January 18, 2008, New York jazz at Inside/Out Festival, By Claude Lawrence, Tenor Rodrigo Garcíarroyo returns, By Carolina Vidal, Enjoy a unique and outstanding musical experience, By Isaac Toporek, Pre-Hispanic treats at Teatro Santa Ana, Baroque Festival returns to a baroque city, By Bob Kelly, Nigel Coxe performs at Pro Musica, By Bob Kelly, Two Latin talents to perform at Teatro Santa Ana, By Lupita Leal

New York jazz at Inside/Out Festival
By Claude Lawrence January 18, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Concerts
Upper Manhattan Jazz Ensemble
Mon, Jan 21, 8pm
100 pesos
Urban Express, Tamo/Tyler Experience,
Hopalong Group, Beto González Trio
Tues, Jan 22, 7pm
150 pesos
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A

Next week, composer Claude Lawrence presents the first Inside/Out Music Festival, blending San Miguel and New York City jazz with exhibits by local artists.

Monday’s concert features all NYC players: the Upper Manhattan Jazz Ensemble. Lawrence on alto sax joins Vishnu Wood on bass and Cody Moffett on drums, with Ken Basman as guest on guitar. Group members have played dozens of jazz festivals, including Montreal, Newport and Montreux. An opening reception at 7:30pm features artwork by Nina Wisniewski and Claude Lawrence.

Tuesday’s event goes four rounds. The art exhibit opens at 6:30pm, then four groups take the stage. Urban Express is jazz/cultural fusion of funk, rap and blues. Pancho Moric on bass joins Lawrence on alto sax and Moffett on drums. The Tamo/Tyler Experience is more traditional, with Oaxacan Tamo Tuma’s straight-ahead Latin vocals. Ken Basman is tapped for guitar, along with Pere Soto. Tyler Mitchell handles bass. Also on the bill are the Hopalong Group and the Beto González Trio, with Gilberto González on bass, Julian Arcos on guitar and Miguel Favero taking care of percussion.

After a sensational concert here last February, charismatic Mexican tenor Rodrigo Garcíarroyo will return this month to amaze new audiences with his exquisite voice and to delight known ones with opera arias, popular pieces by Mexican composers and songs from musicals such as West Side Story.

When asked about career successes in 2007, he answered, “It is becoming a good habit to begin in San Miguel, because it has given me good luck the whole year round. The people, natives and adoptive, have opened their arms to me. They are a knowledgeable public and I will love to see them again.”

We belive that it takes more than good luck when a dedicated singer becomes international. We interviewed him regarding his next visit to San Miguel.

Carolina Vidal: We heard last year was an interesting and hectic one for you, singing Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, making your debut in New York as Hoffman and sharing the stage with Fernando de la Mora in Tosca, under the direction of Enrique Patrón de Rueda.

Rodrigo Garcíarroyo: One of the most important experiences of last year was working with Enrique—a fantastic teacher, a man with a superior sensibility, a vast knowledge of singing and the voice. This experience gave a great boost to my career, my technique, my voice and my interpretation of such a complex and delicate art as opera.

I also sang a Mexican music concert and Beethoven´s Ninth Symphony with the Symphonic of San Luis Potosi, conducted by José Miramontes. This orchestra is rapidly becoming one of the best in Mexico. The Ninth Symphony is a magnificent piece and I had a unique spot to listen to it—just in front of the orchestra!

Singing in New York was a big step—another level of demand, another way of work and professionalism. One of the biggest challenges of the year was preparing Hoffman in a month and a half. It was like climbing Everest. I felt, when I saw the score, at the bottom of a big mountain.

CV: Did Hoffman win you the invitation from the Martina Arroyo Foundation to sing again in New York next summer?

RG: Yes, I will probably sing the lead role in Verdi´s Un Ballo in Maschera. Martina Arroyo is an extraordinary promoter of young singers. She is a wonderful woman, a soprano who sang on the best stages in the world and created a foundation that offers voice courses, opera montages and concerts during the year.

CV: Don’t go away from Mexico before singing more here!

RG: This year I will travel a lot, singing in several countries and in some international contests, but I always return to Mexico. I have my operations center here. Besides, I have a full schedule in Mexico the first quarter of 2008; on January 25, I sing for the sanmiguelenses, then I will be in an opera project with Cesar Piña, Tosca will rerun at the Degollado Theatre and at Palacio de Bellas Artes during February and March.

CV: And then summer in New York. Please share with us a little of your story about how you began and how singing became your career.

RG: I have sung since I was a boy, since I can remember. I did shows with Cri-Cri music in my living room and invited my parents and their friends to watch. I was in an electro-acoustic band called Kercum and we played in bars and such. In high school I started to act in every production I could, some of them musical comedies. While at university I was an actor in a group called San Banquito Teatro. I did some video and film and worked as a model for a bit. Finally, two months after finishing my architecture degree, my wife Caro (my girlfriend at the time) gave me as a birthday present a full year of singing lessons. In this way I started singing for real at age 25.

One day, about three months after starting classes with Jorge González Ávila, my first teacher and mentor, we were doing some vocalices and keeping the high note, not higher than a G, and my voice must have sounded for the first time in the most powerful resonators of the head, because when the piano and the voice stopped the window nearby was vibrating strongly. It was a surprising and revealing experience for me. I remember going home that night and not knowing what I was going to do with that. It’s not normal to make windows vibrate, I thought. My teacher had been telling my wife for some time that I was an opera singer and that one day I would realize it. The next class we discussed entering music school.

Four months after starting singing lessons, I quit my day job at an architectural firm and started school once more at the Escuela Superior de Musica and the Escuela Nacional de Musica simultaneaously. After two years, I was granted the Placido Domingo scholarship to study at SIVAM (Sociedad Internacional de Valores de Arte Mexicano) where I studied two more years. I began to be invited to different workshops and concerts around the globe and here I am.

Carolina Vidal has interviewed businessmen and artists. She has been published in AMPI magazine and El Universal newspaper.

IImagine gypsy sounds played with latin american musical instruments. Imagine an outstanding mix of rhythms and melodies from the East-European Jewish tradition, with Arabic, Greek and Cuban percussion, imagine gathering different genres, from rock, jazz, classic harmonies, all played on the basis of the traditional klezmer. All this is Klezmerson.

In fact, the name of this impressive band is compound by the words ‘Klezmer’ and ‘Son’ (the traditional Mexican folkloric music, trying to proof that under Klezmer, many completely musical trends can be compatible and sound with surprising beauty and joy.)

The seven musicians that form this band were gathered by Benjamin Shwartz, its director, and come from very different musical ambiences: Rodrigo Santoyo, composer and percussion, Cuban violinist Rolando Morejón, bassist and guitarist Guido Laris, María Emilia Martínez (flute), Juan Ernesto Díaz (guitar) and percussionist Erick Urbina, each of all of these talented musicians have given a part of their art to create a fresh and playful perception of what Klezmer has on its horizon.

Pre-Hispanic treats at Teatro Santa Ana

Concert
Collar del Viento
Sat, Jan 26, 7pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A
50 pesos

Archaeological evidence suggests that the ancient Aztecs maintained a school of music at Tenochtitlan, their capital city. No doubt the young musicians in training studied the pre-Hispanic instruments that we find today in the museums of Mexico, instruments like the teponaztli, a type of wood drum carved from a large tree trunk, and the quiquiztli (conch shell trumpet). These instruments and many others will be played at a recital of Pre-hispanic music at the Teatro Santa Ana of the Biblioteca Pública.

The performing group is called Collar del Viento (the wind’s necklace). The ensemble consists of six youngsters ranging in age from 11 to 18 years. They play pre-Hispanic music on replica instruments. Four members of the group have been playing together for over five years. The group is instructed by a professional Mexican musician from Pozos, Gonzalo Gómez.

Collar Del Viento will perform in costume and face paint utilizing the traditional ritualistic effects of incense, flowers and candles. After the performance the audience will have the opportunity to ask questions and examine the instruments. The proceeds of this concert will support the Pre-Hispanic Music Workshop for children, a regular free music project for the Mexican children. Limited seating.

San Miguel, a product of the Baroque era, will be home to the second annual Baroque & Beyond Music Festival February 15–23 when 15 international artists from five countries play music from 1600 to 1750 on period instruments.

The festival, a joint effort of the Camerata Ventapane in Houston and El Grande Pro Musica in San Miguel, will present nine concerts in intimate settings for which Baroque music was created, according to artistic director Barrett Sills.

“We aim to transport the audiences to an age of elegance and nobility, making each concert a unique experience that contributes to making the festival an unforgettable week for all participants,” Sills said.

Performers include six members of the Camerata Ventapane, of which Sills is cellist and artistic director, five from the Capella Guanajuatensis of Guanajuato, and five guest artists.

The success of the first festival and the demand for tickets for this year’s event from both the US and Mexico have encouraged the organizers to begin making plans to expand the festival to other cities in Mexico in 2009, said festival directors Henry Kirby of Houston and Rodrigo Antonio Trevnio Lozano of San Miguel.

“The Baroque era was the connection between the Renaissance and the Classical period and saw, not only the flourishing of new musical forms that remain in use today, but also new ideas in architecture, literature, philosophy and science,¨ Sills added. “The brilliant discoveries of Galileo, the physics of Newton and the expositions of Descartes, Spinoza and Locke are products of this age.

“In Mexico, cities like San Miguel de Allende were designed and developed during this period, giving them the charm and nobility that still make them very attractive places to visit and live. The music you will hear this week covers the era when San Miguel de Allende was being built and the murals of the Atotonilco Sanctuary were being painted.

“Plucked string instruments, such as the guitar, lute, theorbo and harpsichord, were very popular during the Baroque period all over Europe and in Mexico. The old tradition of serenades, still alive in Mexico today, is often associated with the sounds of these instruments. For this year’s festival, we have chosen to bring to life music that includes plucked string instruments, from romantic love songs to dances like the fiery fandango.’

The 2008 festival includes nine chamber music concerts, a week-long exhibit of Baroque instruments sponsored by the Escuela de Lauderia of Queretaro and a free family concert February 23.

Four of the chamber music concerts are matinee performances: Monday through Thursday, February 18–21 at 12 noon. A luncheon will follow the concerts February 18 at Posada San Francisco and February 19 at La Puertecita Boutique Hotel. The other concerts will be February 20 at Casa Grau and February 21 at the Instituto Allende.

Three evening performances begin on Monday, February 18, with artistic director Sills on cello with Keith Womer on harpsichord in an “Up Close & Musical” recital and talk at the Hyder House.

Concerts also will be presented on February 19 at the Toller Cranston Gallery, followed by a wine reception, and February 20 at St. Paul’s Church. Three special out-of-town evening concerts will be performed by Camerata Ventapane on Thursday, February 21 at Rancho La Loma, Friday, February 22 at the historical Atotonilco Sanctuary, followed by a dinner at a nearby hacienda, and Saturday, February 23, at the Santa Clara Church in Querétaro.

The Bellas Artes exhibit of Baroque instruments opens at noon February 15 with a presentation, “Keyboard Wizardry in Baroque” by master harpsichord builder and tuner, Juan Luis Garcia Orazco. The exhibit closes at noon February 23 with a tribute to the harpsichord, the largest instrument of the plucked string family when “Music on the Dresden Court” is performed by German early music master Sebastian Knebel. This recital is free to the public.

For concert and ticket details, consult www.promusicasma.com.

Bob Kelly was a reporter on his hometown newspaper and the editor of a weekly, both in Parkersburg, W. Va. His last newspaper job was with the Chicago Sun-Times.

Concert
Nigel Coxe
Sat, Feb, 26, 5pm
Sun, Feb 27, 7pm
St. Paul’s Church
Cardo 6
200, 150 and 50 pesos

Nigel Coxe, called a “musician’s pianist to the core” by The New York Times, will return for two concerts of composers ranging from Mozart to Gershwin and a commentary style that have made him a favorite of Pro Musica audiences.

He won over concert-goers here in past performances with his relaxed and informed reflections on the composers and their works, displaying skills that he honed as a professor at The Royal Academy of Music, London, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he is now an emeritus professor. He also is a fellow of The Royal Academy.

Born in Jamaica and trained in England, Coxe has performed extensively in Great Britain, Europe, the US, Canada, Australia and Asia during his more than 30-year career as a concert pianist.

He is known for his interpretation of the works of the late Percy Grainger. Two of his CDs, Music of Percy Grainger and Showstoppers, with pieces by Gershwin, Grainger and Eubie Blake, have been bestsellers.

The composer Brian Chapple wrote “Trees Revisited” for Coxe, which he premiered in 1970. Programs of Virgil Thompson’s music, which Coxe had prepared with the late composer and had broadcast in Australia and Britain, were issued on a record by the Musical Heritage Society.

In a review of his debut at Carnegie Recital Hall, The New York Times called him a “well-equipped pianist and solid musician” and said “he goes to the heart of his music in modestly straightforward fashion leading from expressive strength and shunning any sort of virtuoso exaggerations.”

The London Daily Telegraph, reviewing another concert, 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 New York Times also noted his “considerable technical skill and artistry.”

Tickets can be purchased at La Tienda in the Biblioteca, Insurgentes 25; Casa de Papel, Mesones 57; La Conexión, Aldama 3; and St. Paul’s Church, weekdays 11am–2pm, and will be on sale at the door at 4pm. More information is available at www.promusicasma.com.

Bob Kelly was a reporter for his hometown newspaper and the editor of a weekly, both in Parkersburg, WV. His last newspaper job was with the Chicago Sun-Times.

Concert
Lupita Leal & Franco Rivero
Wed & Thurs, Jan 23 & 24, 7:30pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Relox 50A
150 pesos

Lupita Leal, a soprano renowned for her interpretative art, will welcome the New Year with two concerts organized by the Biblioteca Pública in San Miguel de Allende. Her repertoire for these concerts includes songs from the two most famous songwriters in Mexico and Cuba, Manuel M. Ponce and Ernesto Lecuona.

Lupita is from the state of Guanajuato, and completed her music studies in Michoacan. She has performed concerts in the principal theaters and venues of Mexico, the United States, Chile and Spain, and has recorded two CDs of traditional Mexican music. She has studied with such masters as the tenors Francisco Araíza and José Guadalupe Reyes, the baritone Roberto Desimone from the US, and with the principal figures of the Mexican National Opera Encarnación Vázquez and Ana Caridad Acosta. She has also received instruction from the sopranos María Vittoria Tonnietti from Italy and Taemi Kohama from Japan.

Franco Rivero is a talented pianist from Cuba who completed his musical studies in the Conservatorio de Las Rosas in Morelia, Michoacan. Although still young, Franco is a well-respected songwriter and has demonstrated his talents in concerts in major venues in Mexico and Cuba.

Lupita Leal and Franco Rivero have presented solo concerts and have worked together in the interpretation of songs of immensely rich musical and literary depth which reflect the feeling and taste of two Latin American cultures.

The first concert is on January 23 with the interpretation of the music of Lecuona. On January 24, Lupita and Franco interpret songs by Manuel M. Ponce.