Guanajuato: OSUG will play a work filled with drama tonight May 8

Tonight, our symphony orchestra will feature a work by Leonense Javier González Compeán based on the courage of the trainman Jesús Garcia Corona who, at the cost of his life, saved a whole Northern town from an explosion. We'll see if the rhythm of the corrido (popular song) based on the event, El Héroe de Nacozari, will permeate the work.

Other recent concerts in Guanajuato: At the Gene Byron, a preview of an opera we will have the chance to hear in full at the Teatro Juarez on September 5. The University of Guanajuato awarded the work with its prize as the best project submitted. The composer, born in Italy but who has lived for many years in the United States teaches music theory at Stanford. During the first half of the program, he and his wife played pieces of his for viola and piano to an appreciative audience.

The Museo Iconográfico presents musical Thursday evenings starting at 8pm, $40 max. Two weeks ago I went to hear the a Mexican piano team play a concert for four hands (at one piano). Beautiful music, all new to me, by Dvorak, Moszkowski and Rachmaninoff, followed by a piano version of The Nutcracker Suite.

And coming up, mark your calendar, the annual Symposium of Cervantino Studies (go to the Iconográfico website for details. On September 25 to open the symposium, Alberto Cruzprieto, a fine pianist will present a concert at 7:30m, open to the public gratis. Get there early for a good seat..

Guanajuato Museums: In The Gene Byron, Songs of Love and Loss

Renee Bouthot (soprano), Susan Hammond (piano) and Djamilia Rovinshaia (viola) started the afternoon of March 23 with Canadian folk songs by way, moved on to a modern arrangement of Sephardic songs sung in their original language, Ladino, and went on to German lieder and a heartrending selection of of Gershwin songs. Both

Renee singing before a full house. Photo from El Correo  

Canadian musicians have had impressive careers, with  Bouthot founding The Ginger Group, a women's trio that specializes in Canadian music, their songs available on a CD, Hammond is known throughout Canada for her radio program Classical Kids as well as for performing on the piano. Rovinskaia is the first violist of our symphony orchestra.

Wine and conversation afterward:Miriam Uriarte with Araujo father-son duo

.