Monterey Symphony: Classical Music from Mexico

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Two internationally renowned classical musicians are coming to Salinas California next month as the Monterey Symphony pays tribute to symphonic music from Mexico. Conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto (pictured) and his father, renowned cellist Carlos Prieto, will perform Saturday, Feb. 14, at Sherwood Hall, 940 N. Main St. in Salinas.

Carlos Miguel Prieto, a graduate of both Princeton and Harvard, was voted "conductor of the year 2002" by the Mexican Union of Music, and he was named music director of the Orchestra Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico (National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico). "I'm always looking to present positive role models," said Joseph Truskot, executive director of the Monterey Symphony. "This is a side of Mexican culture many people may not be aware of."

The concert will consist of a cello concerto composed by Federico Ibarra especially for the elder Prieto. The suite from redes (fish nets) will also be performed. Silvestre Revueltas, arguably Mexico's greatest classical music composer, wrote the musical score for Fred Zinnemann's 1934 film "redes," which tells the story of 1930s Mexican fishermen fighting for their rights.


Here is a sample of Federico Ibarra's Piano Sonata 6,

ten minutes of a very enjoyable, tonal and yet very modern piece.

Here is Simon Bolivar conducting "Sensemayá" by Silvestre Revueltas,

written in 1938, 4 years after the film score for "redes."

It should be an exciting concert giving a glimpse of contemporary Mexican classical music.

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