Musical City

This year’s been off to a slow start for me–since I’ve been laying a bit low (and feeling sorry for myself) in with a bum hip. But spending last evening in el centro, first eating a scrumptious meal at Valadez and then wandering across the street for Strauss, Dvorak, and Mahler…I felt it was finally beginning. Not because I’m such a discerning consumer of music. I’m not. But because these weekly orchestral events are such a regular part of our lives here.

But they’re hardly unique. This place is awash in musical events. If we’d wanted to, we could have gone to smaller concerts, on Thursday, Wednesday, Tuesday, and the preceding Sunday. Those are just the ones I know about,, and odds are all were quite good. There’s one this afternoon–flute, oboe, and piano–a fund-raiser for earthquake victims. And tomorrow, a local soprano who’s made a name for herself in Europe will be singing Handel with a string and flute ensemble from the orchestra. We may go to that one. It’s at a wonderful ex-Hacienda where the short Sunday concerts are followed by mingling, wine, and nibbles in the lush garden.

Something showed up in my in-box a couple of days ago informing me of several weeks of tributes to Leonard Bernstein on successive Tuesday nights in one of the small theatre venues in town. There’s no way you could do it all. Honestly, no way I’d want to.

But I didn’t want to miss last night’s season opening at the Teatro Juarez. That’s it, sparkling in the night. Built around the turn of the last century, it’s an architectural marvel. Apparently a lot of people didn’t want to miss it–it was a sell-out, as orchestra performances here often are.

 

Of course, music isn’t limited to concerts! Outside, between the restaurant and the theatre, wandering minstrels competed with wandering mariachis while we waited for the doors to open. The former, pictured below, were gathering their followers before beginning their tour of the city’s callejones. (I took a video–but wordpress won’t let me post it.)

It’s not limited to public spaces, Much of the time, if I’m so inclined, I can open my windows and listen to whatever is wafting–sometimes blaring–from the neighbours’ houses. I’m rarely so inclined.

 

Most weeks, the symphony plays in the city’s secondary theatre which—I’m told—has better acoustics. Even if that’s the case, as a fairly uncritical consumer of music, I’d go for the ambience of Juarez every time. (But I’d remember to take a pillow! Muchas gracias to our friend who left early last evening and offered me her seat-softener for the second half!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s no concert next week–the orchestra is on tour. The week after it will be back in the Teatro Principal–where I guess the acoustics are better and I know the seats are softer, but there’s no real incentive to snap photos of the ceiling!