Jazz trio pays tribute to Gershwin
By Antonio Lozoya May 30, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Concert
Tribute to George Gershwin
Thu, June 5, 8pm
Teatro Ángela Peralta
cnr Mesones & H. Macías
100/80/50 pesos

Edgar Dorantes (piano), Antonio Lozoya (bass) and Rodrigo Villanueva (percussion) will bring the timeless music of George Gershwin to San Miguel next week.

Gershwin is one of the best-known and most-loved American composers of the 20th century. He wrote most of his vocal and theatrical works in collaboration with his elder brother, lyricist Ira Gershwin. George Gershwin composed songs both for Broadway and for the classical concert hall, in addition to many other popular standards. 

What set Gershwin apart was his ability to manipulate forms of music into his own unique voice. He took the jazz he discovered on Tin Pan Alley into the mainstream by splicing its rhythms and tonality with that of the popular songs of his era.

The composer, who was said to write six songs a day to get the bad ones out of his system, died at the age of 38 in 1937 after a prolific career during which he penned some 800 songs. Many of his works played a integral part in classic Hollywood films. 

Gershwin managed in his short life to brew a musical mix of pop, blues, jazz and classical music that yielded such masterpieces as the opera Porgy and Bess and “Rhapsody in Blue.” It is safe to say that his music appeals to more people than any other American composer, before or since. The music he wrote in the 1920s and 1930s is still popular today, and the concert music he wrote during his brief lifetime still attracts large audiences.

The Jazz Trio

Edgar Dorantes (Piano)

A native of Cordoba, Veracruz, Edgar Dorantes earned a degree in piano from the University of Verazruz in 1998. He went on to earn a master’s degree in jazz in 2002 at the University of North Texas. During 2002–03 Dorantes taught jazz at the State University of Valdosta in Georgia, and the following year he directed the Graduate School Jazz Municipal de Bellas Artes in Veracruz. From 2003 to 2007 he taught at the University of Veracruz, and since 2007 he has directed the jazz outreach and education program, which he founded, at that university. During his career Dorantes has played hundreds of concerts of both classical and jazz music in Mexico and the US. As a pianist, composer and arranger of jazz he has been a leader of several groups and has won many awards.

Antonio Lozoya (Bass)

Antonio Lozoya, who holds a bachelor’s degree in music, began his studies as a classical guitarist and ended up as a jazz bassist. He has participated in several jazz clinics and performed at many national and international music festivals. 

Since 1999 Lozoya has produced several concerts with the group San Miguel Jazz Cats, among others, in various locations throughout the country. For five years he has participated as coordinator of and speaker at a series of conferences on jazz history and appreciation conceived as an introduction to the International Jazz Festival of San Miguel de Allende, for which he has been musical director and, since 2006, the festival’s general director. 

Rodrigo Villanueva (Drums)

A drummer, percussionist, arranger, and composer from Mexico City, Rodrigo Villanueva began playing drums at the age of 15. He also studied classical percussion and jazz. Villanueva has toured in Europe, South America, Mexico and the US, and as an educator he has taught drum and percussion courses in Mexico. He has been awarded several scholarships and grants. Villanueva graduated magna cum laude with honors in jazz studies in 2001 and received a master’s degree in jazz studies in 2003, both at the University of North Texas. He is currently an assistant professor of jazz studies at Northern Illinois University and performs regularly in the US and Mexico. 

Harp trumps quena flute
By Dick Avery and Gabriela Servin

Concert
Folklore harp & flamenco guitar
Sergio Basurto
Mon, June 2, 7:30pm
Sala Quetzal
Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A
150 pesos, limited seating

Equally at home on the guitar and the Irish harp, Sergio Basurto Valencia comes from a musical family in Mexico City. All family members sing or play musical instruments and his great-grandfather was an orchestra conductor.

As a child, he fell in love with Paraguaian harp and Incan quena flute. Many of his friends were playing Latin American folk music in school and invited him to join them. 

Basurto’s career started in Mexico City when he joined a prestigious Latin American folklore group and learned to play the multiple syncopated rhythms of milongas, zamba, baladas, rumba and bossa nova. The natural step to flamenco rhythms brought a new mastery.

Basurto has belonged to the select musical community of San Miguel for more than 20 years and has being offering this concert series for the past five years.

Dueling pianos

Sunday Matinee Concert
Duo Dedos: Mauro Ledesma and 
Enrique Prado
Sun, June 1, July 6, July 13, 2:30pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos

Ode to a concert of classical music. Not really a fan? We are ready to excuse it. Most people think that a classical music concert is boring and dry. Enrique Prado and Mauro Ledesma set out to change that image of classical music through their four-hands piano concerts.

These two talented pianists have strong classical music training and education. As a duo, they tend to choose very lively programs that include some well-known classical pieces as well as ones by more obscure composers. Their youth, humor and enthusiasm are expressed in their performances and audiences are continually impressed with their emotion and love of music. Prado and Ledesma are changing the feel of classical music concerts, playing serious music, but portraying it in a more informal, lively setting and style.

Mauro Ledesma is originally from San Miguel. At a very young age he started his music training with Enrique Prado and Marta Garcia Renart. Later he continued his education at Universidad de Colima, studying under Anatoly Zatin, a well-known pianist, composer and conductor. In the spring of 2007 he graduated and returned to San Miguel where he now resides, performs and gives classes.

Enrique Prado moved to San Miguel at the age of 11 and started his music training in Bellas Artes with Marta Garcia Renart. A natural musician and pianist, he was quickly labeled a child prodigy and a star in San Miguel. With local support he studied in Texas and later at a renowned music conservatory in Cuba where he received his degree in music performance and piano pedagogy.

Prado and Ledesma decided to form Duo Dedos 10 months ago, performing together after several years of not having seen each other or played together. Their goal is to offer audiences fresh and attractive programs. They began at the duets series in Casa Crayola and were featured at the Arts Festival of Querétaro in March. Now they want to take their music on the road, searching for new audiences and sharing their take on classical music.

The title of their piano duo, Duo Dedos, plays with the Spanish words duo dedos (duet fingers) and duo de dos (duet of two). This playfulness in the name of their duo is just a preview of how these two musicians begin to entertain audiences.

This Sunday will be the first of three four-hands piano concerts this summer. Tickets are on sale at the Teatro box office.

Iraida Noriega returns to San Miguel

Concert
Iraida Noriega
Thu, June 5, 9pm
El Viejo Topo-Café

Considered one of the best jazz singers in Mexico, the talented composer and musician Iraida Noriega is returning to San Miguel to perform at El Viejo Topo. Last April, she gave two impressively beautiful recitals where she presented the best of her recent productions.

 Daring and restless, Noriega combines the most sophisticated elements of traditional jazz with Latin-american rhythms, with a little bit of pop and rock. The results are always in perfect and heart-touching balance. She impressed audiences with an astonishing version of Duke Ellington, interpreted with an arrangement based on a danzón.

Noriega will perform with her quartet, the excellent musicians Nicolás Santella (piano), Israel Cupich (bass) and Herman Hecht (drums).