Orquesta tipica
The Orquesta Tipica de Ixtlahuacan de los Membrillos will perform at a third anniversary concert Saturday, June 3, 8-11 p.m. at the Teatro de Atequiza. The concert at this historic theater, located in the town of Atequiza about 35 minutes from Ajijic, is free of charge. For directions, see the group’s Facebook page.
Musical gathering
The Chapala Culture Department invites one and all to a Tertulia Musical, where you can enjoy both Mexican and European music in a bohemian atmosphere. The event, at the Centro Cultural Antigua Presidencia (old Chapala city hall), is on Friday, June 2, 8 p.m. Tickets, 50 pesos, are available at the venue on the day of the presentation.
Chorale Auditions
Love to sing? The Lake Chapala Chorale will hold auditions Fridays, June 2-30, 2:15 p.m., at the Little Chapel by the Lake. The group is preparing for its next show, “Singing on a Star,” a presentation of Broadway musical hits slated for October, and for their annual Christmas concerts.
Says choir director Cindy Paul, “There’s no need to prepare anything, nor do you have to read music.” The group has one rehearsal per week and you learn your parts online. For more information, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Arts Society
The Ajijic Society of the Arts holds its next meeting Monday, June 5 at La Bodega in Ajijic. The meeting starts at 10 a.m. to elect the president and secretary, followed by a presentation and sale of works by five budding artists enrolled the Lake Chapala Society art program.
The young artists are Erika Morales, 17; Karina Gutierrez, 16; Oscar Ibarra, 18; Samantha Sanchez, 17 and Alonso Romero, 15.
Naked Stage audition
The Naked Stage Reader’s Theatre will hold editions for “The Odd Couple” (female version) by Neil Simon, Tuesday, June 6, 10 a.m. at the theater located at Hidalgo 261 on the Carretera in Riberas del Pilar. The play will be directed by Collette Clavadetscher and show dates are July 28, 29, and 30. Clavadetscher is looking for six women and two men. Contact her with questions at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Neil Simon’s hilarious contemporary comic classic has a female version with Florence Unger and Olive Madison. Instead of the poker party that begins the original version, Olive has invited the girls over for an evening of Trivial Pursuit. The Pidgeon sisters have been replaced by the two Constanzuela brothers, but the hilarity remains the same.
Chapala Harp Festival
Dozens of musicians will congregate on the grounds of the Centro Cultural González Gallo (old Chapala train station) for the 15th Encuentro de Arpas, Salterios y Mas Wednesday, June 7, 2-11 p.m.
This annual gathering of folk harp and other acoustic instrument players from all over Mexico and points beyond has become one of lakeside’s most anticipated cultural happenings. Some 20 musical ensembles take turns performing individual sets on the front steps of Chapala’s former railway station, while the audience takes in the show seated beneath large tents or stretched out on the grassy lawn.
Spectators are welcome to carry in folding chairs, blankets and other picnic gear. A loose-knit jam session fills the final hours. Admission to the event is free of charge. The purchase of snack foods and beer, wine, tequila and soft drinks will help defray festival expenses. Souvenir tee-shirts, posters and CD recordings by the performers will also be offered for sale.
Viva Bus trips
Viva La Musica next week begins bus trips to concerts by the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra (JPO) at the Teatro Degollado.
The first trip is Thursday, June 8, for a performance of Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, with guest conductor Gunter Neuhold and soloists Ivan Perez (violin), Rolando Fernandez (cello) and Saul Ibarra (piano). The program features Bach’s Little Fugue in G Minor, Beethoven’s Triple Concerto for violin, cello and piano, and Brahms’ Symphony No. 2. The bus departs 4.30 p.m. from the Carretera next to Farmacias Guadalajara in Ajijic, and will stop for dinner at a restaurant before the concert.
Sunday, June 18, Marco Parisotto will conduct the JPO in a performance of Claude Debussy’s La Mer, with soloist Anton Dubatovka on flute. The program also includes Arnold Bax’s “Tintagel Symphonic Poem,” Sergei Prokofiev’s Concerto for Flute and Orchestra in D Major, and Félix Mendelssohn’s “Hebrides Overture” (Fingal’s Cave). The bus departs at 10.30 a.m.
Sunday, June 25, the JPO will perform Mozart’s Symphony No. 31 “Paris”, Symphony No. 36 “Linz” and Symphony No. 38 “Prague,” under the baton of Marco Parisotto. The bus departs at 10:30 a.m.
Sunday, July 2, guest conductor Sacha Goetzel presents “1001 Arabian Nights,” with soloist Philipee Quint on violin. The program includes Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin,” Barber’s “Concerto for Violin and Orchestra” and Rimski-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade.” The bus departs at 10:30 a.m.
Tickets, 450 pesos (550 pesos for non-Viva members), are available at the Lake Chapala Society Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., or though Rosemary Keeling, 766-1801.
LLT Showcase Theatre
Music. Power. Jealousy. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a rowdy young prodigy, arrives determined to make a splash. Awestruck by his genius, court composer Antonio Salieri has the power to promote his talent or destroy it. Seized by obsessive jealousy he begins a war with Mozart, with music and, ultimately, with God.
The London National Theatre’s production of “Amadeus,” Michael Longhurst’s thrillingly fresh and imaginative revival of a play by Peter Shaffer will be screened as part of Lakeside Little Theatre’s Showcase series Saturday, June 10, 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, June 11, 3 p.m. There is an intermission during the two-hour show.
Amadeus stars Adam Gillen as Mozart and Lucian Msamati as Antonio Salieri, with live orchestral accompaniment by the Southbank Sinfonia.
In its review, The Independent says, “The production assembles and reassembles itself – a virtuosic whirl of bits of scenery (design by Chloe Lanford), fantastic singers, and excerpts from the operas that, in their aesthetic, become wittily and pointedly ahead of their time. Longhurst has let the air of today into Amadeus in bravura fashion.”
Tickets, 250 pesos, are available at LLT’s box office, 10 a.m. to noon, Wednesday, June 7 Thursday, June 8, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 766 0954. A seating chart is available for viewing at the bottom of LLT’s webpage.
Xilotl art show
A collection of works by Lakeside artist Isidro Xilonzóchitl (Xilotl) will be showcased in “Chivito al Precipicio” (Little Goat on the Precipice), a new exhibit opening Saturday, June 10, 7:30 p.m., at Chapala’s Centro Cultural Antigua Presidencia, Avenida Madero at Hidalgo.
The show will comprise 35 recent paintings and sculptures in clay and bronze, to remain on display through July 15. To highlight a running visual theme employed in his creations, the artist encourages guests to wear red shoes at the cocktail opening. Entertainment will include traditional Columbian music, sax player Joselo Morales and the screening of a video clip.
LCS film aficionados
English-language films are shown Thursdays at 2 p.m. to Lake Chapala Society members (bring your card). On June 8, the featured film is “The Constitution” (2016, Croatia). The story follows four people who live in the same apartment building in Zagreb but avoid each other because of differences in their assets, sexual habits and religion.
Anniversary party
Paul Brier, Jimmy Barto, Amy Santos, Sergio Casas and Francis Dryden will be putting your dancing shoes to work at La Bodega’s 19th anniversary party, Tuesday, June 13. Owners Javier and Martha are putting on an Italian buffet beginning 6:30 p.m. with the music starting at 7:30 p.m. Tickets, 280 pesos include two Margarita’s or two glasses of house wine. Call 766-1002 for reservations.
Summer concerts
The first Viva Summer in the Village concert will be a viola and piano recital with Manuel Olivares and Rosa Maria Valdez playing music by Glazunov, Moncayo, Schumann, Barbosa and Toussaint, Thursday, June 22, time and location TBA.
Pianist and composer Sergio Parra, winner of the Viva Scholarship, will give a piano recital Thursday, July 27. Mezzosoprano Michele Bogdanivich and tenor Ernesto Ramirez perform Thursday, August 24.
Series tickets are 800 pesos and individual concerts are 300 pesos, available at the Lake Chapala Society once times and locations are confirmed.