Local favorites next weekend at Ángela Peralta,
Jan 19, 2007

Concerts Huapangos Toreros Friday, January 26, 7pm Teatro Ángela Peralta Mesones & Hernández Macías 150/100/50 pesos

Gil, Cartas & Tuey with Agustín Bernal

and the Querétaro String Quartet

Saturday, January 27, 7pm

Teatro Ángela Peralta

Mesones & Hernández Macías

150/100/50 pesos



Huapangos Toreros

Huapangos Toreros is the duo of Gil Gutíerrez and Wolfgang “Lobo” Fink. These two musicians began their musical journey together in 1980 and have dazzled audiences in San Miguel the past two decades. In the 1990s their destinies took them in different directions: Lobo joined Willie Royal to create “Willie & Lobo,” and Gil joined Pedro Cartas in the duo “Gil & Cartas.”

On January 26, Huapangos Toreros present their new CD, Bad Hair Day, created in collaboration with Cartas. This concert is the first time these three exceptional musicians have performed together at the Teatro Ángela Peralta. Alex Gutíerrez accompanies them on bass guitar.



Gil, Cartas & Tuey

On January 27, the well-known duo of Gil & Cartas will be joined by their friend and collaborator Tuey Connell, from New York City. Three years ago, while Tuey was visiting San Miguel, he heard Gil & Cartas perform. That evening, Gil asked whether Tuey would like to bring his banjo and sit in the next night, and the rest is history. The three dynamic musicians put together a CD, The Lonely Hippo, and have since performed their music in various venues in the United States, including the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, The Red Poppy in San Francisco and Makor in New York. The Lonely Hippo was recently mentioned by David Royko in the Chicago Tribune as one of the most important “newgrass” CDs of 2006. The trio presented the CD two years ago at the Teatro Ángela Peralta to a sold-out house, and they are back by popular demand. Joining them, on acoustic bass, is Agustín Bernal, one of the most respected bassists in Mexico. They will be accompanied by the Querétaro Philharmonic String Quartet.

“Forest” goes round the musical word in 40 minutes 
By B. K. Lake 

Concert A Forest of the Americas Friday–Sunday, January 19–21, 5pm  St. Paul’s Church, Cardo 6 50/150 pesos

Musicians from places as varied as Mineral de Pozos and Cuba, California and Sweden will play instruments ranging from Mesoamerican clay flutes to a 12-string guitar to an acoustic piano when A Forest of the Americas premieres tonight.

The nine-movement piece, of about 40 minutes’ duration, ranges from contemporary classical music to influences from jazz and the polyrhythms of Afro-Cuban cultures, adding in folk themes from America’s heartland and featuring instruments unique to Mexico’s ancient civilizations. 

A Forest of the Americas is scored for contrabass, cello, violin, piano, percussion and a variety of Mesoamerican ethnic, pre-Hispanic instruments: flutes, drums and natural percussion objects. 

Two of the musicians performing Forest will play solos before the premiere. Violinist Maureen Conlon Gutiérrez will play Eugene Ysaye’s Sonata Opus 27, No. 4, and cellist Rolando Fernandez will perform Johann Sebastian Bach’s Suite No. 1 in G major. 

Co-composer Tim Hazell, an interdisciplinary artist born in Sweden, will play ethnic strings, the 12-string guitar, the banjo and additional percussion instruments. “By bringing in native instruments and natural lore, we want people to leave the concerts with a changed perspective on what constitutes contemporary instrumentation and technique,” Hazell said. He also is a member of Caracol de Fuego. 

Another versatile musician is co-composer Doug Robinson, formerly of San Diego, who plays “at least 16 instruments” and will be at the acoustic piano for the concerts. “We switch gears between styles pretty often. I hear bits of Bach combined with Cuban and flamenco rhythms, a little pop and lots of jazz—including improvised solos,” he comments.

Also appearing will be Gonzalo Gómez Martínez, who was born in the historic silver mining town of Mineral de Pozos. A founding member of the group Caracol de Fuego (Conch of Fire), Gómez has been a pioneer in the area of ethno-fusion with Mesoamerican instruments for over 15 years. He is part of a cooperative that is known for their concert performances and the manufacture of instruments unique to ancient Mexico. These replicas of authentic flutes, drums and effects from vanished civilizations are sought after by museums and private collectors all over the world. 

On the cello will be Rolando Fernandez, 16, who was born in Cuba. He was selected for a scholarship from the San Miguel International Chamber Music Festival at age seven.

He made his solo debut with the Querétaro Philharmonic Orchestra at age 10 and appears regularly with the Philharmonic and at international concerts.

A native of Guanajuato, violinist Maureen Conlon Gutiérrez has performed as a soloist throughout Mexico, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Spain, and the United States. She began her musical studies at age six at Bellas Artes. She is in the performance residency program at Carnegie-Mellon University, studying under Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Andrés Cárdenes, and is an associate member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago during the school year 2006–07.

Playing the contrabass will be José Luis Chagoyan, known as “Hopalong.” Well-known to San Miguel audiences, he has performed in leading jazz festivals and concerts in Mexico, the US, Europe and South America and has recorded 15 CDs.

Percussionist and drummer Victor Monterrubio has performed with leading musicians from Mexico and abroad. He has taken part in several jazz festivals in Mexico City and San Miguel and was a member of the Mexican Quartet of Jazz. 

A guitarist, composer and record producer, Ken Basman tours internationally to perform in jazz festivals, concert halls and cultural events. In Mexico, he has collaborated with such recording artists as singer Magos Herrera and Lila Downs.

Tickets are available at Casa de Papel, Mesones 57; La Conexión, Aldama 3; the Sierra Nevada Hotel, Hospicio 46, and at the St. Paul’s church office, weekdays between 11am and 2pm. Tickets may be reserved by calling 152-0387 during those hours and purchased at the door one hour before concert time. 



Shake, rattle and blow: ancient instruments 

Tim Hazell, co-composer of A Forest of Americas, has collected replicas of many pre-Hispanic instruments, learned to play them and used them in composing and playing this new musical work. By incorporating native instruments, Hazell said, “We’re bringing in natural lore.”

The instruments include double-, triple- and quadruple-barreled clay flutes (dating to 700 AD), which represent a landmark in acoustics and can produce three- and four-part harmonies. The Hopi flute is not pre-Hispanic but originated with the Plains Indians and probably made its way into Mexico through trade. The wooden ornament at the top of the Hopi flute is traditionally shaped like a bird.

The rainstick, or chicahuaztli in Náhuatl, is a versatile and important texture in an orchestra of pre-Hispanic instruments. It is filled with small round pellets that fall from one end of to the other when it is tipped. The pellets are interrupted as they cascade downward by small wooden pegs inserted into the entire length of the instrument. The pegs stop the flow of the pellets, creating a sound reminiscent of a rain shower or waterfall.

The rasp, or omichicahuaztli, is a percussion instrument with notches carved into its top, often shaped like a snake or animal bone. It is played with a stick that is used as a scraper and can also be placed vertically or horizontally on the membrane of a drum, which amplifies the sound considerably. 

Ocarinas are globular clay flutes that produce a deep, resonant and slightly melancholy sound, commonly shaped like fantastical animals. They can produce melodic lines that resemble the call of an owl. Clay whistles, or silbatos, are the smallest members of the pre-Hispanic flute family and can duplicate the sounds of very small birds and insects. 

Seed pod rattles, or cascabeles, are shaped from natural dried husks resembling small wooden bells or are whole, dried pods. The gourd rattle, or sonaja, is the pre-Colombian version of the maraca common in Afro-Cuban and Latino orchestras, consisting of a gourd filled with clay pellets attached to a handle.

The tortoise shell, an instrument dating from neolithic times, is played with a deer antler and is the ancestor of the log drum, or teponaztli. The teponaztli is a cylinder with a hollow interior and two or four tongues cut into the top that produce musical tones when struck with rubber-tipped mallets. This log xylophone forms the basic component of a rhythm section of pre-Columbian instruments, along with its partner, the ceremonial drum, or huehuetl. 





Two stars, four hands in piano concerts
By B. K. Lake

Piano concerts By Mauricio Nader and Santiago Pineirua

Saturday & Sunday, January 27 & 28, 5pm

St. Paul’s Church, Cardo 6

50/150 pesos

One of Mexico’s most-traveled concert pianists and one of its most promising young

artists will perform both solo works and pieces for four hands at the January 27 and 28 concerts in the Pro Musica series. 

Mauricio Nader, who has given more than 500 concerts in the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America and Mexico, will be joined by Santiago Pineirua, who has become an international performer since graduating from the Manhattan School of Music in New York last February.

Nader made his debut as a soloist at age 19 with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional in the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. In 1996, he won first prize in the Bartók-Kabalevsky International Piano Competition in the US, and in the same year the president of Austria decorated him with a Commemorative Medal of the Millenium. He also has been awarded first prize in several other international competitions and has been a judge in numerous countries. Nader studied at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música de México, in the School of Music of the University of Houston and the Eastman School of Music, where he obtained a Master of Piano degree and was awarded the Performer's Certificate. 

Pineirua was born in Mexico City in 1983 and began his music studies at age four. When he was 15, he took master classes with Emile Naumoff in Santander, Spain, and with pianist Anatoli Povzoum in Madrid. A year later, he participated with the Orquesta Sinfónica Cedros and toured with them in the US. Santiago made his debut as a soloist in 2000 with the Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil de México, directed by Mario Rodríguez, in the auditorium Blas Galindo del Centro Nacional de las Artes. From 1993 to 2002, he continued his piano studies with Mauricio Nader and studied composition and music theory with Tonatiuh De La Sierra. At the Manhattan School of Music, he studied with the noted Russian pianist Nina Svetlanova.

Pineirua recently toured with the Orquesta de Cámara de la Universidad Panamericana in Spain and the United Kingdom, and he also has appeared in Chicago and New York, among other US cities. 

Tickets are available at Casa de Papel, Mesones 57; La Conexión, Aldama 3; the Sierra Nevada Hotel, Hospicio 46; and at the St. Paul’s church office, weekdays from 11am to 2pm. Tickets may be reserved by calling 152-0387 during those hours and purchased at the door one hour before concert time. More information is available at www.promusicasma.com.

José Manuel Alcántara’s classical guitar 

Guitar concert by José Manuel Alcántara Monday, January 22, 7pm Teatro Santa Ana, Reloj 50A 100 pesos

After living and studying in Europe for five years, José Manuel Alcántara has started a series of contemporary Latin American music projects. In the first half of this concert, his fourth in San Miguel, he confronts the classical guitar world with this fresh approach, which blends influences from European and Latin American musicians. The second half of the concert is an homage to some of the greats of jazz.

Alcántara is part of Sweelinck Conservatory’s Contemporary Music Ensemble, which recently participated in the Gaudeamus International Week at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, New Zealand’s Music Festival in Ijsbreker and the Berlin Music Festival, organized by the Goethe Institute of Amsterdam.

The program begins with the Chaconne of the Partita II for violin of J. S. Bach (guitar arrangement by Alcántara). The guitarist continues with two pieces from Leo Brouwer, “The Eternal Spiral” and “Hika,” key pieces from the guitar repertoire of the second half of the 20th century.

The second half includes jazz, beginning with Manuel Barrueco’s guitar adaptation of Part C II from Keith Jarrett’s concert in Colonia. “Rumba Son,” composed by Eduardo Martín, brings in popular Cuban music, and four miniatures are transformed into a path that leads us to the music of Astor Piazolla, which ends the concert. 

The soul in the voice

“El Alma en la Voz” supported by Opera de San Miguel

Saturday, January 20, 7pm

Teatro Ángela Peralta

Mesones & Hernández Macías

250/170/80 pesos

“El Alma en la Voz,” is billed as a concert that will touch the soul, and features up-and-coming young Mexican singers tenor Rodrigo Garcíarroyo and soprano Enivia Mendoza who are accompanied by pianist Mario Alberto Hernández.

The concert features music by Puccini, Verdi, Leoncavallo, Agustín Lara, María Grever and Jorge del Moral as well as selections from opera, zarzuela and Mexican music.