The pianist’s wrist is healed!
By Krishna Villena January 2, 2009 San Miguel de Allende

Piano Concert
History of Music
Age Kristoffersen
Sun, Jan 4, 2:30pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A
100 pesos

In January 2008, the renowned Norwegian pianist Age Kristoffersen offered concerts at Teatro Santa Ana in the Biblioteca Pública. He seriously injured a wrist during one of the concerts. Now recovered, Kristoffersen is ready for 2009 Sunday Matinée Concerts.

Even though he was in pain he was able to finish the concert. He received medical attention in a private hospital in this city. It took several weeks to start playing piano again. His wrist is completely healed for this season’s concerts starting January 4. He said he’s “completely ready for concerts again this season because as soon as my wrist was healed I had my concert tour in Europe and in the US. I’ve given 84 concerts since the injury.”

Kristoffersen said he thanked all the people who worried about his health.

During his 2008 concert tour he recorded a new CD, Norwegian Encores, his twenty-fifth. Some notable pieces are: To the Spring, Nocturne, Trolls and Wedding Day at Trollhaugen by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. He wanted a compilation of his favorite pieces, ones not in a concerts program but as extras, on a list he always has prepared, in case he has time to play them. “These are encores I’ve used for 50 years of concerts. I picked some of the most interesting encores,” said Kristoffersen. He explained that “an encore is what a pianist plays after the program is over. People are very happy and clapping and then the pianist plays an encore; these are easy listening classics that people like. Some of the pieces are wild, some are romantic, some are kind of modern but most of them are romantic.” 


Kristoffersen said the piece he likes most from the CD is the first one on the list, Christian Sinding’s Rustle of Spring, because “that is a piece pianists worldwide have in their repertoires. Everybody knows it; when you hear it you’ll recognize it.”

Kristoffersen plays three different programs in San Miguel and he is already preparing his two programs for the 2009 European tour. He practices five to seven hours per day at his San Miguel home and if he skips one day he does double the next day.

Listening to Kristoffersen’s piano in San Miguel is a unique opportunity. He chose this beautiful city for the winter season, enjoying the weather and doing what he has loved to do since he was a little boy who drew keyboards at every windowsill and turned the radio on to start moving his fingers. 

His debut as a pianist was in Oslo, Norway, in 1961. He studied music in Boston and entered an international piano competition. The prize was a concert in Carnegie Hall, so his first big recital was in the world’s most famous music hall. In his hometown, Kristoffersen has his own concert hall and he gives most of his concerts there before international audiences. 

The program Kristoffersen played in February 2008, An Hour of Romantic Classics, included somewhat longer pieces by Chopin, Franz Liszt, Rachmaninoff and Sibelius. Personal Favorites in March included pieces by Brahms, Debussy, Liszt and Chopin.

His January 4 program this year is called A Guided Tour through the History of Music. He plays classic pieces such as Mozart’s Fantasia in D Minor, Beethoven’s Écossaise and Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody. 

A Touch of Liberace includes Sigmund Romberg’s Serenade, Brahms 3 Waltzes and Hungarian Dance No. 7 and Mendelssohn’s Song without Words. Encores from 50 Years on the Concert Stage includes pieces by composers Sibelius, Schumann, Chopin, Egge and Saeverud.

Age Kristoffersen´s Sunday Matinée Concerts, 2:30 pm

January thru March, three different programs, 

January 4, 25, February 15, March 8, A Guided Tour through the History of Music

January 11, February 1, 22, March 15, A Touch of Liberace


January 18, February 8, March 1, 22, Encores from 50 Years on the Concert Stage

Tickets at Teatro Santa Ana, Mon–Fri, 11am–7pm, Sat 11am–2pm, 152-7305.

Bountiful Bach
By Michael Pearl

Pro Musica Concerts
Matthew Bengston
Steinway Classics
Sat, Jan 10, 5pm


Goldberg Variations
Sun, Jan 11, 5pm
St Paul’s Church
Cardo 6 
200/150/80 pesos


Nearly everyone who has learned to play the piano knows that Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) is the father of classical music. The elegant, mathematical symmetry of his compositions has provided countless generations of students with finger-challenging exercises that form the basis of their musical technique. Pro Musica de San Miguel presents a rare, complete performance of one of Bach’s greatest works for the keyboard, the Goldberg Variations. Matthew Bengston, one of the new generation of virtuoso pianists, flies in from Philadelphia to give two recitals on our Steinway grand, including a diverse program on Saturday. Don’t think that this is music for connoisseurs only. On the contrary, the simplicity and emotionality of this gorgeous music speaks directly to us all.

The Goldberg Variations were first published in 1742. Never one to exhibit modesty, Bach hits you right away with the title: Keyboard-practice, consisting of an aria with different variations for the harpsichord with two manuals. Prepared for the enjoyment of music-lovers by Johann Sebastian Bach, Polish royal and Saxon electoral court-composer, director and choir-master in Leipzig.

Bach’s friend Forkel tells the following story, which, for all its doubtful character, has permanently attached to the variations the name of Bach's pupil, Johann Gottlieb Goldberg.

“For this music we have to thank the former Russian ambassador to the electoral court of Saxony, Count Keyserlingk, who often stopped in Leipzig and brought with him the aforementioned Mr. Goldberg, in order that Bach give him musical instruction. The Count was often ill and spent many sleepless nights. At such times Goldberg, who lived in his house, had to spend the night in an antechamber, playing for him during his insomnia.

“Once the Count mentioned in Bach's presence that he would like to have some clavier pieces for Goldberg to play that should be of such a smooth and lively character that he might be a little cheered up by them in his sleeplessness. Bach thought himself best able to fulfill this wish by means of variations, the writing of which he had until then considered an ungrateful task on account of the repeatedly similar harmonic foundation.

“Thereafter the Count always called them his variations. He never tired of them, and for a long time during sleepless nights his constant refrain was, 'Dear Goldberg, do play me one of my variations.' Bach was perhaps never so rewarded for one of his works as for this. The Count presented him with a golden goblet filled with 100 louis-d’or. Even had the gift been a thousand times larger, their artistic value would not yet have been paid for.”

As I write this piece on my Christmas break in the Yucatan, I am listening to the Variations on my iPod. We visited Chichén Itzá the other day and as I sat contemplating the awesome Plaza of The Thousand Columns, my mind drifted to the mathematical symmetry of Bach’s music. The serried ranks of the ancient Mayan columns are framed at each end by larger edifices. When they were built, each column was painted in a different color. Similarly, the Goldberg Variations are framed between two massive end pillars, one formed by the opening aria and the first two variations, the other by the last three variations. The variations between them are grouped like the columns of an elaborate colonnade, a series of great individual columns, architecturally similar but each with a unique musical color.

The opening aria (strictly speaking not one of the 30 variations that follow) foreshadows the spirit of the whole through the tenderness and calm with which the solemnity of the fundamental bass line is clothed. My recording is by Glenn Gould, and I know his playing is not to everyone’s taste, but he infuses the aria with a spiritual equanimity that feels like meditating on those Thousand Columns, as the eye gently wanders along their serried ranks.

The last variation, the quodlibet, brings out Bach’s sense of humor. It is based on two folk songs. The words of one conjure up every child’s mealtime complaint (at least of my generation and before!), causing a lifetime aversion to certain foods:

"Beets and spinach drove me far away.
Had my mother cooked some meat,
then I'd have stayed much longer."

Between these two movements is a cornucopia of music of stunning variety and color. I’ll give you a brief flavor of it to whet your appetite, hopefully more than Bach’s was by his mother’s cooking!

The first variation stands like a festive gateway leading to the inner world explored in the following three variations. These have an unearthly pure sweetness and a lyricism in every phrase that makes it feel as though the pianist’s fingers, the piano, and one's whole self are dissolving into the essence of the music.

This quiet lyricism is interrupted by the shining, smooth swiftness of the first arabesque (5) followed by a brief variation of nostalgic tenderness (6) leading into a faraway scherzo (7) of the utmost lightness and delicacy. Another arabesque (8) and canon (9) echo that lyricism, which in turn is interrupted by the brusque roughness of the fughetta (10). Then follows a delicate network of a third arabesque (11) and the sunny canon of a fourth (12). A flute aria (13) of breath-taking joy intervenes and melts into the humor of the fourth arabesque (14), making even more striking the appearance of the dark tragic tones of (15).

The second half opens with a majestic French Overture (16), followed by one of the lightest of the arabesque variations (17). In the sixth canon (18) and the lute-variation (19) lyric sweetness like that of the opening Aria returns, but it is now even more peaceful. Another scherzo arabesque (20) contrasts with the somber seventh canon (21), which in turn joins with the ala breve variation (22). This, for all its quicker tempo, transforms the pathos of the canon into the serene joy which follows pain.

The seventh arabesque bursts forth into the most unrestrained exuberant joy (24). A quiet, yet irresistibly passionate, aria (25) follows, carried to even greater tragic heights by the eighth arabesque (26). The final variations swirl in like mounting waves on a beach, through a sprightly canon with glittering trills (28), a waltz-like bravura (29) to the final jubilant climax in the quodlibet (30), where the equanimity of the opening aria returns like a benediction.

My research indicates that the complete Goldberg variation have never been professionally performed in San Miguel before now. This is an opportunity not to be missed to hear this amazing opus.

Biblioteca Concerts

Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A

Javier Estrada
Fri, Jan 2, 7pm
Fri, Jan 9, 7pm
Sala Quetzal
100 pesos


Antonio Cabrero
Wed, Jan 7, 7:30pm
Sala Quetzal
100 pesos


Sergio Basurto
Mon, Jan 8, 7:30pm
Sala Quetzal
150 pesos


Junta Flamenca 
Fri, Jan 9, 5pm
Teatro Santa Ana
200 pesos


These outstanding concerts are part of the Biblioteca Pública’s cultural program. Tickets are available at the theater box office. For concerts at 7pm or after, enter through the Café Santa Ana entrance at Reloj 50A. Seating is limited for Sala Quetzal events. 


Gypsy music night

Guitarist Javier Estrada sings and plays noche de fiesta gitana, the enchanting music from the south. His light touch across the strings and the melodies of the gypsies set an intimate mood. 


Piano concert

Pianist Antonio Cabrero has a flair for combining his classical training with traditional jazz and his own exotic inspirations. He delighted San Miguel audiences twice this December. Cabrero is known throughout Mexico as a symphony conductor, but his piano concerts have assumed new relevance in recent years, due to his passion for improvising over jazz standards and music from Spain, Mexico and India.

Part of the program is a Gershwin medley. Then he takes to the flamenco music of Spain and Manuel de Falla, then back to Mexico with Huapango by Pablo Moncayo.


Folklore harp and flamenco guitar

Sergio Basurto plays traditional rhythms from Latin America and Mexico on guitar and folklore harp. Latin America has many kinds of harps, including the Venezuelan harp, Mexican harp and arpa llanera, the harp of the plain. They are made of thin wood (cedar and pine) and are much lighter than the European harp. Playing style and techniques are dynamic in contrast to the softer European tone. The sound is bright with a shorter sustain period after the plucking of each note.

Flamenco winter season opens

Flamenco can be traced back for centuries to the Gypsies of southern Spain. Its influences and musical complexity can be attributed to a decree of 1492, requiring conversion or expulsion of Gypsies, Muslims and Jews. The ethnic groups helped each other, and within this melding of cultures, flamenco was born.

Flamenco, in general, consists of three artistic elements: the singing (cante), the dance (baile) and the guitar (guitarra). In addition, members of a flamenco group may play palmas or hand-clapping. The relationship between the artists is similar to that of jazz. They follow a basic structure, but at its heart, the form is improvised.

The singing is the center of the flamenco group. The dancer physically interprets the words and emotion of the singer through his or her movements, which include percussive footwork and intricate hand, arm and body movements. The guitarist provides the accompaniment to the singer and dancer, accentuating his or her vocal lines and/or melodies.

Most scholars agree that the birthplace of flamenco is Jerez de la Frontera, a small city in southern Spain. However, because of the nomadic nature of the Gypsies, who moved from town to town selling their wares and doing odd jobs, flamenco quickly gained roots in several Andalucian towns, including Sevilla and Granada. .

Today, flamenco is nothing short of an international phenomenon. Jerez now hosts an annual flamenco festival that attracts thousands of visitors from around the world. Flamenco aficionados can be found in any country.