York & Yakima Go to Mexico
Over the years we’ve had many repeat collaborations with conductors and music directors. This coming season will see a new one in York, PA and Yakima, WA. At the helm of both of those YSOs is Maestro Lawrence Golan. This February he’ll be leading a program with both orchestras called “Mozart and the Magic of Mexico.”
Both concerts will feature our visual pieces Pre~Columbia and Mágico, two companion pieces that our artist, Nicholas Bardonnay, created over the course of an entire year in Mexico. The production brought him to 18 Mexican states where he photographed the diverse landscapes, festivals, cities and the heartwarming people of the country.
Mexican culture today is a fascinating blend of ancient and modern. Pre~Columbia sets the stage with a depiction of the imposing ruins left behind by the Mexico’s sophisticated pre-Columbian civilizations and is choreographed to the thunderous first movement of Revueltas’s La Noche de los Mayas. Next up is the two-part piece, Mágico, exploring the vividness of contemporary Mexico. That work presents a colorful, heartfelt montage of the people, places, festivals, and everyday details that make Mexico such a diverse and magical country. In York and Yakima, Mágico will accompany two works by beloved Mexican composer José Pablo Moncayo, Tierra de Temporal and Huapango.
Since their premiere with the Dallas Symphony in 2018 and through many subsequent performances, it’s been fascinating to see how the Mexico-themed pieces appeal to different audience members in different ways. For some they’re a connection to places they grew up in or where their families have traveled or 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 Mexican citizens cherish deeply.
Mexican-Americans make up one of the largest demographics in the United States, so it’s no surprise that both York and Yakima have sizable Hispanic populations within their communities—32.9% and 45.8% respectively according to the 2020 census. It’s wonderful to see both orchestras embracing this, and we’re so looking forward to seeing lots of new faces in audiences as we explore the increasingly relevant…and vibrant topic of Mexico!
