Cross Currents

Full of the vibrancy and flair of Spanish and Latino heritage, our first Masterworks concert, Cross Currents, takes audiences on a sweeping musical journey led by Music Director Finalist Geneviève Leclair. The program opens with Alberto Ginastera’s deeply personal Variaciones Concertantes, inspired by folk and traditional elements of his Argentinian culture, followed by Darius Milhaud’s colorful, Brazilian-influenced The Ox on the Roof, which depicts lively adventures in a bar during the Prohibition era. Next is Elegía Andina by Gabriela Lena Frank, which explores “what it means to be of several ethnic persuasions,” reflecting the composer’s blended Chinese-Peruvian-Spanish heritage that uniquely shapes her musical voice. The concert concludes with Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G, featuring ECU Piano Competition Winner Tiffany Yin, a work infused with both French and Spanish influences from Ravel’s Basque background and blending Basque folk elements with jazz to deliver a dazzling finale to this vibrant program. 

Geneviève Leclair is an active guest conductor with organizations across Canada, the United States and the U.K., in symphony, ballet and opera, as well as Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music where she has been teaching and conducting since 2016. Highlights of the 2024-25 season include debuts with Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Houston Ballet and Regina Symphony Orchestra.