Festival de San Miguel de Allende 
By Barbara Bladen Porter, Dec 15, 2006

Festival de San Miguel de Allende Chamber music concerts
December 20, 21, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 & 31, 8pm
Teatro Ángela Peralta
Mesones & Hernández Macías

Free children’s concert
Pedro y el Lobo
December 24, 4pm

Free concerts
December 25, 7pm
December 23 & 30, noon

Music connects us with loved ones, good times past, historical events, romance, marriage, even sad times we’ve often repressed. Hearing a particular piece of music can trigger memories, like having your life pass before your eyes, and you’re helpless to erase the associations. Links to forgotten events are never more powerful than when you hear a familiar work of music that sends an emotional message you can’t shake.

Thirty years ago this November 19, I walked down the staircase of the beautiful Hillsborough, California, home of Harriet and Gilberto Munguia for my marriage to William Lent Porter. Gilberto Munguia, a concert cellist who had just presented the first season of the Chamber Soloists of San Francisco, was playing, accompanied by the pianist Janet Guggenheim. As we approached the minister, the beautiful music echoed throughout the house. That piece, the Adagio of Boccherini, no matter how many times I’ve heard it, floods my mind’s eye and memory with the joy of that day.

Now, 30 years later, Munguia is dedicating his entire two-week Festival de San Miguel de Allende to the memory of Bill Porter, who for all those intervening years served on Munguia’s board of directors, raised funds and campaigned for subscribers, both in San Francisco and when Gilberto first brought his Festival to San Miguel de Allende in 1987.

After an absence of three years, during which time Munguia was concertizing all over the world, he returned in 2005, after the death of his beloved wife Harriet, to his home in Malanquin to renew friendships and continue presenting world-class concerts.

San Miguel de Allende has developed a reputation for presenting top musicians. In San Francisco, Munguia started with the best, including Stuart Canin, then concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony; violist James Carter, who was the youngest member of the symphony at the time; and pianist Janet Guggenheim, who was a star of the Cabrillo and Carmel Bach festivals. It is no wonder that their first concert series at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco sold out. Critics raved season after season about concerts that included French horn player Barry Tuckwell; double-bassist Gary Karr; pianists Jerome Lowenthal, Leonard Pennario, Walter Ponce and Malcolm Frager; cellists Carlos Prieto, Leonard Rose and Janos Starker; violinists Miriam Fried, Young Uck Kim, Stephanie Chase and Camilla Wicks; as well as the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, of which Harriet Munguia was a founder.

Once established in San Miguel, Munguia brought to his subscribers the prestige playing of such artists as Carlos Prieto, Thomas Hrynkiw, Andres Diaz, Roberto Diaz, Walter Ponce, Vladimir Viardo, Burton Fine, Erick Friedman, Stephanie Chase, Myra Kestenbaum and Eduardo Mata with the Solistas de México. 

As the 14th season of the festival begins, I urge all the chamber music lovers in San Miguel, and there are many, to attend all the concerts. Bring your friends, for as Munguia loves to say: “Chamber music is the music of friends.”

Tickets for the festival are available at Canal 21 (Plaza Colonial). For more information, call 152-8380 or email festivalsma@hotmail.com. See the festival’s website at www.festivaldesanmigueldeallende.com 

Ensamble San Miguel’s holiday concert

Holiday concert, Ensamble San Miguel & guest artists Thursday & Friday, December 21 & 22, 7pm Santa Ana Church (next to Biblioteca Pública), 150/120 pesos

Every city has its holiday traditions and artistic productions, whether it be the Rockettes or the Nutcracker or the Ice Capades. San Miguel, too, has its annual productions to inspire the Christmas and holiday spirit, one of them presented by Ensamble San Miguel. This annual event brings the community together and awakens our enthusiasm for the holiday season.

Ensamble San Miguel, under the direction of Xavier Hernández, hosts the annual event. These local musicians frequently play in concerts and private venues in the San Miguel area. The ensemble consists of seven musicians: Xavier Hernández, tenor/flute; Liliana Gutiérrez, piano; Enrique Prado, cello/piano; Carly Cross, oboe; Clara Dunham, soprano; Ramiro Granados, bass; and Mariana Ferreiro, violin.

Occasionally, invited guest artists join the ensemble. This year, two groups, the community chorus Voces Unidas and the folkloric group Los Garambullos, take the stage with the Ensamble. Voces Unidas is a chorus of 45 vocalists who rehearse year-round. The folkloric music group Los Garambullos plays regularly at local restaurants, playing traditional instruments to create a variety of folk styles from throughout Latin America.

The concert features pieces presented by each group of musicians and highlights the Misa Criolla by Ariel Ramírez, with the Ensamble San Miguel, Voces Unidas and Los Garambullos all participating together. The Misa Criolla is a fusion of traditional classical musical instrumentation and European mass structure with the ethnic rhythms and instruments from the indigenous cultures of Latin America. In addition, several Christmas classics will stir up some childhood holiday memories.

The Concierto Navideño 2006 is a community affair that brings together various cultures through music. There are performers from Mexico, the United States, Canada and Europe, and audience members just as diverse, all coming together to share as a community. Tickets are available at Casa de Papel at Mesones 57.

Holiday dinner concert with Bob & Joe’s Blues Show

Dinner & concert, The Bob & Joe’s Blues Show with bassist Gene Perla

Thursday, December 21, 7pm, La Cava de la Princesa

Recreo 3

After performing last month at San Miguel’s International Jazz & Blues Festival, Bob and Joe have invited friend and master bassist Gene Perla from New York City for a holiday performance. The show will explore the blues from its earliest roots in African drumming, through the classic styles of the Mississippi Delta and pre-war Chicago blues and into its modern connection to jazz and modern blues. If you love the blues, are interested in the roots of North American music, or just like to be entertained and eat an excellent holiday meal, this is the show for you.

Bobby Kaplan (harmonica and vocals) and Joe Warner (guitars and vocals), accompanied by Victor Monterrubio (drums), make up the Bob & Joe’s Blues Show. Gene Perla (bassist) has been a leading artist in the music business for more than four decades. 

Dinner show tickets, at 150 pesos, go on sale at La Cava on Friday, December 15. The price includes a special La Cava de la Princesa holiday dinner and one drink.

Concert by local favorites blurs the lines of genre

Three Great Musicians

Thursday, December 21, 7:30pm, Teatro Santa Ana, Reloj 50A

100 pesos

Three popular local musicians join their talents in an entirely original concert next week at the Biblioteca Pública. Each member of the trio—Federico Azuz on guitar and vocals, Gilberto Gonzáles on upright bass, and Vìctor Monterrubio on percussion—is well known around town and can be seen playing in various venues. 

You may have heard any of these talented musicians playing Mexican music, Cuban son, Brazilian samba, American jazz, rock or even classical music, and each of these styles is present in some part of their original music. This concert draws on multiple musical influences from around the world but seeks to blur the boundaries between musical styles. 

Tickets may be purchased in advance at the theater box office.