Tag Archives: Camerata Gordon Campbell

Are We Blessed or What?

12650991_10208208775554212_2260076847104623997_nWhat an honor to go to the Temporada Gordon Campbell concert today with my friend Jessica, who is a total groupie of Maestro Cambell’s. She was beyond thrilled when I introduced them, she couldn’t believe she actually got to have a conversation with him, and then—the cherry on top of everything—she got to get a picture with the Maestro! It is such a complete pleasure when we are able to bring joy to our friends’ lives. Especially, perhaps, when it’s something simple, as we all know that the Maestro is very down-to-earth, approachable, and so very passionate and committed to his audience.

Last season we published a series called “Behind the Chamber,” in which we conducted interviews with the Maestro and his wife, Guianeya Román. I was so very happy to have Gordon tell me that Daniela Liebman, the then-12-year old piano sensation, had been able to obtain first-class representation in part due to the article we wrote about her. Love it when good things go around and come around!

This season’s line up is also magnificent. I don’t know where Gordon gets his incredible creativity from, but the ideas just seem to flow from him. The season is already half over, so be sure to get your tickets now for the remainder of the schedule. The season resumes after Carnavál, on Valentine’s Day, February 14th.

The “Gordon Campbell Season” is a series of six concerts on Sundays at noon. As the program always takes place during Carnavál, there is one concert that is held in Casa Haas instead of in the Angela Peralta theater. Due to the smaller size of the venue, two showings are scheduled that week, at noon and again at five.

Today was that concert, and it was completely sold out, standing room only. And my oh my was the music good! Performers were Cuarteto Ventura from Culiacán, and to say they played Mexican boleros is a huge understatement. Their classical guitars (including a small one called requinto), congas and incredible harmonies resurrected the original arrangements of music from the Golden Age of Mexican cinema—that era of bad movies and wonderful songs. During the set they also played one Cuban son, and, after the standing ovation, they played a ranchero as an encore. Other than that, the event dripped romanticism as you’ve rarely heard it. We so very much enjoyed ourselves! I kept both the official program list of the songs they intended to play, and the list of the songs they actually played, and I’m planning to put together an online playlist of this gems of Mexican romantic music.

Click on any photo below to view it larger or see a slideshow. My apologies, but I only took my cell phone this time. People recently get very cranky when I take a camera to an event; a bit of NOB mentality impinging itself in our paradise…

Last week’s concert was also incredibly cool. Tiempos Pasados, an antique music ensemble from Guanajuato, performed using instruments that were breathtakingly gorgeous works of art mostly handmade by the group’s Artistic Director, Armando Ávila, who played a different instrument for nearly every song the group played. He is an incredibly talented gentleman—a physicist, instrument maker and musician! Lord knows what else he does in his spare time.

He played a different instrument every song
LOVED this instrument!
Hand carving
Gorgeous handcrafted instruments

The last three events of this season look to be outstanding as usual. I love how Gordon speaks in both Spanish and English, educating us to the things we might miss without his narration. His rapport with the musicians, and the ear he has for bringing to Mazatlán unique events, are a true gift to our city. Be sure to get tickets (at any Angela Peralta outlet—theater or Rico’s Café) and take advantage!

 

Behind the Chamber: Hot Jazz

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Member of the group, “Hot Jazz”

Hey baby! Is jazz your bag? Ready to get down to some 18 karat grooves? Then jitterbug your way over to the Angela Peralta barrelhouse this Sunday March 1st at noon, where you’ll be able to groove to the sounds of ragtime, Dixieland, New Orleans, swing, and blues.

Closing out this year’s Camerata Gordon Campbell series will be the group “Hot Jazz,” which includes seven very talented musicians from Mexico, the USA, Poland and Spain:

  • Maciej Bosak on licorice stick (clarinet)
  • Jose Ramon Sanchez, a sraw boss on the popsicle stick (saxophone)
  • Robby McCabe, who’s wild on the trumpet
  • Hector Company Albert on the sackbut (trombone)
  • Polo Carillo, a finger zinger on the jazz box (guitar)
  • Oscar Corral, who Bose bounces the bass, and
  • Edmundo Langner Romero, who will be pounding the tubs (drums).

Below is the Maestro and his wife’s Behind-the-Chamber preview of the upcoming concert:

Tickets are 200 pesos for this concert and can be purchased at the TAP box office or online.

You may be wondering where this Boogie Woman’s sudden turn of jazz phrasing comes from? I’d like to credit All About Jazz’s “Jazz Slang.“

Behind the Chamber: The Art of the Horn

Aigul Kulova
Oleana Bogaychuck

You know we are blessed with cultural events here in Mazatlán, but I especially love it when we are privileged to host a world premiere!

Next Sunday, February 8th in Casa Haas, we will hear Brahms’ classic piece for horn, with a companion piece written by Robert Cummings expressly for Maestro Gordon Campbell. Aigul Kulova will be on piano, Oleana Bogaychuck on violin, and Gordon Campbell on the horn. Maestro Gordon Campbell and his wife, Guianeya Román, give us a Behind-the-Chamber look at the upcoming concert.

Performance will be at noon was sold out, and CULTURA was opening a second performance at 6:00 pm. Tickets for this event are only 200 pesos, and can be purchased at the TAP box office or online. Come and listen to Maestro Campbell get out from behind his baton and play, for a change!

Behind the Chamber: Mozart and His Women

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Angelica Aragón

Sounds sexy, right? Intriguing? This performance, the second in the Camerata Gordon Campbell series this year, sounds absolutely fabulous to me. It will take place on Sunday, January 11, at noon in the Angela Peralta Theater.

We all love art—listening to music or looking at paintings. What is even better to me, however, is when curators use music or visual art to tell us a story, to give us a glimpse into the lives of the artists—to take us with them into their lives. I love an exhibition that showcases the work of two friends who were painters, for example, comparing and contrasting their viewpoints, experiences, personalities and techniques. It’s so much more enriching than simply looking at the paintings and enjoying them. Such an approach accesses more of our senses simultaneously.

“Mozart and His Women” takes such an approach. It is musical tour de force, performed by the Chamber Orchestra, and it will be accompanied by readings from private letters between Mozart and his family and friends. So, we will hear the concerto that Mozart composed for his brother, Frederick, on the latter’s birthday, while we listen to the letter that Wolfgang wrote to him on that very occasion. Sound awesome?

The video below shows Gordon Campbell, Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Sinaloa de las Artes and of the Camerata Gordon Campbell, and Guianeya Román, his collaborator and wife, as they talk about the genesis of this performance. Be sure to listen for what Mozart called one of his best friends—he may have been Mazatleco after all!

Joining the Chamber for this concert will be the wonderful Angelica Aragón. I know her as an actress in movies and telenovelas, the daughter of my beloved Ferrusquilla. So my first question to Gordon and his wife was, “Does she sing?” No, in “Mozart and His Women,” Angelica will be performing the roles of Mozart’s mother, sister and wife, as she reads from the letters. We may even see a cameo by Gordon himself, in a white powdered wig.

Be sure to get your season tickets for only 150 pesos each, or your ticket to this event only at the unbelievable price of 200 pesos. Tickets at the TAP box office or online (though, personally, I can never get the online payment to work). We are so very truly blessed here in Mazatlán!

I am doing this series on the Camerata, not because we want to start reporting here on this blog, but because we so often find out about events after the fact. Sure, we see the announcements ahead of time, but often we don’t really know what the various performances are about. And we are blessed with a plethora of terrific options here in Mazatlán! It is my hope that this “Behind the Chamber” series can help you to discern what the performances will involve—they are so exciting this year! Many thanks to the Maestro and his wife for spending time with us to give us some background details and build our excitement.

Behind the Chamber: Skipping From Carnegie Hall to Mazatlán

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Daniela Liebman

 

A twelve year old girl from Guadalajara plays piano so well that she has already performed in Europe and Asia, as well as in both the Palacio de las Bellas Artes and Carnegie Hall—where she received a standing ovation. Earlier this year she won the prestigious Premio Nacional de la Juventud award, given to outstanding young Mexicans between 12 and 28—when she had barely reached the minimum age.

The girl is Daniela Liebman, an incredibly hardworking and naturally talented musician, and she will be coming our way this Sunday, January 4, 2015. Her career is rising quickly, she’s in very high demand on the international stage, and this is most probably the last concert she will play for over a year. Daniela may well go on to world fame, and thanks to the annual Camerata Gordon Campbell series, we get to create lifelong memories right here, in our own Angela Peralta Theater, for only 200 pesos (less if you buy tickets to the full series).

Maestro Gordon Campbell, Director and Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica Sinaloa de las Artes, and his wife and collaborator, Guianeya Román, sat down with us to talk a bit about next Sunday’s concert, how they came to know Daniela, and how they were able to attract her to Mazatlán to perform for us.

Born to musically inclined parents—a US American father and a Mexican mother—the maestro and his wife tell us that Daniela is both an terrific artist and a very well-adjusted child: she loves reading, and often skips onto stage due to her excitement at performing. View the video of our interview, below:

We were told that the family is very dedicated to Daniela. Her father sat with her four hours a day when she was younger, helping her practice. Daniela’s parents have told Gordon that if at any time the gifted pianist does not wish to continue her musical training, she is free to choose whichever interests suit her. Soon the family will be moving to Fort Worth, Texas to continue her training with a well-known teacher there.

Be sure to get your season tickets for just 150 pesos each for the 8-concert series, while you can still choose the best seats. Tickets can be purchased online or at the Angela Peralta Theater box office.