It was just one year ago that opera soprano Jacinta Barbachano performed in San Miguel de Allende as the youthful and highly desirable single Rosina in “The Barber of Saville.” One year on, she will have to age 10 years as the story resumes this weekend in “The Marriage of Figaro.”
Older but wiser, as they say.
For soprano Barbachano that may well be the key to her character, the now Countess Rosina, in the highly anticipated Pro Musica production of “The Marriage of Figaro.”
Continue reading
There is a comedy – a musical sitcom – about a powerful man who believes he has the right to do whatever he wants to women.
It’s a sequel, in fact, that gives off a sort of a bro-boy’s “Your body, my choice” vibe.
But the women in this comedy are smart and savvy, with a sort of a “Me too” vibe. They know how to stand up to power in clever ways. They know how to work the angles on the patriarchy.
And, no, it is not called “Trump’s Second Term.”
The musical is actually an opera and it was written in 1786. A huge hit in its day. Now, it is considered one of the greatest operas of all time.
Apparently, things haven’t changed all that much in the last 239 years.
The opera is Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” with a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte.
Continue reading
A classical pianist walks into eight bars …
If you think there is a punchline, the chaconne is on you.
Actually, it was the “Chaconne in G minor” by Thomaso Antonio Vitali and the pianist was Dominic Cheli in his return performance after two years away to San Miguel de Allende on Friday night at St. Paul’s Church.
Continue reading
What’s a musician to do when his iPad goes blank in the middle of a concert?
I’ll tell you.
Because it happened last July at St. Paul’s Church in the midst of an audaciously good performance by cellist Alexander Hersh and pianist Evren Ozel.
I can’t recall if it was Debussy’s Cello Sonata, or Dohnanyni’s “Ruralia Hungarica,” or the Cello Sonata from Chopin.
Continue reading
His name is Pehuenche and he will be in concert this Sunday, Nov. 17 at the Tres Fuentes hotel and as exciting a singer as the Veracruz native may be, there is an equally exciting story behind the concert.
San Miguel de Allende isn’t exactly on anyone’s music circuit – those well-traveled paths that bands and other performers follow from town to town – or at least it hasn’t been.
At least until now.
Continue reading
Look, it’s not that I don’t love you. I do. I adore you. I love how you get out and make the most of all the wonderful things that make up San Miguel de Allende. Our relationship to date has been a bit one-sided. I get it. You’re busy. You don’t write. You don’t call. But that’s OK. You’re page views tell me I’m getting through.
It is just that, well, we need some time away from each other. Put it another way, I’m going away for a while. And where I’m going, you can’t reach me and I won’t be able to reach you. That’s just the way it is. Just the way it’s got to be.
We’ll always have Scotland.
Continue readingSunday, August 18
8 –10 a.m. OK, what’s a “botarga”?
I’ll tell you: It is a full-body costume often of a cute animal, vegetable, or a sports team mascot — or Spiderman and Deadpool. Put yours on, zip it up, and join the first Botargas Race at Plaza La Luciérnaga. Be your anthropomorphic best as you “Run, jump, and laugh.” Those are the rules. That’s all we’ve got. Registration is $100 pesos.
Sunday, Aug. 11
10:30 a.m. – Noon — Ecstatic dancing
San Miguel’s longest-running ecstatic dance community Danza de Alma meets at The Nautilus Chamber with the music of DJ Grandpa setting the swirling dervishes in motion. Here’s a map to Nautilus.
Danza del Alma is a scent free zone. Suggested donation is $150-$400 pesos ($8-$20 usd). paypal.me/JoanElenaGoldberg.Can’t make it in person? Zoom in: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6777780270 (Zoom Passcode: Danza, Meeting ID: 677 778 0270)
Sunday, August 4
10-5 p.m. Raising the bazaar on shopping
Bazar Nativa brings together merchants of second-hand and new clothing, antiques, costume jewelry, oriental, ecological and artisanal products, stones, toys, food, and even micheladas and live music on the first Sunday of each month in the Los Pinos Hall.
Bazar Nativa is also a space that provides an opportunity for local artists to make themselves known. Yesenia Múñoz stressed that although most of the exhibitors are local they currently also have merchants from Celaya, Dolores Hidalgo, and Querétaro.
This Sunday, organizers expect more than 70 exhibitors and they have room for more. The exhibition hall is located at Salida Real a Queretaro #173.
Continue reading
Sometimes, the best thing you can do is just get out and take a hike. Especially now, while the rains have turned the region into an emerald dreamscape. Sure, the roads and trails can be a bit muddy (OK, a lot in some places). These photos, taken on Saturday, were from a walk near the north end of Pressa Allende.
There is a photo below of the extraordinary power of the Obraje stream as it courses and tumbles through the canyon in El Charco del Ingenio, the botanical gardens. See it before the rains slow down and it returns to a trickle!
Continue reading
Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More 