Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CLASSICAL
Puerto Rico's offerings for typical classical fare are limited mostly to the San Juan area,
where the Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra) presents
standard orchestral rep and hosts visiting luminaries. The symphony shares a space with a
distinguished national opera company at Centro de Bellas Artes ( Click here ), whose guests
have included renowned Puerto Rican bassist Justino Diaz.
To see the best classical music the island has to offer you can do no better than a visit
during the Festival Casals ( Click here ), held for two weeks every year (dates vary). This
festival is certainly the best of its kind in the Caribbean. Recent years have seen perform-
ances by the world's most elite string quartets, soloists and chamber ensembles.
The festival is named for cellist Pablo Casals, who despite being born in Barcelona, is
considered Puerto Rico's most distinguished son (his mother was from Mayagüez). In the
years before WWI, he earned a reputation as the preeminent cellist of his era. Avidly polit-
ical, he left Spain in 1936 to protest the Franco regime and eventually (in 1956) settled in
Puerto Rico, where he lived out the rest of his days. In 1957 he founded the Festival Casals,
which is attended by music fans from around the world, and went on to form the Puerto Rico
Symphony Orchestra and the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music.
By the time he died in 1973 at the age of 97, he considered himself - and was considered
by his compatriots - to be Puerto Rico's greatest champion of classical music. It could
rightly be said that without Casals, Puerto Rico would have been an utter backwater for clas-
sical music, like most of its neighboring islands.
Although San Juan's adept classical music culture is the strongest on the island, you'll
likely be surprised to hear European classical music traditions in other parts of the island as
well. In a country that loves its civic pomp and circumstance, a number of buttoned-up mil-
itary bands preside over big festivals and ceremonies. Of these, none has a longer tradition
than the Banda Municipal de Ponce (Ponce Municipal Band), a volunteer band that has been
performing open-air concerts for more than 125 years.
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