Linus Lerner and his Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra spent part of their summer in Mexico, and they are bringing their biggest souvenir home to Tucson to share with us.
The orchestra will host as many as four Latin vocalists to participate in its annual Mexican Independence Day concert at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15, at Fox Tucson Theatre, 17 W. Congress St. The concert is a collaboration with the Consulate of Mexico, Instituto Cultural Mexicano de Tucson, SASO and the Fox Theatre Tucson to commemorate the 206th anniversary of Mexican independence.
The vocalists — all but one is from Mexico — competed in the Linus Lerner Vocal Competition in San Luis Potosí as part of Lerner’s inaugural San Luis Potosí Opera Festival. This is the third time SASO has brought Mexican vocalists to Tucson for the concert.
This summer’s San Luis Potosí festival was SASO’s fourth Mexican opera festival. Lerner, with support from SASO donors, featured the volunteer Tucson orchestra in summer opera festivals in Oaxaca, Mexico, in 2013, 2014 and 2015, before launching his own event in San Luis Potosi this summer.
Thursday’s concert is expected to feature:
- Soprano Elizabeth Barrios of Puerto Rico, performing Leoncavallo’s “Stridono lassù” from Pagliacci, Dvorák’s “Song to the Moon” from “Rusalka” and Puccini’s “Musetta’s Waltz” from “La Bohème.”
- Soprano Liliana del Conde of Mexico City singing Donizetti’s “Quel guardo il cavaliere” from “Don Pasquale,” Mozart’s “Là ci darem la mano” from “Don Giovanni” (with Ricardo López), Mozart’s “Der Hölle Rache” from “The Magic Flute” and “Verdi’s “E strano…Sempre libera” from “La Traviata.”
- Soprano Andrea Cortes-Moreno of Mexico, a prize winner in the Lerner competition, singing Gershwin’s “My Man’s Gone Now” from “Porgy and Bess,” Puccini’s “Mi chiamano Mimi” from “La Bohème,” Tosca’s “Vissi d’arte” and “Un bel di vedremo” from Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly.”
- Bariton Ricardo López of Mexico, who also won the top prize, is listed as tentative to sing arias from operas by Gounod, Verdi and Donizetti, according to Lerner.
Mexico gained its independence from Spain on the eve of Sept. 16, 1810, when Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla called on residents of Dolores Hidalgo to rise up against the government of New Spain. His call to arms resulted in an 11-year battle that ended with the Cordoba Treaties that gave birth to Mexico.
