SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Jan 29. Spanish director Marc Moncusi conducted the Oriente Symphony Orchestra at the Dolores Hall in this city, in the first of four concerts directing Cuban orchestras, and praised the quality of the island’s musicians.

During his first visit to Santiago de Cuba -although his third to the country, the maestro said he was satisfied with the interpretation of Don Giovanni’ overture by Mozart, the concert for oboe and orchestra by Haydn, and Beethoven’s Second Symphony.

The director, applauded in stages of Europe and the Americas, will continue his tour in the cities of Santa Clara, Matanzas and Havana, with programs that will include from classical to contemporary pieces.

A founder of the Barcelona Modern Project, devoted to spread creations by young Spanish authors and the international repertoire, Moncusi announced his return to the Caribbean island for July, when he will conduct the opera Madame Butterfly, under the general direction of Nelson Dorr.

Founded in 1962, the Oriente Symphony Orchestra is a symbol of Santiago’s culture. It has worked with other renowned figures of Cuban and international music, like Leo Brower, Guido Lopez Gavilan, Bernard Rubenstein and Victor Pellegrini.