Last week’s very different concerts by Jeffery Straker, in aid of Niños Incapacitados, were enormous fun and extremely well received. Audiences were even persuaded to join in, clapping in time and copying various sounds sung by Straker, which they did with gusto at Ajijic’s Auditorio de la Ribera.

Another in a series of exhibits by significant Mexican artists will open at the Efren Gonzalez Gallery in Ajijic on Saturday, March 7, 4 p.m. 

A celebration of cultures, Flamenco Son Jarocho, is set to perform on two third-floor stages in Plaza Bugambilias on Monday, March 2, beginning 6 p.m. Produced by Rodrigo Robles and Leonor Zertuche, this unusual paring compares and combines traditional flamenco, the intense guitar and staccato dance of Spain with jarocho, the sensually exotic music and rhythm of Veracruz. 

The Auditorio de la Ribera rocked to the “’The Art of Jazz” at the Scotiabank Northern Lights Music Festival on Thursday, February 19 and the audience thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

The Auditorio de la Ribera was packed for last Saturday’s exciting Scotiabank Northern Lights Music Festival Gala Concert, performed by the Festival Orchestra and conducted by Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s Associate Concertmaster, the renowned chamber musician, Mark Skazinetsky.

The Scotiabank Northern Lights Music Festival’s “Piano and Fashion” concert on Friday, February 20 was advertised as “one of those once in a lifetime events” and it certainly more than lived up to that claim.

Set in a lovely Ajijic home, surrounded by spectacular views, the atmosphere became electric when piano virtuosi Jamie Parker and Angela Park got together to play piano four-hands. Their unique performance was superb and the entire experience was utterly magical.

They opened with four Hungarian Dances, based on traditional folk melodies, by Johannes Brahms in G minor - Allegro molto, No. 2 in D minor - Allegro non assai - Vivace, No. 5 in F# minor - Allegro Vivace, and No. 6 in D major - Vivace, followed by four of his waltzes. All were superb.