by Jarrett Hoffman
HAPPENING TODAY at 7:30 pm, the latest episode of Les Délices’ SalonEra brings together bassoonist Catalina Guevara Víquez Klein, violinist Karin Cuellar Rendon, and soprano Raquel Winnica Young to explore the legacy of “The Phoenix of Mexico,” Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695), as well as their own personal connections to that poet, composer, and protofeminist.
The program includes music by de la Cruz, Rafael Castellanos, Antonio Durán de la Mota, and Andrés Flores. Read a preview article by Mike Telin here, and register here to view online.
If you didn’t get a chance to celebrate HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH, which lasted from September 15 to October 15, that program from Les Délices is an excellent way to do so, with its mix of works by composers from Mexico, Guatemala, and Bolivia.
Another recommendation on that front: the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society’s Creative Fusion series, presented this past summer in partnership with the Mexican Committee of Cleveland.
Among the three artists-in-residence, guitarist and composer Hermelindo Ruiz used his platform to shine a spotlight on fellow Puerto Rican composer Juan Felix Acosta De Arce (Ojos de Ensueño), to highlight the Puerto Rican genre of Danza (To Soar Beyond), and to musically address the feeling of being part of, yet separate from, mainstream American culture (Music for Interaction).
The latter piece, which Ruiz wrote for CCGS Education Program students, involves not only performance and improvisation, but also spoken word as students and parents share memories and emotions around their Puerto Rican heritage (screenshots above).
And guitarist, composer, and singer Anastasia Sonaranda portrayed the diversity of cultural and musical styles from her native Mexico. Her four videos represent the styles of “son jalisciense” (Son de la Negra), “son huasteco” (Cuyahoga Weeping) “son istmeño” (La Llorona) and “son jarocho” (El Cascabel). She also brought in other art forms — choreography and poetry — to approach those styles in different ways.
Read more about the Creative Fusion videos here, and watch them all here.
Along the lines of both Sonaranda and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, check out these graphics from the Boulanger Initiative to learn more about other women composers of Hispanic heritage: Narcisa Freixas, María Grever, Rocío Sanz Quirós, Maria Teresa Prieto, Pauline Viardot, and Teresa Carreño (thanks to the Akron Symphony for sharing).
Finally, an article from NPR addresses the name of this month-long celebration. “What’s the harm in lumping together roughly 62 million people with complex identities under a single umbrella?” Vanessa Romo writes. “Is a blanket pan-ethnic term necessary to unite and reflect a shared culture that is still largely (infuriatingly) excluded from mainstream popular culture? Or the more basic question: ¿Por que Hispanic?”
Moving from international to LOCAL NEWS items, nominations are being accepted here until January 6 for the sixth annual Music Educator of the Year Award, sponsored by the Canton Symphony.
A new podcast from the Bop Stop and Gilazar Media, Jazz and Conversation, is now available. Click here to sit down virtually with saxophonist Bobby Selvaggio and guitarist Dan Wilson as they discuss musical influences, touring with a family, and Wilson’s new album Vessels of Wood and Earth, with live music interspersed throughout the episode.
And for anyone interested in classical musicians branching out into other genres, Cleveland Chamber Choir alto Moriah Sprit (below) recently collaborated with Ravenna-based electronic pop-rock band Circadia in their cover of Run Wild, originally by For King & Country. Watch the music video here.
In TODAY’S ALMANAC, wish a happy birthday to New Orleans-born trumpeter, composer, educator, and Jazz at Lincoln center artistic director Wynton Marsalis, who turns 60, and whose oratorio Blood on the Fields was the first jazz work to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
Turning 75 is Canadian composer Howard Shore, a three-time Academy Award winner for his scores to the film trilogy of The Lord of the Rings.
We also honor the passing of French composer Charles Gounod, who passed away on October 18, 1893, and who is most famous for his twelve operas, including the popular Faust.
And of American songwriter Gussie Lord Davis, who died on this date in 1899. Born in Dayton, Davis went on to become the first Black songwriter to reach fame in New York’s Tin Pan Alley scene.