Tucson Symphony Orchestra Music Director José Luis Gomez promised there would be excitement and fireworks with the orchestra’s season-long ¡Celebración Latina! series.
He wasn’t kidding.
Last weekend, Venezuelan trumpeter Pacho Flores returned to Linda Ronstadt Music Hall to perform the U.S. premiere of Puerto Rican composer Roberto Sierra’s “Salseando.” It was his first Tucson concert since his TSO 2019 debut.
This weekend, guest conductor Enrico Lopez-Yañez will lead the orchestra in “Latin Fire,” a high-octane concert of Latin works and dance tunes that will surely dare you to remain seated until the end.
Mexican soprano Mónica Ábrego and Costa Rican trumpet virtuoso José Sibaja will add the “fire” to Lopez-Yañez’s program, which the orchestra will perform twice this weekend at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave.
Lopez-Yañez, the principal pops conductor of the Nashville Symphony, curated the program as part of his Symphonica Productions series aimed at attracting new audiences to classical music.
“Latin Fire” has been presented by orchestras around the country including Phoenix Symphony, which is set to present it in April.
The program includes songs from Latin composers hailing from Puerto Rico (Rafael Hernández’s “El Cumbanchero”), Brazil (Zequinha de Abreu’s “Tico-tico no Fubá”), Argentina (Astor Piazzola’s “Libertango”) and Mexico (Agustín Lara’s “Granada”). The program also includes Clarice Assad’s “Bonecos de Olinda,” Georges Bizet’s “Carmen” Suite, Enrique Soro’s “Danza Fantástica” and María Grever’s “Júrame.”
Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26. Tickets are $18-$59 through tucsonsymphony.org.
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