The Guadalajara Reporter

JPO set to perform native son’s composition

Musicians in the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra (JPO) are excitedly practicing a piece by a Guadalajara-born composer, which is slated for Friday, May 24, in the Teatro Degollado as part of the Festival Cultural de Mayo. That performance of “El Laberinto de la Soledad,” named after the well-known book by Octavio Paz, will mark its debut in Mexico.

“It’s challenging and beautiful,” commented one instrumentalist, “and it really sounds like Guadalajara.”

The 26-year-old composer, Juan Pablo Contreras, who currently resides in New York, is expected to be on hand to help with practice, according to May Festival staffer Daniel Villa. 

“We plan to award him a recognition on the night of the concert,” Villa added.

The charismatic American Leslie Dunner, who has worked in Guadalajara frequently and has been considered as permanent conductor for the JPO, will direct the evening’s offerings. Besides Contreras’s piece, the lineup includes Igor Stravinsky’s well known “Rite of Spring” (with invited pianist Francois-Frederic Guy) and “Piano Concerto No. 5 in F major “ (“The Egyptian”) by Camille Saint Saëns.