More than mariachi: concert of Mexican orchestral music in Hong Kong will change perspectives, its conductor hopes
- Under the baton of Mexican conductor Eduardo Zuber, the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong will perform six diverse works by composers from Mexico
- Among them are a contemporary work and one written for guitarist Andres Segovia. Zuber hopes they will open concertgoers’ ears to the breadth of Mexican music
Mariachi may be the first thing that comes to mind when you see “Mexican” and “music” in the same sentence. In reality, the country’s music reflects its exceptionally diverse culture and spans a wide array of genres and performance styles.
An upcoming concert by the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong (CCOHK), “Musica Mexicana”, is a rare opportunity to experience the rhythms and harmonies of Mexican music in Hong Kong.
The first work on the programme is Mexicanismos by contemporary composer Arturo Rodríguez, born in 1976.
“I didn’t actually know his work even though I am very familiar with Mexican music. It was Leanne Nicholls, founder of CCOHK, who told me about him, and he is one of the best composers I’ve heard,” says guest conductor Eduardo Zuber, a Mexican who has lived in Hong Kong for nearly a decade.
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“This piece has great, intense melodic phrasing combined with the typical rhythm of folk music, which gives it so much movement,” adds Zuber, who is keen to promote his homeland’s culture and music to Hong Kong audiences.
The rest of the programme is made up of works by Manuel Ponce (1882-1948), Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940) and Rodolfo Halffter (1900-1987), three of Mexico’s most prominent 20th-century composers.
Hong Kong musicians are at such a high level now. I think local people don’t realise or appreciate it
Ponce’s Estrellita, which means “little star”, is probably the best known of them. “It is a sweet song made famous by Jascha Heifetz, the violinist, who made an arrangement of the piece and recorded it,” says Zuber.
Ponce also wrote the biggest piece in the concert, the Concierto del Sur for Guitar, which was inspired by the music of southern Spain. It was commissioned by the Spanish virtuoso guitarist Andres Segovia, who worked closely with composers to create a modern repertoire for the classical guitar.
“They were very good friends who first met in the 1920s. The concerto was written in 1940, and it was premiered in 1941 when Segovia was living in Montevideo, Uruguay, and they toured all over South America together,” Zuber says.
Sensemayá, by Revueltas, is based on a Cuban poem that dramatically captures a ritual for killing a snake.
The concert features as guest soloists Adrian Walter, former director of the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts (HKAPA) and now a freelance musician, educator and researcher in Australia, will be on the classical guitar; and pianist Julie Kuok, a Steinway artist and a faculty member of the HKAPA and two Hong Kong universities. They will be joined by Amelia Chan, concertmaster of the CCOHK since 2014.
Zuber hopes the six works in the programme will give the audience a more nuanced impression of Mexico, in the same way that living in Hong Kong has changed his view of Chinese culture.
Born in Mexico, Zuber studied violin and conducting at New York’s Juilliard School of Music, and earned a master’s degree in conducting from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, where he studied under the Swiss-born conductor Gustav Meier. He became a teacher of chamber music at the Peabody Conservatory, and assistant conductor of the National Orchestra of Mexico and the Baltimore Concert Opera.
In 2006, he was invited to become the principal guest conductor of the Hunan Symphony Orchestra in China, an experience which sparked his fascination with Chinese culture and led to his settling in Hong Kong in 2015, where he teaches violin.
He is excited about the growing appreciation of classical music he has seen in Hong Kong.
“There is a lot going on in Hong Kong in terms of museums, art exhibitions and concerts. And Hong Kong musicians are at such a high level now. I think local people don’t realise or appreciate it,” he says.
“Mexica Mexicana”, City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong and guest soloists, Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall, February 1, 8pm.
