August 01, 2008, cont. from front page, Free concerts as part of Chamber Music Festival, By José Luis Mendoza, Lots to learn about the bomberos, City names new head of Public Works, By Jesús Ibarra

“This will be a world-class festival for a world-class city, which just became a UNESCO World Heritage site,” said Barbara Porter, president of the festival board. “The musicians come from several countries and have played around the world.”

Together with 35 advanced student musicians from Mexico and the US, the performers will present 30 musical events the next two weeks, of which 15 will be free to the public.

Four free concerts will be in public places, including three at La Luciérnaga mall and one at Plaza Civica.

A festival first is the callejoneada, or street parade, August 10 led by the high-energy Synergy Brass Quintet and accompanied by music students, starting in the Jardín and making music all the way to Parque Juárez.

When the festival ends, the musicians will have performed 10 concerts in Teatro Ángela Peralta, three in Bellas Artes, four in churches and five at the Biblioteca Pública, as well as other venues.

The Miami String Quartet’s concert August 14, at the Monastery of Nuestro Senora de Soledad, will be the first presented at the Benedictine retreat.

They also will have given fans a sample of the new wave in chamber music worldwide, in which almost any form of music goes as long as it’s played by classically trained small groups.

Long-time festival favorites the Ying quartet, for example, will present a “Musical Dim Sum,” pieces by contemporary Chinese-American composers Chou Wen-Chung, Vivian Fung and Lei Liang between works by Haydn and Ravel tonight. Their August 2 concert includes compositions by Mendelssohn, Tchaikowsky and Lieberman.

The Yings, three brothers and a sister, also have branched out by connecting music with other art forms, including dance, poetry and film. They shared a Grammy Award with the Turtle Island String Quartet, with whom they appeared here two years ago, for best crossover album combining jazz and improvisation with the classical tradition.

The human voice will be the instrument at concerts Sunday and Tuesday by the Quarteto Vocal Arveiros of Mexico, which has performed internationally with opera companies and orchestras and sang to sold-out audiences at last year’s Cervantino Festival.

They will sing an all-Rossini program August 3, accompanied by pianist Carlos Vasquez and organist John Stump of San Miguel, a Juilliard graduate.

At Tuesday’s Gala de Opera night on August 5, they will sing an extensive program of works from Mozart’s Cossi fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute and The Marriage of Figaro.

Free events and performances, an integral part of the festival, include a lecture in Spanish by Arturo Brennan, the music critic of La Jornada and a concert by pianists Carmen Eloisa Sanchez and Gaston Lafourcade, accompanied by the La Catrina String Quartet at Bellas Artes.

The Synergy Brass Quintet brings its pop style to classical music with a free concert at Templo de San Juan de Dios. The programs of the group’s concerts will run from Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Procession of the Nobles” to “Simple Gifts” from Copland’s Appalachian Spring to W. C. Handy’s “Memphis Blues” and Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.

There may be shouts of Viva la Francaise when the Quinteto de Alientos de Bellas Artes presents an all-French program. The quinteto, consisting of flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon and horn, has its roots in the Philharmonic Orchestra of Mexico.

They will play works by Lefebvre, Deslandres, Ibert and Francaix.

“We are making a more focused effort to present music and events that will encourage attendance by more of the community, including five free concerts by festival musicians and nine by our students,” Porter said. “We also have maintained our balcony ticket prices at 60 pesos and have special prices for concerts not in the Ángela Peralta.”

Tickets are available at the festival box office in Bellas Artes. For details, consult www.festivalsanmiguel.com.

Origins

In 1979, Carmen Masip, former head of Bellas Artes, painter Leonard Brooks and resident Tom Sawyer noticed the lack of chamber music concerts in the city and decided to organize a high quality chamber music festival in San Miguel.

“Carmen Masip intended that the festival not only bring good chamber music to sanmiguelenses, but also to be an educative festival,” said Martín Reyna, current manager of the festival.

Chamber Music Festival
www.festivalsanmiguel.com
A schedule of free concerts & events follows.

Saturday, August 2, 7pm
Ying Quartet
Teatro Ángela Peralta*
60 – 460 pesos

Sunday, August 3, 5pm
Arveiros Vocal Quartet
Teatro Ángela Peralta*
60 – 460 pesos

Monday, August 4
Tuesday, August 5, 7pm
Arveiros Vocal Quartet
Salón Julián, Posada de San Francisco
Plaza Principal 2
275 pesos

Thursday, August 7, 7pm
Alientos, Bellas Artes’s Quintet
Teatro Ángela Peralta*
60 – 460 pesos

Friday, August 8, 7pm
Synergy Brass Quintet
Teatro Ángela Peralta*
60 – 460 pesos

Monday, August 11, 7pm
String Quartet Carlos Chávez
Mesón de San Ignacio
Reloj & Mesones
275 pesos

Tuesday, August 12, 7pm,
La Catrina Quartet
Templo de Mexiquito,
Salida a Dolores
275 pesos

Wednesday, August 13, 7pm
The Poulenc Trio
Teatro Ángela Peralta*
60 – 460 pesos

Thursday, August 14, 5pm
Miami String Quartet
Nuestra Señora de la Soledad Monastery
Off road to Dolores, near Atotonilco
275 pesos

Friday. August 15, 7pm
Poulenc Trio & La Catrina Quartet -
Teatro Ángela Peralta*
60 – 460 pesos

Saturday, August 16, 7pm
Miami String Quartet
Teatro Ángela Peralta*
60 – 460 pesos

Sunday, August 17, 5pm
Miami String Quartet, La Catrina Quartet & Gustavo Rivero Weber
Teatro Ángela Peralta*
60 – 460 pesos
*Teatro Ángela Peralta, Hernández Macías & Mesones.

Free concerts as part of Chamber Music Festival
By José Luis Mendoza

“Music has a power of forming the character, and should therefore be introduced into the education of the young.”

—Aristotle

A cornerstone of San Miguel’s summer Chamber Music Festival has always been giving talented young music students the chance to learn from professional musicians. “Over 1,400 young Mexican musicians have benefited from their participation in our renowned Festival,” said John Stump, a festival board member, working with the student program this year, and himself a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music.

“This year the popular La Catrina Quartet will return to San Miguel to perform during the festival and lead the student program. The twenty one students accepted are very fortunate to have the leadership of La Catrina Quartet.”

The La Catrina Quartet was founded in 2001 and has a triple mission: to work closely with living composers in order to promote the performance of new music, to promote Mexican and Latin American art music and to perform the masterworks of the string quartet repertoire. Its members have played as soloists with a variety of orchestras in Mexico and the United States and given recitals in Japan, England, the United States, and Mexico. They are the Quartet-in-Residence of the Western Piedmont Symphony.

Daniel Vega-Albela, spokesperson for La Catrina said, “Every summer, a group of students aspiring to become professional musicians get together in San Miguel for two weeks of what invariably becomes for them an unforgettable musical experience. During these two weeks, in addition to attending daily concerts, they will have the opportunity to play in master classes, to take private lessons and in many cases to interact closely with well-seasoned chamber musicians from all over the world.”

This year, as part of the festival’s activities, the students will have the opportunity to perform alongside professional musicians, so that they get a taste of what it is like to perform on a high artistic level. Students are also strongly encouraged to perform in a variety of venues around the city to help them develop their artistic skills, as well as their showmanship. “There is no other festival in the country that provides young aspiring professional musicians with the intense exposure and experience that this festival does in only two weeks,” said Daniel Vega-Albela. “This is a very select group of young musicians who had to compete to earn their place in the festival.”

The La Catrina Quartet knows what it takes to be competitive. One of their activities this year included participating in the highly competitive Association of Performing Arts Presenters convention in New York City, which concluded with a performance in Carnegie Hall showcasing La Catrina Quartet as one of the “next generation of classical stars.” As Daniel Vega-Albela noted, the talented young people coming to San Miguel are truly the future of chamber music and they will increase their own competitiveness and professionalism to assure their place in the becoming the next generation of chamber musicians of the world. “We hope their concerts are well attended.”

Chamber Music Festival free events

Monday, August 4, 4pm
La Catrina Quartet, Carmen Eloisa Sánchez, Gastón Lafourcade
Bellas Artes *

Wednesday, August 6, 7pm
Synergy Brass Quintet
Templo de San Juan de Dios
San Antonio Abad

Saturday, August 9, 3pm
Synergy Brass Quintet
La Luciérnaga
Salida a Querétaro

Sunday, August 10, 1pm,
Street festival, w/ Synergy Brass Quintet & student musicians
Jardín, Cuna de Allende, Aldama, Parque Juárez
Concert w/ student musicians, 7pm
University of León
Plaza Cívica

From July 31 to August 16
Workshops and master classes
10am-1pm
Bellas Artes*

July 31 to August 16
Concerts by student musicians
1:30pm different restaurants

August 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 1:15pm
Concerts by student musicians
Sala Quetzal*

August 4, 8, 9, 5pm
Conferences
Bellas Artes*

August 7 and 14, 4pm
Concerts by student musicians
Bellas Artes*

August 8 to 10
Exhibition of instruments
10am, Bellas Artes*

August 10 & 16
Concerts by student musicians
3pm, La Luciérnaga
Salida a Querétaro

* Bellas Artes, Hernández Macías 75

*Sala Quetzal, Biblioteca Pública, Insurgentes 25

Lots to learn about the bomberos

Presentation
History of the Fire Department
José Sanchez
Wed, Aug 6, 3pm
Sala Quetzal
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25

Each year the bomberos attend 1,500 emergencies—urban, rural, residential and commercial fires; floods, explosions and hazardous spills; electrical problems, car accidents, medical emergencies and searches and rescues.

Due to increasing temperatures and dryness, the department has extinguished three times as many rural fires this year than in 2007. The incidents are usually caused by lit cigarettes, carelessly thrown from cars or deliberately lit fires that quickly grow out of control.

With old or reconditioned vehicles, equipment in need of replacement and operating expenses on the rise, Sanchez and the Fire Department Board (Patronato) seek sustainable financial support to increase their monthly stipend to 100,000 pesos per month.

Seven paid staff form San Miguel’s fire department, with 50 volunteers who either hold full-time jobs or are full-time students. They have two ambulances and three trucks. Sanchez spends his days attending to the daily problems that arise, mainly searching out spare parts for the trucks and visiting mechanics. “Tires are very expensive. Each one costs 4,000 pesos and they must always be changed in pairs to bear the weight of the trucks,” said Sanchez.

The bomberos also need another new ambulance. “We have two old ambulances, donated from the US, that constantly need spare parts which must be imported,” he said. “They are in constant use, attending emergencies in the campo where Red Cross ambulances cannot reach.” The ambulances are eight and 14 years old and both have run more than 205,000 miles.

Apart from emergency services, the Bomberos also offer educational programs. More than 25 children meet every Saturday at the fire station for the “cadets” program, similar to the Scouts, and volunteers regularly visit primary schools to give security demonstrations to students.

To get the message out to the community, will collect at the weekly House & Garden Tour.

At the Biblioteca this Wednesday, Sanchez discusses the history of the fire department in San Miguel with archive photos and stories about the city’s greatest blazes.

The City Council appointed architect Raúl Barrera as director of City Public Works on Tuesday, July 22. Barrera takes office after the surprise resignation of Jorge Zavala last month.

Born in San Miguel de Allende, Barrera studied architecture at the Instituto Tecnológico de Querétaro and a postgraduate degree in haciendas at the University of Guanajuato. He has designed both private and public works, and led restoration projects of colonial buildings, squares and churches in San Miguel and Querétaro.

He was director of the city Rural Development Department 1992–1993, completing construction of many schools and classrooms. In 1994, he worked for the state government as supervisor of rural works. Since 1995, he has worked as an independent architect, building several residences in neighborhoods such as Atascadero, Los Frailes and Centro.

Other projects include the small square at the corner of Reloj and callejón del Palmar; restoration of altar lights and walls at Las Monjas church and pinnacles of the clock tower in the Parroquia. His most controversial work was the five-story parking lot at Insurgentes, next to the Biblioteca Pública.

Barrera hands his position as president of the Colegio de Arquitectos de San Miguel (Architects Association of San Miguel) to the award-winning architect of the Casa de Aves Hotel, José Luis González Vázquez.

Invitation to Atotonilco

The restoration committee of the nonprofit organization Atotonilco Santuario de la Patria A.C. invites the foreign community of San Miguel to join them on Tuesday August 12 at 11:30am in Plaza de Atotonilco 1 for coffee and refreshments and to be escorted on a special tour of the Sanctuary of Atotonilco by committee members Roberto Burillo, Dotty Vidargas and Cecilio Garza.

This is a wonderful opportunity to see all of the restoration that has been done since 1996 on this historic church, recently named to the UNESCO World Heritage list.