David Mendoza on violin and Sharon Itoi on keyboard on Monday night at Tres Fuentes hotel in San Miguel de Allende.
Sometimes you do a thing over and over because it is simply fun. The next thing you know, years pass, and the thing you enjoy so much becomes a tradition.
Last night, David Mendoza’s annual Christmas concert solidly became a tradition.
Imagine our surprise in realizing that the stunning young violinist has been producing his family Christmas concert for three years now, in the garden setting of Tres Fuentes hotel. We — Rose Alcantara and I — haven’t missed a one. But, oh, how time flies. Three years!
I’ve said it before: You want magic in San Miguel de Allende? Then just step out your front door.
Today, it was the arrival of the procession honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe. The cavalcade of the holy and horses turned onto Callejon San Antonio at noon sharp and proceeded to walk in stops and starts toward the Parroquia de San Antonio de Padua.
Progress was halting because there were hundreds of people attempting to fill the already busy square for the celebration of the Mass.
The Christmas tree went up yesterday in the public square. Right beside the pink gothic Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel here in San Miguel de Allende.
Bit by bit, the city begins to embrace the holiday.
All of the streets leading into the Jardin Principal are strung with tin stars and twinkling lights. The gazebo and trees in the little park are a Christmas wonderland.
One of Wednesday’s (Jenna Ortego) many talents — besides deadly martial arts skills, frightening visions, icy stares, enormous eye rolls, and a disdain for all things human — is playing the cello. There is something very Sherlock Holmes about that.
You want to know what makes my day?
“Wednesday.”
Not the day, necessarily. The movie series that is on Netflix.
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The Janáček Quartet continued the celebration of its 75th anniversary by performing exhilarating compositions from its namesake Leoš Janáček, as well as Antonin Dvořák and Béla Bartók, at Casa Europa in Centro on Wednesday night.
“Of course, we are the second generation,” said Milos Vacek, first violinist, with a sly grin.
That explains the youthful vitality, seasoned with the wisdom of veteran performers and the intuitive interplay of long-time partners.
Their performance was transportive, to say the least. At times it felt cinematic, film noir cinematic. Deeply cerebral, psychologically probing, introspective. A crisp roller-coaster of a conversation between melody and dissonance.
The finale, Dvořák’s “American Suite” was a low-elevation drone flight across the continent (the continent of 1895), inferencing the vast Western expanses and hustle of bustling cities, masted ships in harbor and prairie schooners in search of new lands.
The musicians are (from left) Miloš Vacek, first violin; Vítězslav Zavadilík, 2nd violin; Břetislav Vybíra, cello; and Jan Řezníček, viola.