Juanjo Mena has received glowing reviews, following his return visit to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic in September. The concerts featured Ravel’s complete ballet Daphnis et Chloé, a piece at the very heart of Mena’s repertoire, Germaine Tailleferre’s Harp Concerto with the Orchestra’s Principal Harpist Marie-Pierre Langlamet, and Pierné’s Overture to Ramuntxo.

“The guest conductor Juanjo Mena manages to make the [Berlin] Philharmonic shine and sparkle, and audience rejoices. […] Mena unites with the orchestra, riding the same wave as the Berlin Philharmonic. He focuses all attention on the music.” (Felix Stephan, Berliner Morgenpost)

“Mena’s whole-hearted rendition of the overture went along with Pierné’s vibrant orchestration, bringing out the sweeping motions of the strings and indulging in the solemn brass chorale of the central Andante. Even within its limited duration, Mena infused the performance with a theatrical zest. Most mesmerising were the moments [in Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé] when Mena let the score linger, its fluctuation evoking a restrained eroticism. Amid this suspended atmosphere, the audience could fully savour Ravel’s lush harmonies … it was tempting to just sit back and let the lavish orchestration wash over oneself.” (Elena Luporini, Bachtrack)

“… with Mena conducting the slower music [of Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé] con amore while being no stranger to a sense of theatre, the Pirates faster than most without compromising clarity. Clarity also informed the woodwinds’ birdsong to signal ‘Daybreak’, spacious without doubting that the sun would never shine. Brilliant playing.” (Colin Anderson, Colin’s Column)

The concert on Saturday 28th September was broadcast live on the orchestra’s Digital Concert Hall and will be soon be available to watch again for subscribers.

Image © Fabian Schellhorn

Juanjo Mena will return to the Berlin Philharmonic this coming September to conduct a programme of French music, featuring Ravel’s complete ballet Daphnis et Chloé. Also on the menu is Germaine Tailleferre’s Harp Concerto, for which the orchestra’s Principal Harpist Marie-Pierre Langlamet takes centre stage.

The concert opens with Pierné’s Overture to Ramuntxo. Juanjo Mena is no stranger to the work of Gabriel Pierné, having recorded two discs of his music with the BBC Philharmonic, about which Bryce Morrison from Gramophone said “Orchestral charm and craftsmanship revealed in a fine Philharmonic recital… For all those who delight in a wholly French grace and magic, this disc is a winner”.

Juanjo Mena makes this return after a successful pre-pandemic debut with the Berlin Philharmonic, featuring Ginastera’s Harp Concerto, also with Marie-Pierre Langlamet, and Manuel de Falla’s ballet The Three-Cornered Hat.

The concerts will take place on 26th, 27th and 28th September 2024 at the Berlin Philharmonie. More information can be found here.

Following their “triumphant debut” (Opera Wire) performance at Carnegie Hall last year, Juanjo Mena will once again lead the Orchestra of the Teatro Real (Royal Opera), Madrid, this time in the David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center, on 16th October 2023. The concert features Ginastera’s Suite from the ballet Panambí, which Mena recorded to critical acclaim with the BBC Philharmonic, Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with Pablo Ferrández, Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé and Manuel de Falla’s El amor brujo with Esperanza Fernández, one of the most authentic voices in modern flamenco.

Juanjo Mena will return to New York again later this season to conduct the New York Philharmonic with soloist Hilary Hahn in April 2024.

For more information and to book tickets, click here.

Principal Conductor Juanjo Mena will close the 150th anniversary celebrations of the Cincinnati May Festival, the longest-running choral festival in North America, with a performance of Mahler’s mighty Eighth Symphony. He will be joined on stage by forces of over 350 musicians, including the May Festival Chorus, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and a stellar cast of soloists, for one of the largest-scale works ever written for orchestra and chorus.

The Festival starts on 19th May with Bach’s Magnificat, which received its American premiere at the May Festival in 1875, nearly 150 years after it was written. As well as a theme of looking back at the important works that have been premiered at the Festival, Mena also wanted to ensure that there will be a significant legacy to this celebratory year. Works by James Lee III and James MacMillan will receive their own world premieres before the Magnificat, and there will be many more new works introduced to Cincinnati’s audiences throughout the festival.

This will also mark Mena’s final season as Principal Conductor; he concludes his pivotal six-year tenure of the May Festival, during which he has expanded the commissioning of new works and put the Cincinnati community at the heart of the Festival.

You can read more information and full listings of the 2023 May Festival here.

March 2023

In his second visit to the Galicia Symphony Orchestra this season, Juanjo Mena conducted a demanding programme of English music. He was joined by the outstanding Canadian violinist James Ehnes for Britten’s Violin Concerto, before treating the audience to Elgar’s First Symphony. The many reviews sum up perfectly the high quality of the two concerts in La Coruña and in Valladolid:

“La Sinfónica de Galicia encontró en un concierto de música británica una noche inolvidable. Por la coherencia del programa (largo y exigente) y por la capacidad que demostró Juanjo Mena de interiorizar las obras para ofrecer lo mejor de ellas ante un conjunto en estado de gracia.
La orquesta sonó como el gran conjunto que es y Mena se paseó por la obra con seguridad aplastante desde el solemne inicio hasta el rotundo final, dando sentido interno a cada movimiento y armando un todo sólido con la complicidad de una orquesta volcada. La lectura permitió apreciar cada detalle….”
[Hugo Álvarez Domínguez, La Voz de Galicia]

“Hubo energía y precisión, deslumbrándonos la OSG desde la exposición del recurrente tema principal [del Obertura de “Scapino” de W. Walton]. …. Fue igualmente clarividente el Allegro final [de la Primera Sinfonía de Elgar] con su gran momento de gloria, el Grandioso, una de las músicas más evocadoras y reconfortantes nunca compuesta, recreado con fervor por músicos y director. ¡Qué más se puede pedir!”
[Pablo Sánchez Quinteiro, BachTrack *****]

“La Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia exhibió músculo con la Sinfonía nº 1 de Edward Elgar poniendo el acento dramático y mayor brillantez en los vientos y las cuerdas mostrando su finura y agilidad. Tiene esta orquesta un sonido redondo y el director Juanjo Mena la imprime una energía rítmica marca de la casa.”
[L.M. Ágreda, Tribuna Valladolid]

“OSG / Ehnes y Mena: eso que llamamos clase
… ha sido y será uno de los mejores conciertos de la temporada. Artífices de ello un solista y un director impecables, sabios y conocedores, dueños de eso que a veces nos cuesta definir en el arte y en la vida, que está más allá de las apariencias, y que llamamos clase. Un solista y un director que, además, han demostrado más de una vez sentirse bien a gusto en el repertorio que se nos ofrecía y que por eso hubiera sido extraño que nos defraudaran.
El maestro vitoriano supo, desde su madurez cada vez más hecha, exponer con toda claridad ese entramado y darle al conjunto, a partir del análisis de una estructura que él parece reconocer llena de sabiduría constructiva, toda su grandeza. Un magnífico concierto, ejemplar desde cualquier punto de vista.”
[Luis Suñén, Scherzo]

“Un Mena vibrante enchufó a la cuerda con una trepidante sección de violas al inicio. El hipnotizador Mena logró echarse la orquesta a lomos toda la noche, aderezando un poquito por aquí, un poquito por allá, conteniendo, azuzando, calmando, imprimiendo un carácter y garra que daba gusto ver en esos primeros atriles de violines, chelos y contrabajos encargados de trasmitir esa energía hacia atrás, hacia los tutti, que al final es lo que hace que el sonido ruja como el motor de un Ferrari. Trabajazo de todas las secciones, trompas al dente, maderas siempre en su línea, metales poderosos y percusión radiante.”
[Marcos Seoane Vilariño, La Opinión A Coruña]

“Mena supo extraer las virtudes de esta gran orquesta, que controló con solvencia. Un gran concierto con obras que pusieron en lo alto la música inglesa del pasado siglo.”
[Emiliano Allende, El Norte de Castilla]

Photo © Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia

December 2022

Juanjo Mena will make his debut with the Czech Philharmonic on New Year’s Day, conducting gala performances at the Rudolfinum in Prague. The orchestra’s prestigious New Year concerts, which were led last year by Maestro Manfred Honeck with an Austrian themed programme, will this year include works by Manuel de Falla, Joaquín Rodrigo and Xavier Montsalvatge. Mena and the Czech Philharmonic will be joined by guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas and mezzo-soprano Clara Mouriz; between them they will be sure to bring some Spanish warmth to a cold New Year’s Day in Prague. The evening performance will be broadcast live on Czech national television and radio.

Click here for more information.

24th October 2022

Juanjo Mena made his debut with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra last week, to great critical acclaim. The programme opened with Haydn’s Symphony No.44, delivered with “utmost elegance, the music ever buoyant, phrases exquisitely tapered. Mena’s conducting was a study in balanced precision and expression.” [Scott Cantrell, Dallas Morning News]

Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G with Javier Perianes followed, along with Ginastera’s Variaciones Concertantes and Debussy’s Iberia, in which “Mena brilliantly balanced frenzy and atmosphere” [Scott Cantrell, Dallas Morning News]

J. Robin Coffelt from the Texas Classical Review wrote “Mena coaxed beautiful phrasing out of the orchestra …. the DSO delivered a performance that was brilliant, virtuosic and a lot of fun.”

23rd September 2022

On September 15th, Juanjo Mena marked the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month conducting the orchestra of Madrid’s Teatro Real in their Carnegie Hall debut. The program featured Spanish composers including Falla and Albéniz, as well as zarzuelas with soloists Javier Perianes and Sabina Puértolas. The gala performance, which was attended by Queen Sofía of Spain, was enthusiastically received by the press and the audience.

Francisco Salazar from Opera Wire wrote, “Madrid’s opera house brings passion and elegance to triumphant Carnegie Hall debut…Mena drew the audience in with the mysterious opening which turned into a ravishing and joyous dance…The music was played with rhythmic precision and virtuosity…In all this was an unforgettable evening with a major takeaway.”

Harry Rolnick from ConcertoNet wrote, “After 120 years, New York has finally caught up with one of the most exhilarating orchestras in the world.”

Juanjo Mena will return to the Royal Albert Hall on Monday 18th July to conduct the BBC Philharmonic at the BBC Proms. The evening begins with Webern’s orchestration of Bach’s “Ricercar a 6”, and James MacMillan’s Viola Concerto, with its dedicatee Lawrence Power as soloist. The climax of the concert is Bruckner’s mighty Sixth Symphony, which Mena recorded with the BBC Philharmonic to great critical acclaim. “The playing of the BBC Philharmonic is impassioned – clearly Mena inspires them.” (David McConnell, The Classical Review)

You can find further information and purchase tickets here.