The Extraordinary Christmas Concert should celebrate its 28th edition this year. However, the health crisis forced this appointment to be suspended last year. Under the motto We come backThis concert was scheduled to be held with a reduced capacity of a thousand people – although it has reached 15,000 – on this occasion. However, the worrying data of the pandemic that have been repeating for days in Tenerife forced the Port Authority of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, last Thursday, to choose to hold the concert behind closed doors and without an audience. Despite this, with English punctuality, At nine o’clock at night the live broadcast of this concert began, which could be followed through La 2 de RTVE and on the internet.
The honorary director of the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, Víctor Pablo Pérez, took the stage again to offer several hours of live music in what was the first broadcast of a concert in high definition by RTVE, in charge of broadcasting the signal of the event for everyone. Eternally, from the movie Candilejas, opened the musical evening with the participation of the tenor from Tenerife Airam Hernández who performed some of the pieces chosen for last night’s program, and who in that first song wanted to follow in the footsteps of the Gran Canaria tenor Alfredo Kraus.
How could it be otherwise in a year like this, The Palm and all its inhabitants were very present during the concert. On this occasion, the Disa Foundation has joined the Puertos de Tenerife All with La Palma campaign and will make a donation in this regard, as well as all the people who wish to do so, who can contribute money through the Authority’s website. Port. It was, therefore, one more gift for the Isla Bonita on the day that scientists ended the eruption that began on September 19.
The president of the Port Authority of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Carlos González, indicated that “we are proud to meet again and that, one more year, the Port and the city shake hands to host this unique event.” The presenter of this annual concert, Ana Molowny, welcomed “our little great paradise” in a “night full of illusion” in which she promised that the public could “enjoy twice” in order to compensate for the cancellation of the past edition year 2020. For 27 years, the OST has always been present in the main cultural events of the Archipelago. Not surprisingly, it has 80 years of history and is widely recognized, both inside and outside the Canarian borders. Last night, the formation again made the public enjoy with a program designed by Víctor Pablo Pérez himself, who wanted to “bring joy.”
Despite being a concert without an audience, it was several dozen residents who approached the catwalk that connects the area of the Plaza de España with the Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife to follow the concert from afar. And, in fact, their applause trickled into the live broadcast of this concert. With the incomparable setting of the Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the vision of some of the boats moored near the Dársena de Los Llanos, the concert started with the most cinematographic block. After paying tribute to Charles Chaplin with the performance of Eternally, it was the turn of the recently deceased Italian composer and conductor Ennio Morricone.
“May the force of music be with us.” This was the recommendation that the OST made with the visit to a very distant galaxy, which also made a hole last night with the first notes of the Imperial March of saga Stars wars. This film block ended with the Oscar-winning song Moon River in its symphonic version.
The tenor Airam Hernández –who showed great stylistic taste, wearing various jackets that perfectly accompanied the songs he was called upon to perform– went on stage again to start the second block of the program, dedicated to the great classics of the popular music and the history of symphonic music. It was then the turn for the well-known Brazilian song Canción de Orfeo, by Luiz Bonfá. Following in the lead of Mercedes Sosa, Airam Hernández then performed Alfonsina y el mar, the theme composed by Ariel Ramírez in homage to the Argentine poet Alfonsina Storni. This block of popular music closed the emblematic song Santa Lucía, composed by Roque Narvaja and made worldwide known in the voice of Miguel Ríos. The OST yesterday took charge of showing its only musical side, leaving aside the lyrics that, however, surely more than one viewer hummed from their home following the live broadcast.
Then the third block of the evening began, that of the zarzuela. The tenor Airam Hernández was in charge of interpreting Adiós Granada, by Emigrantes, and Malagueña, composed by Ernesto Lecuona. Then, with the beginning of the block dedicated to opera, Víctor Pablo Pérez wanted to pay a heartfelt tribute to La Palma, “so that it continues to be our Isla Bonita.” This was announced by the presenter, who was in charge of wishing happy holidays in the most inclusive way possible.
Nimrod, from the Enigma Variations, by Edward Elgar, was the theme chosen by the honorary director of the OST to recognize the fortitude shown by the palm trees throughout the three months of volcanic eruption and to send a message of optimism to all those affected for this volcanic eruption that, although it ended yesterday, will still continue to mark the lives of many canaries for some time to come.
Una furtiva lacrima, from L’elisir d’amore, once again brought Airam Hernández to the stage to interpret this theme from the opera created by Gaetano Donizetti. La donna è mobile, by Rigoletto, could not be absent yesterday in the selection of songs for the Extraordinary Christmas Concert of Puertos de Tenerife, which at that point had already impregnated the Christmas spirit to anyone who was following it through the screens of the television or computer.
How could it be otherwise, the closing of the concert was dedicated to Christmas carols to put an end to this repertoire with which Víctor Pablo Pérez tried, above all, to convey enthusiasm. El tambolero, White Christmas or Let’s listen to the wind were some of the songs that were heard before the great farewell by the OST, which one more year did not disappoint in this appointment that its followers are already looking forward to for the next year 2022.
This is how the OST put the finishing touch, one more year, on Christmas Day. Many people from Tenerife cannot conceive of this day without enjoying a perfect interpretation of some of the most popular songs of yesterday and today, which brings together a very varied audience. In addition, after last year this concert had to be canceled, surely many did not mind that this year the evening had to be followed through the screens in order to say goodbye to the day with Marcha Radetzky, which is already It has become the best greeting of the Christmas holidays.
