Thursday night was the first in a series of events inside and outside Guadalajara to celebrate — and raise funds for — the 100th anniversary of orchestral tradition in Jalisco. The observance is slated to conclude, if all goes well, in September with a visit by the entire Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra to Busan, South Korea, where they have been invited to participate in the Maru Festival. 

The highly successful monthly Jazz at Lincoln Center series marches on next week with a much anticipated performance by the Cyrus Chestnut Trio, who bring together old-school jazz, blues and gospel with a heartfelt passion. From a childhood spent playing the piano at church, Chestnut (above) went on to perform with jazz greats such as Chick Corea and Dizzy Gillespie. He has rightly earned his place alongside today’s standout players, with Time magazine calling him “the best jazz pianist of his generation.”

Teatro Vivian Blumenthal (Tomas V. Gomez 125), Thursday, May 14, 9 p.m. 200 pesos.

The United Kingdom takes a back seat at the May Cultural Festival on May 17, when arguably Mexico’s greatest tenor of the moment, Javier Camarena, joins the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra for an opera gala. 

Considered the sensation of the moment in the opera world, the 39-year-old received a rare honor at the Metropolitan Opera last April, becoming only the third singer in 70 years to perform an aria encore, following a prolonged ovation for his second act aria “Si, ritrovarla io giuro (Yes, I swear I’ll find her) in Rossini’s “La Cenerentola (Cinderella).  Camarena will perform works by Gounod, Bizet, Donizetti, Rossini and Verdi. Note that ticket prices are slightly higher for this performance than other festival shows.

Teatro Degollado, Sunday, May 17, 6:30 p.m.  300-600 pesos.

Aakash Odedra Company

MAY CULTURAL FESTIVAL. The festival kicks off with two performances by the Aakash Odedra Company, a group inspired by classical South Asian and contemporary dance.  The company will present “Inked, Murmur,” the personal narrative of the troupe’s founder, Aakash Odedra, whose dyslexia at a young age threatened the development of his talent for dance. Wrote one reviewer of the piece: “The visual effects of ‘Murmur’ are frequently breathtaking, but some of the most memorable moments occur when Odedra is simply dancing in Kathak style with thrilling speed and fluency.”