Classical guitar concert
The Centro Cultural Gonzalez Gallo offers a guitar recital by Erik Gonzalez Saturday, December 8, 6 p.m. He will perform Christmas carols and other music. Entrance: 100 pesos.
Fiesta de Navidad
La Bella Vida puts on its 10th annual celebration of the Christmas season with artisans, music and refreshments Saturday, December 8, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Find decorations, handcrafted ornaments, manger scenes, English Christmas cards and more. At Constitucion 6, in Ajijic.
‘Noises Off’
Lakeside Little Theatre (LLT) presents “Noises Off” by Michael Frayn and directed by Dave McIntosh, running currently through Sunday, December 9.
“Noises Off” is a play within a play in three acts, with only one intermission, each act ostensibly showing the first act of a typical British sex farce called “Nothing On,” being performed by a decidedly down-at-heel traveling theatrical company in three provincial British towns. The cast is Donna Burroughs, Taylor Shouldice, Mark Donaldson, Pamela Johnson, Linda Freeman, Fred Koesling, Keith Donner, Suki O’Brien and Wayne Willis Waterman.
The first Saturday and both Sundays are matinees, 4 p.m., and the evening shows begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets, 250 pesos, available at the LLT box office, 10 a.m. to noon, every Wednesday and Thursday and one hour before curtain. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call (376) 766-0954.
Lake Chapala Chorale
The Lake Chapala Chorale, under dynamic new director Denning Chambers, presents its third annual holiday program in December.
Performances of some of your favorite music will take place on the following dates: Saturday, December 8, 4 p.m. at the Centro Cultural Ajijic and Saturday, December 15, 4 p.m. at LakesidePresbyterian Church in Riberas del Pilar. Suggested donation for these performances is 100 pesos.
The Chorale’s third annual holiday dinner show will be Sunday, December 23, 4-7 p.m. at Casa Linda Restaurant, Rio Bravo 7 in West Ajijic. Guests can choose from various items on the menu including gluten-free and vegetarian. Tickets for the dinner show, 350 pesos, can be purchased at Diane Pearl.
Bravo Theatre benefit c
A fundraiser concert for the re-building of Bravo! Theatre is being held on Sunday December 9, 3 p.m. at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church.
The concert features arts songs performed in English by Judy Roberts, accompanied by Daniel Medeles on violin and Timothy G. Ruff Welch on piano. An hors d’oeuvres and wine reception will be held after the concert. All proceeds will go into the re-building of new The Bravo! Theatre at Hidalgo 441 in Riberas del Pilar. Bathrooms are the first project to be completed. Donations are most appreciated.
Classical concert
A piano recital by five students of Cecilia Garduño Ochoa is scheduled at the Centro Cultural Gonzalez Gallo, Sunday, December 9, 11 a.m. Entrance is free.
Fall Viva bus trips
Viva la Musica sponsors trips to performances by the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra (JPO), the Ballet de Jalisco and a live opera presentation.
Sunday, December 9: JPO puts on a Baroque Fest with music by Vivaldi, Geminiani, Gabrieli, Bach and Lully.
Thursday, December 13: Ballet de Jalisco performs the “Nutcracker.”
Information on times and ticket prices available at the Lake Chapala Society ticket area, Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to noon; or call Rosemary Keeling, (376) 766-1801.
Film Aficionados
Lake Chapala Society members can take advantage of Film Aficionados screenings each Thursday, 2 p.m. December 13, “What Will People Say” (2018, Norway/Pakistan) will be screened. Sixteen-year-old Nisha leads a double life. At home with her family she’s the perfect Pakistani Muslim daughter; out with her friends she’s a normal Norwegian teenager (101 minutes).
Latin Jazz
Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz vocalist Bonny Kapp will be part of the The Gabriel Hernandez Trio presenting “Hot Sauce” Friday and Saturday, December 14 and 15, 7 p.m. at The Spotlight Club. The trio also consists of two-time Grammy winner Alfred Thompson and internationally respected pianist Gabriel Hernandez. After much hard work and collaboration, they bring together a concert offering original jazz works, choice gems from the American Classic Songbook, blues and World music – material both for fun and serious listening pleasure.
Art opening
Galeria de Arte Sol Mexicano holds an artists’ reception for Navarro Tadeo and Louise Neal-Pedroza, Friday, December 14, 3 to 6 p.m. At Colon 13, Ajijic.
Voice recital
Students of Patricia Lomeli sings at the Centro Cultural Gonzalez Gallo in Chapala, Friday, December 14, 7 p.m. Ivi Abraham, Analy Zaragoza, Adrian Guizar and Karen Rojas will perform opera solos and other pieces, and a quartet of sopranos will sing a Christmas Popurri. Entrance is free.
Christmas concert
The Janus Quartet presents a special Christmas concert Saturday, December 15, 7:30 p.m. at the Lakeside Little Theatre. The quartet, formed in 2016 under the guidance of Christopher Wilshere, presents high quality Mexican chamber music. The quartet was founded by violinists Diana Carolina Laguna Rivas and Francisco Vidal Rivera Gonzalez, violist Luis Carlos Rincón Barrios and cellist Areli Medeles Medina. They have studied with leading chamber musicians, including Juan Miguel Hernandez of the Royal Academy of Music, the Gryphon Trio and Mark Skazinetsky. The musicians were a resident quartet and assistant teachers for the last two years at the North Summer Program Orchestra in Owen Sound, Ontario, where they worked with top international musicians, including Canadian violinist Yolanda Bruno and Western’s Aaron Hodgson. They also performed concerts in Owen Sound, Durham and Toronto.
CREM Winter Concert
Lakeside’s premier music school for local children, CREM, presents a Winter Concert with the CREM Choir and Orchestra, Sunday, December 16, 7 p.m., at the Auditorio de la Ribera.
Thanks to the support and commitment of the CREM staff and director/conductor Emmanuel Medeles, the repertoire of these gifted, diligent and enthusiastic young musicians becomes more interesting and advanced each year. The program for this concert includes Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major played by the CREM orchestra. Two students will perform Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, accompanied by the orchestra. The youth choir will interpret a mixed repertoire including various Christmas carols.
Tickets, 200 pesos, are available at Diane Pearl, Dental del Lago, Notaria No. 2 in Chula Vista and the Auditorio. All proceeds support the CREM Music School.
Community Orchestra
“A Christmas Celebration,” the inaugural concert of the Lake Chapala Community Orchestra, takes place Sunday, December 16, 2 p.m. at The Spotlight Club in San Antonio.
The event includes Christmas-themed readings interspersed with the music, and features two local singers, Dulce del Torro and Karen Procter, who will perform Mozart’s “Alleluia,” “Veni Veni Emanuel” and “Silent Night.”
The Orquesta Filarmonica Infantil de la Ribera de Chapala will also play with the Community Orchestra.
“We are delighted to have these students be part of the rehearsal and concert experience,” said Director Michael Reason.
Tickets are 100 and 150 pesos (students should get their tickets early as seating is limited) and can be reserved by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by calling (376) 766-4784.
Information: facebook.com/LakeChapalaCommunityOrchestra.
Spotlight Club
Shades of Soul with Denita Asberry singing music of the divas through the decades plays Tuesday, December 18 to Thursday, December 20.
Flor de Quetzal with Eddie Lara on guitar and singer Sofia Ramirez present music from Mexico, Brazil and Puerto Rico Friday, December 21.
Miss Conception’s hilarious “Twas the Night Before” show is on Saturday, December 22 and Sunday, December 23.
Us Two and the Band features a tribute to Abba and Elton John Thursday, December 27 to Saturday, December 29.
All shows are at 7 p.m. Reservations for these shows: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 331-845-1523.
Chamber music
In a benefit for the student scholarship fund of the August 2019 Festival del Lago music camp, Christopher Wilshere and Juan Miguel Hernandez perform with a chamber orchestra Tuesday, December 18, 7 p.m. at the Haus der Musik in Ajijic.
The program is “Simple Symphony” by Benjamin Britten, “Concert for Violin and Viola” by Kurt Atterberg and the “Holberg Suite” by Eduard Grieg. Tickets, 500 pesos, are available Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to noon at Calle Constitucion 112 in Ajijic.