Famed mezzo-soprano Kimball Wheeler, now settled in Guadalajara for several years, will sing a concert of Jewish music November 27 at the Casa Museo López Portillo in downtown Guadalajara.
Joining her will be pianist and director of the State Choir Sergio Hernandez, as well as French horn player and arranger Frank Callaway, soprano Mireya Ruvalcaba and tenor Ricardo Calderón Peña.
Wheeler’s selection of Jewish music is not connected to the current spat of violence in Israel, she says. “It was coincidental. If you look at my website you see that almost all my important recordings are of Jewish music. I put the concert together purely because of the beauty of the music.”“Most people here would not have had the chance to hear this music,” she added. “Outside of people with a particular interest in Jewish music, it’s not well known at all. That’s one reason I’m doing it.
“When I thought of putting this concert together, I asked my Mexican colleagues what they thought of the idea. They all said that it’s a great because Jesus was Jewish and they are curious about this culture.”
Ruvalcaba and Calderón join in during the second half of the concert in “Songs on Jewish Folk Poetry, Opus 79” by Dmitri Shostakovich.
“I’ve been wanting to sing this for 30 years,” Wheeler said. “It’s a cycle of 11 songs for solo soprano — Mireya — solo contralto — me — and solo tenor — Ricardo. To my knowledge, it’s never been performed in Guadalajara or Mexico. Shostakovich wrote it under a regime that was very repressive of Jewish culture. He wasn’t Jewish, but he had a fascination with Jewish culture. He discovered these Yiddish poems in 1948 and set them to music. He knew he’d suffer dire consequences if he set them in Yiddish, so he set them in a German translation. We’ll sing them in German.”
Wheeler said she is happy to be performing with Hernandez, whom she calls “a brilliant pianist.” She noted that Frank Calloway has been in the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra for 24 years and arranged some of the music in this concert. Soprano Ruvalcaba and tenor Calderón, she said, were her students for a short while and are now “full fledged professional singers, some of the best in Guadalajara.”
She said that the director of the Casa Museo López Portillo has kindly opened its doors to her for some five years and that she loves the piano there — “excellent and well maintained.”
Wheeler emphasized that some of the texts are ancient, but an infinite number of composers, both Jewish and non-Jewish have been inspired by them. Quoting from Shostakovich, she said “The distinguishing feature of Jewish music is the ability to build a jolly melody on sad intonations.”
Música de la Tradición Judía, Tuesday, November 27, 8 p.m., Casa Museo López Portillo, corner of Liceo and San Felipe, abut six blocks north of main cathedral. No charge to enter.