A Mexican Musical Celebration to Remember
by Nick del Vecchio
October 16, 2010

The ” Mexican Celebration” at Crowder Hall on September 25th turned out to be an exciting musical feast that brought a lot of joy to both performers and audience members alike at the opening concert of the University of Arizona Symphony’s 2010/11 season.

The evening was most likely the brainchild of Thomas Cockrell, Artistic Director and Conductor of the Arizona Symphony, who has had first-hand experience with Mexican orchestras. In May 2009, he conducted the Orquesta Sinfonica de Michoácan and last May the Orquesta Juvenil Carlos Chávez in Mexico City. His South of the Border musical adventures no doubt laid the ground work for the College of Fine Arts’ Institute for Arts of the Americas which is fostering a year-long exploration of the music of Latin America.

This auspicious musical program of Mexico’s most popular classical composers no doubt brought a voice of musical reason amidst the social upheaval in Arizona’s recent immigration policies, a fact that was not lost on the enthusiastic and appreciative audience in a year that also celebrated the bicentennial of Mexico’s independence and centennial of its revolution.

Dedications and anniversaries aside, if the music playing isn’t riveting, the talk surrounding the event comes up just as adulation. No need to worry here. The three conductors who are representative of the good work done at the music school proved to be up to the artistic challenge.

Starting with Silvestre Revueltas’ Sensemayá, Jackson Warren brought out the powerful primal quality of the composer’s musical poem about taming snakes in a tribal ritual.

Next up was 1962: Homenaje a Copland, Humberto Hernández Medrano’s polyphonic tribute to his friendship with American composer Aaron Copeland. The piece also reflected Medrano’s orchestral studies in Russia with Dimitri Shostakovich as Keitaro Harada remarked before conducting the work.

Ending the first part of the program, David Dunbar and the orchestra delivered an exciting and passionate rendition of Sinfonía India. This work by Carlos Chávez is considered one of the finest works in the Mexican classical repertoire.

The second part started with Blas Galindo’s Sones de Mariachi, a work that combines classical technique with the popular sounds of Mariachi which Warren conducted with a true understanding of the music’s Mexican-style swing.

The last two pieces, Huapango by José Pablo Moncayo and Danzón 2 by Arturo Márquez, truly captured the indigenous rhythms and driving tonality that runs through all this music. Dunbar’s conducting of Huapango hit all the dynamic Indian tones that possess the work. And finally, Harada propelled the orchestra to interpret all of Danzón’s infectious, undulating music with all the passion inherent in a religious revival, bringing the packed house to its feet.

Standing ovations for theatrical events in Tucson have become commonplace and predictable. On this evening, however, the enthusiastic ovation the orchestra and conductors received was a salute to the evening’s jubilant program.

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