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..

Tribute concert for Helen Wolff at the Gene Byron

Sunday a dozen fellow musicians played in memory of flautist Helen Wolff who is no longer with us, the  pieces ranging from Bach to Ravel the perfect tribute.

After fellow flautist Cuautemoc Trajo introduced the event, violist Djamilia Rovinskaya opened with Bach. A series of quiet pieces followed, solos and duos. Two fluteplayers performed as did the cellist Michael Severens, among others others. Zephyrus, the wind quintet with which Helen played until recently, ended the concert on an upbeat note, playing a lively wind quartet by Mozart.

Over the years, Helen made many friends, seventy of them present. Helen and I were what I would call close acquaintances. We always had something to say to each other. Once she commented on the color of my eyes, another time talked scathingly of a young man who wrote about the orchestra for a local paper. I remember her coming over to chat with me during the intermission of an opera videocast in Leon. There were other times when she told me how she took care of her flute, that she believed in "serial monogamy", and about how she was using a vacation week to perfect her playing..

Helen, thank you for what you added to our lives. We miss you.