Tucson Symphony’s ‘Thrill of Tchaikovsky’ is a journey to Italy | Entertainment

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The conductor of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, José Luis Gomez, takes us on an Italian trip this weekend via Tchaikovsky.

Kaupo Kikkas

The Tucson Symphony Orchestra is back on the Music Hall stage this weekend for a concert whose title could be a bit confusing.

“The Thrill of Tschaikovsky” could mean that Music Director José Luis Gomez presents a bold Russian program.

Adjust your Google Maps, with this one Gomez brings us to Italy.

“I may be born in Venezuela with Spanish blood, but I also love everything Italian,” Gomez said in a note on the TSO website.

Gomez, who was a guest conductor in Belgium last week, opened this weekend’s classical concert with Tchaikovsky’s “Capriccio Italian”, which was inspired by the Russian composer’s trip to Rome in 1880 to escape his marital problems.

The work is a fantasy for orchestra that incorporates the folk songs and sounds Tchaikovsky heard on the Italian streets to create a soundscape that Rome sounded to a foreigner.

Gomez combines this with Berlioz ‘intoxicating overture “Roman Carnival”, Respighi’s lively and dramatic “Roman Festivals” and Rossini’s classic “William Tell” overture.

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