Cervantino Day 7: Ute Lemper

Guanajuatense Lirio Garduno translating Ute's British English for the press corps

Ute Lemper, born in Germany and renowned in Europe before taking up residence in New York City fifteen years ago, wowed the press corps the day of her concert. She fielded questions about her forthcoming projects, the future of Europe (although she admitted to not being an economist, she expects the Euro to crash and is scornful of nationalism), New York (she loves it but doesn't consider it part of America), and Mexico, with its diversity, culture and warmth badly misrepresented in the press.

Several Cervantino Photos (& please read the post below too)

Everyone I know who goes to the Cervantino shakes the kaleidoscope a different way. The man deliberating in front of the posted Cervantino schedule, well that's half of what the Cervantino's about. I didn't take my own photos at the big events like the National Ballet of China or the opera Orfeo by Monteverdi staged by a hero of mine, Jonathan Miller.

All my senses were working at the workshop on Chinese cooking where the chef is shown with his interpreter, a man from the People's Republic of China who works for the Asian Marketing Division of Bimbo, but I've had trouble placing the photo where I want it. The chef, who mads cooking look like ballet, heads up the cooking staff at the Chinese Embassy in Mexico City. That's Esther Boles of Guanajuato interpreting for Dulcinea Langfelder, a Canadian actress who can mimic spanish better than she understands it. Circolio had audiences laughing wherever they went.