Baja Review A community newspaper serving Ensenada, Valle de Guadalupe, and Rosarito in Northern Baja California
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February brought a plethora of concerts in Ensenada, classical music at its best. I’ll take you to three of these concerts.
The Opera Dido and Eneas, by Henri Purcell, was performed again, this time in Cearte three nights in a row and to a full house each time. The cost of these concerts is usually $100.00 pesos ($7.60 at the current exchange) and seniors and students get half price. The costumes and stage sets were very professional and all the participants were University students and faculty. The music was supplied by the UABC Orchestra and a group of classical guitar students. All the singers were also students of the university working on their Bachelor’s in music. In May this same group of students will perform Bach’s Magnificat, so watch your local computer blog for information.
Four of the students and their professor, our star of opera, Ensenada born and raised Maria Lozano also put together a concert of love songs, both classical and Spanish. This concert was presented at The New Apostolic Church of Ensenada on Saturday and again on Sunday afternoon in the Gertrude Pearlman Theater, on the way to the Bufadora. They sang to a small but very receptive audience.
Here are some names of students to watch for in the coming years: Amelya Escobar, soprano, Mariana Flores Bucio, mezzo, Alberto Estanol, tenor, Kenneth Llanas, baritone, Esteban Lagarda, pianist – Esteban is now also teaching at the University (UABC).
The wonderful voices of these young Baja California singers and the fantastic piano performance of Maestro Lagarda joined together to present music from around the world, opera, Zarzuela and classical songs from Puccini to Maria Grever.
(As an aside, these young singers were also part of the cast in Dido and Eneas, each having a major part.)
The third concert was presented at Cearte featuring the brother sister team Omar and Ivanna Gutierrrez Garcia. These two are “older musicians,” having graduated from the University and are currently 22 and 25 years old. They have been playing piano and violin since they were old enough to hold the violin or reach the keyboard.
In honor of St Valentine, they played romantic music as well as some of Omar’s compositions. They were recently invited to perform in Spain, where they unveiled their new CD. Both Omar and Ivanna play both instruments exceedingly well, and switch instruments as if they were a knife and fork. This is definitely another pair to watch as they rise in the world of classical music. They will also be performing in La Jolla soon.
