Francisco Coll’s new string orchestra arrangement of Cantos recently received its premiere set of performances as part of the first edition of the ‘Llíria, City of Music’ international conducting competition which ran at Plaça Major, Llíria, Spain, from 12 July to 17 July. Coll prepared the arrangement specially for the last round of the competition on 17 July with the three finalists conducting the Orquesta ‘Ciudad de Llíria’. The original Cantos is an elegant 5-minute string quartet movement written for the Cuarteto Casals.
The competition was organised by Artistic Director Cristóbal Soler, with other jury panellists including Manuel Galduf, Carlos Riazuelo, John Carewe and Coll himself. As well as composer of Cantos, Coll is also a conductor and will be directing the Cuarteto Casals and Amsterdam Sinfonietta in a performance of his own Concerto Grosso at the Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam on 3 February 2022.
The first prize at the Llíria competition was awarded to Levente Török, an Hungarian conductor who has recently appeared at Theater Ulm and Hungarian State Opera. The final round of the competition can be viewed on Youtube.