Coxe returns for Pro Musica concerts
By B. K. Lake, February 16, 2007
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Pro Musica concerts Pianist Nigel Coxe Sat, Feb 24, 8pm, Sun, Feb 25, 5pm St. Paul’s Church, Cardo 6 50/150 pesos |
Pianist Nigel Coxe returns February 24 and 25 with programs featuring the master composers of chamber music. Born in Jamaica, Coxe was trained in Britain and has built a career around performing, teaching, lecturing and recording. He displayed his ease on stage last year when he shared anecdotes about the composers and insights into the works he would be playing. This year, he’ll present pieces by composers ranging from J. S. Bach to Mozart and George Gershwin.
The London Daily Telegraph, reviewing one of his concerts, said Coxe “played with a quite exceptional fire, elegance and bravura.” The London Times said he “brings the music to life with a vividness such as we all too rarely have a chance to enjoy.” The Times also called him a “musician’s pianist to the core” and noted his “considerable technical skill and artistry.”
Tickets are available at La Tienda at the Biblioteca; Casa de Papel, Mesones 57; La Conexión, Aldama 3; the Sierra Nevada Hotel, Hospicio 46 and at the St. Paul’s church office, weekdays 11am to 2pm Tickets can be reserved by calling 152-0387 during those hours and purchased at the door one hour before concert time.
Bichels bust out: Ken and Wendy go solo
By Glenda Robinson
| Piano Concert Ken Bichel Wed, Feb 21, 8pm Teatro Miguel Malo, Bellas Artes 150 pesos |
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Concert
Wendy Bichel
Sat, Feb 24, 8pm
Sun, Feb 25, 5pm
Teatro Santa Ana, Reloj 50A
150 pesos
Chances are good you’ve seen them gigging around town: Ken with his quartet Jazilla, or doing an unforgettable turn in the Joe and Bob Blues Show. Wendy as a Raylette in last year’s Ray Charles jazz tribute, or singing standards with savvy at the now-closed L’Escargot.
But during this month’s Encuentro Nacional de Jazz, both of these talented New Yorkers will launch brand-new acts. Ken will perform his first solo piano concert “since my Juilliard master’s recital.” And Wendy will unveil a one-woman cabaret show, “Something Borrowed, Something New—The Art of Re-versing.”
Wendy began her career singing with jazz greats such as Dexter Gordon and Jon Hendricks. Next, she did 15 years on the New York cabaret circuit, garnering rave reviews with a series of original shows. Then came the idea that sparked her current show. “When I learned the standards, I also learned their verse introductions. Often written to bridge from dialog to song in a musical, these intros had become so dated that nobody used them anymore. So I decided to write new ones—for the songs I love to sing.”
“I can’t wait to sing these ‘re-versed” songs in San Miguel,” says Wendy, “because this is such a literate, knowing audience.” So, in “Something Borrowed” you can look forward to tunes you love, with witty new intros, delivered in Wendy’s deft voice that is at once sultry and feather-light. She will be accompanied by her musical director, jazz guitar phenomenon Ken Basman, and legendary bassist Vishnu Woods.
And then there is the other Ken in Wendy’s life: her husband of 30 years, Ken Bichel. He’s an Emmy-winning composer with two gold records to his credit and a stellar career as a TV music composer/producer and first-call studio keyboardist—and he’s about to do his first solo concert since 1969.
But why here, and why now? “San Miguel is the land of creative opportunity,” he responds. “There is something here that challenges each of us to be more fully ourselves. We have quite a pool of talented people, and I am really struck by the way in which we support and encourage each other: not into reaching a slightly higher level of mediocrity and conformity, which happens in some ‘creative communities,’ but into reaching our personal best.
“I have always been so busy with my career that I never had the time to focus on what I might do entirely on my own. Then [festival organizer] Salomon said to me, ‘I can get you a band… but maybe you’d like to play alone,’ and a light bulb went off: Why not? Because now I finally have the time to let my own music unfold.”
I had the pleasure of hearing the “dry run” of Ken’s concert a few weeks ago in a private home. So I can warn you with the unvarnished authority of an ear-witness that if you come to Ken’s concert you should prepare to have your mind blown. I listened as he took chestnuts such as “All The Things You Are” and turned them inside out in a way that was both challenging and sweet. I heard virtuosic improvisation that took my breath away, and new chords for old standards so tender they bruised my heart. And then there was Ken’s take on “Rocky Raccoon.” Because Ken has threatened to “break into totally free improvisation at any point” in his upcoming concert, I can’t guarantee that these specific songs will be performed. But I am certain that the same heart and fire will be present.
Tickets for Wendy’s concert can be purchased at the Santa Ana Theater in the Biblioteca. Tickets for the Ken Bichel piano concert can be purchased at the Bellas Artes café and the Ángela Peralta box office.
Concert Opera Company of Mexico announces winter/spring series
By Gabriél Soria Domínguez
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Emmanuel Franco Fri, Feb 23, 7:30pm Sisal, Fábrica La Aurora 500 pesos |
The Concert Opera Company of Mexico (COCM) has announced its winter/spring concert series. Susan Weiss, executive producer of the company said, “We want to thank everyone in San Miguel de Allende for the interest they have shown in this new national concert opera company. We are also very appreciative of the support the company has received in other cities throughout Mexico.”
The first concert of the 2007 season will feature the wonderful young Mexican baritone Emmanuel Franco, a winner of the Carlo Morelli Voice Competition and hailed as a rising star in Mexico and the international opera world. In March, two completely different concerts will be presented.
Bruce Rossley, president of the COCM, said, “Over the past few months, we have assembled the Resident Artists Program of the COCM, consisting of 11 of the finest sopranos, tenors, mezzos, baritones and bass-baritones in the country. The three concert series in San Miguel de Allende will support this Resident Artists Program and these wonderful Mexican opera singers.”
Seating at Sisal is limited to 150. Because this concert is a benefit to support Mexican operatic artists, a cooperación (donation) of 500 pesos is requested. Your cooperación will go to the San Miguel Opera House, A.C., a legally registered not-for-profit Mexican organization that manages the COCM and the Resident Artists Program.
The February 23 recital program includes opera, art songs, lieder, zarzuela and music from Broadway and the West End, London.
Tickets are available at Border Crossings, El Correo Restaurant, Sisal at Fábrica La Aurora and Casas San Miguelito at Canal 9.
For more information on Emmanuel Franco and new, exciting Mexican operatic talent, see the COCM website at
www.sanmigueloperahouse.com
and click on COCM.
Myrna Erlichman at Teatro Santa Ana
| Myrna Erlichman Tue, Feb 20, 7:30pm Teatro Santa Ana, Reloj 50A 100 pesos |
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As a child, Myrna Erlichman played the flute in a youth orchestra in Amsterdam, where she grew up. At 17, she met up with a couple of musicians from Paraguay, and they formed the “Casanova Trio,” traveling around Holland, Belgium and France playing at cultural events.
Wanting to get away from the cold and gloom of northern Europe, one day she packed her bags, grabbed the guitar she had been teaching herself to play, flew to Mexico, and decided to visit San Miguel. She got a job as a waitress at Mama Mia’s. During after-hours guitar and singing sessions, people heard her sing—and that was the end of her brief waitressing career. She has been singing all over Mexico ever since.
Erlichman captivates her audience with her deep, husky voice, the matador-like wave of her hand against the guitar and her repertoire that carries an air of French cabaret even to her most folkloric Latin American songs. Her concert will be an hour of French songs mixed with South American and Mexican tunes.
Andrés Cantisani concert
Concert by Andrés Cantisani
“Project Heaven, Sea and Earth”
Sat, Feb 17, 8pm
El Viejo Topo Café-Teatro
Plaza Pueblito, Stirling Dickinson 28-7
Andrés Cantisani has not only made several memorable appearances in San Miguel, but we have also listened to him on the soundtracks of movies such as Amores Perros and Santos Peregrinos. Recently, he collaborated with the Colombian accordionist Celso Piña on his “World Colombia”. Cantisani is a musician in the complete sense of the word: composer, interpreter, arranger, producer and songwriter. In the tradition of folk artists, he tells the stories of his generation through music, and it is easy to identify his influences such as Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Steely Dan, Jaime López and Joaquín Sabina. His lyrics possess a clear and personal language and blend seamlessly with the melody.
As a guitarist he possesses a polished quality and his relationship with the guitar allows for fluency, cleanliness and sweet sonority. This same feeling flows through all his music, from swing to the blues, funk to bossa nova, although there is no doubt that jazz is his home where the door opens to pure sexiness and allows for some serious jamming.