The Guadalajara Reporter
Guadalajara's Largest English Newspaper
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.
Thursday and Friday’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.
Wednesday’s recital by guest organist J. Neal Biggers at Ajijic’s San Andrés Church was extremely well supported, as was the request for food contributions and/or donations in aid of the Villa Infantil Orphanage, which is entirely dependent on such private support.
Canada’s foremost musical triad, the celebrated Gryphon Trio, opened the 13th annual Scotiabank Northern Lights Music Festival in great style with its dynamic “Love Triangle” concert at the Auditorio de la Ribera on Monday.
“Everyone has one good book in them,” according to bestselling author John Grisham. The number of writers at lakeside with one or more books on the shelf and in process seems to prove Grisham’s point. How do they do it?
