The Festival de San Miguel de Allende enters 15th season

The year-end festivities in our city will again be graced by the sounds of chamber music, November 20–30, when the Festival de San Miguel de Allende, in its fifteenth season, reunites world-renowned artists at the Teatro Ángela Peralta.

Under the leadership of the well-known cellist Gilberto Munguia, the festival will celebrate with important members of the international musical community, soloists who come together to play chamber music of an artistic quality rarely heard in Mexico.

This year the festival will not only present concerts of chamber music, but also recitals with international soloists such as the pianist Yuqing Meng, gold medalist of the Kingsville, Texas, Young Artists Competitions 2007, as well as this year’s Sokokis Institute Scholar. Violinist Celeste Golden and pianist Bernadene Blaha will interpret works by Stravinsky, Debussy, Brahms and Ravel.

Committed to presenting chamber music in Mexico, the Festival de San Miguel de Allende will offer 14 concerts at the Teatro Ángela Peralta (including four free concerts), where lovers of classical music may enjoy the highlights of the chamber music repertoire of composers Fauré, Bártók, Debussy, Tchaikovsky, Prokofief, Handel, Mendelssohn, Glazounov, Barber, Ravel, Poulenc, Dvorák, Haydn, Liszt, Chopin, Franck and Beethoven.

The Jazz & Blues Festival is happening NOW!
By Doug and Glenda Robinson

First, an important correction: there was an error in the schedule we submitted for last week’s Atencion. The final festival concert on this coming Sunday, November 5—featuring the Hot Club of San Francisco and The Tribute in Jazz to Ray Charles—will start at 5 pm, not 7pm. Please make a note of this and spread the word to avoid confusion.

As you read this, San Miguel’s 2007 Jazz and Blues Festival is off and running. You’ve probably heard the buzz about Wednesday’s free concert in the Plaza Civica with Daline Jones, or last night’s concert with The Fine Wine Trio and Francisco Mela’s Cuban Jazz Quartet. Here’s a quick guide to events yet to come. 

Tonight, jazz/rock guitarist Randy Bernsen and his buddy, vocalist and harmonica player Randy Singer, will take the Ängela Peralta stage at 7pm. Bernsen has played with such notables as pianist Herbie Hancock and the late, great Joe Zawinul, and in fact he also goes way back with San Miguel’s cast of resident jazzers. Singer has recorded with everyone from Garth Brooks to Paquito D’Rivera. Together the two Randys will delight your ears with some blues, some fusion and a few other musical surprises.

After a short intermission, the festival is proud to welcome Brazilian jazz guitarist Peter Sprague (alumnus of Chick Corea and Sergio Mendez) to the Peralta stage. He’ll be joined by saxophonist Tripp Sprague, bassist Hamilton Price and drummer Dylan Savage. This is tuneful and optimistic music played at the highest level.

Tomorrow afternoon (Saturday) is the festival’s “sleeper concert.” Head over to the Auditorio Miguel Malo in Bellas Artes at 2pm to hear The Maestros from Mexico City’s Jazz Academy. These talented teachers have kept jazz alive in Mexico for more than 20 years, producing such stellar musicians as drummer Antonio Sanchez (The Pat Metheny Group). This intimate, swinging event is only 100 pesos and it promises to be a blast. You can get tickets to the Maestros on Friday and Saturday morning at the Peralta box office at Hernández Macías 62. Approximately one hour before the concert begins, ticket sales will open up in Bellas Artes. 

Then, grab a quick siesta and get ready for Saturday night’s Peralta concert, featuring saxophonist Bob Sheppard and his all-star band (Francisco Mela, Hamilton Price and Peter Sprague). Bob’s sax and flute have graced hundreds of recordings by the most significant artists in the world, from Joni Mitchell, to Steely Dan, to Chick Corea. It’s a great honor to have him here for his very first San Miguel appearance. Opening up the concert at 7pm is local jazz-funk group Mo’ Ritmo with special guests, who will definitely be motivated to warm up the stage for Sheppard.

Finally, Sunday’s wrap-up concert (at 5pm, not 7pm!) promises to be as big a blast as we’ve ever had on the stage of the Peralta. The Hot Club of San Francisco returns to San Miguel after an eight-year absence with their patented brand of acoustic Gypsy jazz. Guitars, bass, violin (Evan Price from Turtle Island String Quartet), mandolin and who knows what else will fill the theater. And finally, the festival is proud to present an encore performance of last year’s “Tributo en Jazz a Ray Charles,” featuring several special festival guest artists as they put their own spin on the music of the “Genius of Soul.” Look for a couple of ringers in the horn section: Tripp Sprague on tenor sax and trumpeter Mitch Manker, who was actually a featured soloist with Ray in the early eighties. And did we mention that the concert starts at 5pm, not 7pm?

Don’t forget the wonderful free music workshops: Friday at noon in Auditorio Miguel Malo of Bellas Artes, the Maestros will speak about “Elements of Jazz” (Spanish with English translation) and Saturday at noon, The Hot Club of San Francisco will talk about “Gypsy Jazz and Django Reinhardt” (English with Spanish translation). All ages and musical inclinations are welcome!

The next time you hear from us, we will let you know more about our individual donors and volunteers, as well as our corporate sponsors, who all stepped up to the plate and helped make this festival the best it could possibly be. 

Great musicians are the reason that the San Miguel Jazz and Blues Festival has swing and soul—but the many generous friends of the festival who pick them up at the airport and work their concerts, the restaurants who feed them, and the hotels and homeowners who open their doors to them are the reason our festival has, and will always have, great heart. We thank you one and all. 

San Miguel residents Doug and Glenda Robinson are the co-producers of this year’s Jazz and Blues Festival, in partnership with director Antonio Lozoya and his wife Tere Urtusástegui.

XIII International Festival de Jazz y Blues 
November 21–25, San Miguel de Allende

Schedule of Events

Friday, November 23

Free class: “Elements of Jazz Improvisation,” noon
The Jazz Academy Maestros
Auditorio Miguel Malo, Bellas Artes
Hernández Macías 75
Everyone welcome 

Jazz and Blues Fest Concert, 7pm
Randy Singer & Randy Bernsen
The Peter Sprague Quartet
Teatro Ángela Peralta
Mesones 82
250, 150, 80 pesos



Saturday, November 24

Free class: “Gypsy Jazz & Django Reinhardt,” noon
Paul Mehling & the Hot Club of San Francisco
Auditorio Miguel Malo, Bellas Artes
Hernández Macías 75
Everyone welcome

Jazz Concert, 2pm
Jazz Academy Maestros
Auditorio Miguel Malo, Bellas Artes
Hernández Macías 75
100 pesos 

Jazz and Blues Fest Concert, 7pm
Mo’Ritmo
Bob Sheppard Quartet
Teatro Ángela Peralta
Mesones 82
250, 150, 80 pesos



Sunday, November 25

Jazz and Blues Fest Finale, 5pm
A Jazz Tribute to Ray Charles by Mo’Ritmo & Guests 
The Hot Club of San Francisco
Teatro Ángela Peralta
Mesones 82
250, 150, 80 pesos

Jam sessions are expected to break out around town after most concerts. Keep your ear to the ground. .