time that I first heard Claudia's concerto, I could not play yet," Florido said. "I told her that if I ever got to play again, I would love to play her concerto. Of course, she was very happy that I wanted to do that, and she wished me a speedy recovery." "The last time we corresponded was during the 2018 Grammy season, when I told her I was making a comeback - my playing was getting strong enough to play at the concert level again," Jesus said. "She was so happy for me. The last thing I said was, 'If a find an orchestra crazy enough to hire me, I will play your concerto!' She laughed and said, 'Deal, I’ll send you the music!'" In early 2020 Jesus felt very much ready to take the stage again, so Florido wrote to Claudia to ask for the score. "At the time I had been in discussions with my friend Stephanie Flack about performing a concert in D.C. with Paragon Philharmonia," Florido said. "As those plans became more defined, I mentioned that I would love to play this concerto." Months passed. A pandemic happened. Years passed. At some point he realized, "I had not heard from Claudia, which was odd because she always wrote me back," Jesus said. Once the plans were truly set for the concert, Jesus did a search, which brought him to a heartbreaking realization: Claudia had died of cancer in early 2021, at the age of just 58. "I was devastated," Jesus said. But now he was even more determined to get the score for her violin concerto and to perform it. Through a friend, he got in touch with Claudia's family in Argentina in 2022, "and her twin sister Mercedes wrote back immediately and sent me the score for the violin concerto," Jesus said. "So thanks to Mercedes Montero, this piece is being premiered in the U.S." "The score is slightly different from what is recorded," he said, so the music required some tweaking, and Florido also wrote his own cadenza to go with it. (The score is not yet available commercially, but you can write to Mercedes Montero to request it.) A prolific composer, Montero attended the Alberto Ginastera Conservatory in Buenos Aires and did her Masters in Musical Creativity at Universidad de Valencia in Spain, where she stayed and taught composition. "Claudia's musical language throughout the violin concerto feels so Argentinian - not only with the feeling of tango, but also rooted in the folklore and melancholy that gives Argentinian music so much sparkle," Florido said. The piece is written in three movements, and "each movement is a story," Florido said. They are entitled, I. "From the pink corner," II. "The moon in front of you," and III. "Labyrinth." "The joy for me is imagining these stories and playing them from my heart," Florido said. "The writing is almost simple, technically, but very complex, emotionally. It's very colorful and full of Argentinian nuances: a hint of tango, a hint of samba, with a labyrinth at the end." The upcoming concerts with the Paragon Philharmonia also will feature the world premiere of "Poema en 4 Tiempos" by Grammy-nominated Colombian composer Juan Camilo Arboleda. That work is based on a poem written by Arboleda's great-grandmother Clara Cortissoz de Strauss, who was a well-known poet. The poems were written to her husband - after he had he passed away. "It is a very emotional piece," Florido said. "The first three movements - Viajero, La Espera, and El Regreso - refer to his many travels and the longing and happiness she felt when he was away and when he came back. The last movement - El Ultimo Viaje - is about is final trip." * * * Jesus Florido will perform with the Paragon Philharmonia, under music director Miriam Burns, for their "American Debuts" concert on March 10 at Grace Episcopal Church in The Plains, Va. (Click here for more information); and on March 16 at the Kennedy Center (Click here for more information).

The Paragon Philharmonic, with music director Miriam Burns.

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