The Wiener String Quintet will celebrate the Strauss brothers with a showcase of the “art of arrangement.”

▲ The ensemble will perform today in the main hall of the Palace of Fine Arts. Photo courtesy of INBAL

Merry Macmasters

La Jornada Newspaper, Friday, July 4, 2025, p. 5

The Vienna-based string quintet Wiener Kammersymphonie will debut today in the main hall of the Palacio de Bellas Artes with a showcase of its artistic trends. For example, their interest in revisiting repertoires such as Viennese, or concert forms, which is unusual, according to José María Serralde.

According to the National Coordinator of Music and Opera at the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL), the Wiener is a very unique ensemble, specializing in performing arrangements of orchestral music originally written for larger groups, such as a symphony orchestra, now crafted for five string instruments. This literally becomes a demand for virtuosic arrangements and parts for string instruments, Serralde notes, for those who don't usually listen to this repertoire.

The program to be performed will serve to celebrate two name days from Mexico in a fun way .

These are Johann Strauss Sr. (1804-1849) and Johann Strauss Jr. (1825-1899), the King of the Waltz, Viennese composers who transformed the culture of ballroom music and dance in Vienna and Europe in the 19th century .

The first part of the program is conceived as "a celebration of the traditions of polkas and waltzes originally written for large orchestra." This section, dedicated to 19th-century Viennese dance culture, features "Roses from the South," " Fledermaus Quadrille ," the polka "Tik Tak," "Perpetuum Mobile," and "Auf der Jagd" (On the Hunt) by Johann Strauss the Younger, as well as "Wiener Polka" and "Galopp-Polka" by Josef Strauss (1827–1870), Strauss's brother. This is followed by "Reise-Galopp" (Travel Gallop), Op. 85, and "Champagner-Galopp" (Champagne Gallop), Op. 8, by Strauss the Elder.

In the second part, "we're going to get serious, as we musicians say. The group will play two arrangements of orchestral works, not dance pieces. The first is the suite Der Bürger als Edelmann (The Bourgeois Gentleman) by the German Richard Strauss (1864-1949), and the overture and arias from Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) by the Viennese Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), the latter in a historic 18th-century setting.

"We like to affectionately call this concert the art of arrangement, which is no small musical event; however, it's not addressed in international repertoires, much less by ensembles. Nevertheless, arrangement, the performers' work in searching for and reducing the music to its essential parts, is something very interesting that we want to highlight and celebrate at the National Coordination of Music and Opera (CNMO)," Serralde told La Jornada.

The Wiener Kammersymphonie string quintet was founded in 2006, in celebration of Mozart Year. It consists of Janay Tulenova (first violin), Muhammedjan Sharipov (second violin), Vincenzo Starace (viola), Sergio Mastro (cello and artistic direction), and Felipe Morales (double bass).

For Serralde, the interesting aspect of the group is its specialization in repertoire, in this case Viennese: "With that, I'm not only talking about Viennese classicism, but also about later composition in Austria. They have also frequently revisited the work of Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957). They have looked at 20th-century composition in analytical ways. This allows us to reflect on what concert music is and why we should dedicate our time to the sometimes obsessive specialization of forms from the past ."

The presentation of the Wiener Kammersymphonie is part of the Musical Summers program, a CNMO initiative that promotes the participation of young instrumentalists at INBAL venues. In this context, the members of the quintet will offer chamber music classes on July 3 at 5:00 p.m., aimed at groups proposed by INBAL school academies and other invited institutions. The classes will be open to the general public.

Serralde expresses the Inbal's interest in returning to performing chamber music regularly at the Palacio de Bellas Artes .

The Wiener Kammersymphonie string quintet will perform today at 8 p.m. in the main hall of the Palacio de Bellas Artes.

▲ Photo AFP

La Jornada Newspaper, Friday, July 4, 2025, p. 5

In Bonifacio, Corsica, France, the Centre Pompidou and De Renava, a non-profit organization committed to protecting urban, historical, and environmental heritage, have teamed up for the second time to offer an immersive and evocative experience that introduces viewers to light and color through the eyes of several artists. This new event, called Plein Soleil, is part of OFF 02 and the second phase of the collaboration that began in 2023. It brings together contemporary Corsican, French, and international artworks by artists such as Yto Barrada, Elisabetta Benassi, Judy Chicago, Studio Drift, Laurent Grasso, Carlos Cruz-Diez, and many more, illustrating how light and its chromatic modulations, essential to our understanding of the world, become an artistic medium in themselves. Pictured is Carlos Cruz-Diez's work Chromosaturation , which is part of the exhibition.