Amernet String Quartet opens festival
By Inés Roberts

Chamber Music Festival  Wed–Sun, Aug 5–16 Teatro Ángela Peralta Mesones 82 US$10 balcony/$26 orchestra/$33 box; season $212.50/$272

To paraphrase Longfellow, “The night shall be filled with music and the cares that infest the day will silently steal away!”

After triple shock waves endured by Mexico this year—the global economic downturn, a media onslaught about drug wars and an influenza outbreak that closed down the country—hopes for staging the annual Chamber Music Festival were almost dashed.

Thanks to Festival Director Camie Sands, some fortuitous juggling of available funds, groups and benefactors (the popular Miami String Quartet had to cancel due to illness and one of our principal supporters vanished), our world-class annual Chamber Music Festival is a reality.

San Miguel is Mexico’s premier music festival town, with music ranging from opera to choral, classical to jazz, klezmer to zarzuela, with bluesmen and guitarists of diverse persuasions on hand. We have our own homegrown mariachis and our very own resident organist, John Stump, a graduate of the Juilliard School, who generously regales us with free organ concerts throughout the year as well as serving on the festival board.

Chamber Music Festival time returns to sunny San Miguel, most recently named a World Heritage site by UNESCO, enjoyed by visitors throughout the year for its colonial architecture, its first-class hotels and restaurants and its many cultural and sporting activities.

Let the festival begin! On Wednesday, August 5, the world-renowned Amernet String Quartet opens Season XXXI at Teatro Ángela Peralta along with this year’s Ensemble-in-Residence Cuarteto Carlos Chávez, which will direct our important student program.

Our internationally acclaimed performers also include the Borromeo String Quartet, the Haven String Quartet and the Jupiter String Quartet which, accompanied by pianist Natasha Tarásova, will play the final evening concert on Saturday, August 15.

The festival features 10 superb concerts and three or more free concerts by professional groups.

A special treat will be a free concert by the Yale Alumni Chorus! Additionally, we will have the “5pm Music Hour” throughout the town with our advanced music students and a Grand Finale Fiesta on Sunday, August 16, with a cocktail reception and concert by a surprise group at Auditorio Miguel Malo in Bellas Artes.

Season tickets for the festival offer a lower cost per concert than last year and extra benefits at US$21.25 for orchestra seats and $27.20 for box seats. They include all pay-for concerts, the Jupiter String Quartet concert at the Monasterio de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad and a blue-ribbon pass to the best seats at the free concerts, as well as admission to the Grand Finale Fiesta at Bellas Artes and, as always, an invitation to the opening cocktail reception. This is the year to experience a world-class Chamber Music Festival at bargain prices—go ahead and indulge yourself—purchase a season ticket for US$212.50 for an orchestra seat or $272 for a box seat!

If you are reluctant to make a total commitment, try the Festival Sampler Half-Pack. Package A or Package B for US$125 for orchestra seats is ideal for sampling our exceptional season when award-winning groups will be presented.

Individual tickets also are available at US$10 for balcony area, $26 for orchestra seats and $33 for box seats. Note: all dollar prices quoted may be paid in their Mexican peso equivalent.

San Miguel’s musical tradition lives on with the support of our Tourism Council under the expert direction of Guillermo González Engelbrecht, state and federal governments, the INBA, local businesses and the dedicated cooperation of Director Sands, who is now working pro bono. Yes, thanks to your support the nights (and the days) will be filled with music!


To purchase season tickets, volunteer or provide guest lodging for university students, stop into the festival office inside Bellas Artes, Hernández Macías 75. Pre-season hours are 11am–1pm. Contact Director Sands at info@festivalsanmiguel.com  or 154-8722 office or 154-6920 home. For information on groups and performance dates, see www.festivalsanmiguel.com. 

Inès Roberts is the former editor of The San Miguel Chronicles and a contributor to Fodor’s Mexico guides.