Hispanic Heritage Month: SC Phil Plans Concert with Imagery
September 15 – October 15 marks Hispanic Heritage Month in the U.S., and we are proud to be presenting our new Mexico-themed visual concertos with the South Carolina Phil for their Masterworks season opener on that theme. Music Director Morihiko Nakahara has designed a lively program titled “Visiones y Música” that will not only have people tapping their feet, but will help audiences develop a stronger appreciation for the immense creativity and cultural contributions of our Hispanic neighbors.
The concert on Saturday, Oct. 12 at the Koger Center for the Arts will open on a high note with Márquez’s Danzón No. 2. Following the Márquez, our huge screen will become a giant canvas for our first visual piece on the program: Pre~Columbia, set to the thunderous first movement of Revueltas’s La Noche de los Mayas. Photographed in central and southern Mexico by Westwater Arts Creative Director Nicholas Bardonnay, the piece depicts the imposing ruins left behind by the region’s sophisticated pre-Columbian civilizations.
Mexican culture today is a fascinating blend of ancient and modern. As such, Pre~Columbia sets the stage for the next visual piece: Mágico. Choreographed to Copland’s El Salón México and Moncayo’s Huapango, this piece explores contemporary Mexico in two parts. Together they create a colorful, authentic montage of the people, places, festivals, and everyday details that make Mexico such a diverse and magical country. Nicholas photographed all of the imagery over the course of a year, visiting 18 states from Baja California to Chiapas. “This is the most dynamic and logistically challenging project I’ve ever photographed, but it was a true labor of love and I consider it a gift to the wonderful people I met along the way, in one of the best years of my life,” says Nicholas of the production.
The Mexico-themed pieces appeal to different audiences in different ways. For some they’re a connection to places they grew up in or where their families have more distant roots. For others with very limited experience of Mexico, the imagery opens their eyes to the incredibly diverse landscape and culture that Mexico’s citizens cherish deeply.
We wholeheartedly invite audience members to come up and ask about our experience in Mexico, or share theirs, after the show. ¡Nos vemos pronto!
