Guadalajara’s annual Festival de Mayo kicks off next week, although events at the main venue, the Teatro Degollado, don’t start until May 13.
Nonetheless, the opening week of the festival will serve up various cultural events, including seven art exhibition openings, three of them in open-air public spaces.
Up through June 4 will be shows at the Casa de las Artesanías de Jalisco (Jalisco Tradicional y Contemporáneo), Casa Morelos, Tlaquepaque (Linajes de Barro), Galería de Arte de la Estación Juárez SITEUR (Monótona Existencia by Jorge Morá) and the Museo Raúl Anguiano (MURA) (Territorios en Observación).
Meanwhile, a 3D art show will go up on the Andador 20 de noviembre pedestrian walkway in Zapopan, and the Paseo Perrón canine art installation by Sofía Crimen that has been part of the festival for the past two years can be seen in the Plaza Principal in Tlajomulco.
Wednesday, May 3 sees the inauguration of the Ruta Escultura, featuring some 30 sculptures exhibited in ten spaces along a route running from the junction of Avenida Chapultepec and Calle Libertad to the entrance of the Teatro Degollado in the city center. Fourteen artists will be featured on this art walk route. Note that a group of the sculptures can be viewed on Libertad, where it faces the U.S. Consulate General building. See a map at festivaldemayo.org/fcmj2023/rutaescult.htm.
The Teatro Degollado program is as follows:
Saturday, May 13, 8:30 p.m.: Destierros, a new contemporary work by talented Guadalajara-born composer Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, a professor of composition at the Eastman School of Music. Featuring the Quince Ensemble from the United States. 80-200 pesos.
Friday, May 19, 8:30 p.m.: Piano recital by Spain’s Martín García García, winner of the Cleveland International Piano Competition in 2021. 150 pesos.
Wednesday, May 24, 8:30 p.m.: Piano recital “piano2+4+6,” with German pianists Lilya Zilberstein, Anton Gerzenberg and Daniel Gerzenberg, (Alemania).
Friday, May 26,8:30 p.m.: Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra with pianist Anton Gerzenberg and female members of the Coro Municipal de Zapopan. 100 to 300 pesos.
Sunday, May 28: Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra with pianist Lilya Zilberstein, female members of the Coro Municipal de Zapopan. 200-400 pesos.
Tuesday, May 30, 8:30 p.m.: Pianist Daniel Gerzenberg is joined by U.S. soprano Sophia Burgos. 100 to 250 pesos.
Friday, June 2, 8:30 p.m. and Sunday, June 4, 6 p.m.: Contemporary dance with thefantastical, dream-like show “El grito de las medusas” performed by Quebec’s Alan Lake Factori(E). 200 to 350 pesos.
The free of charge Music in Churches series kicks of Tuesday, May 9, 8:30 p.m. at the grandiose Templo Expiatorio with a recital by Coro Up. The series continues Tuesday, May 16, 8:30 p.m. at the historic Parroquia de San Pedro Apóstol in Tlaquepaque, with the Cuarteto Jalisco, joined by oboist Jorge Rivero. The Santuario de Guadalupe hosts the Coro Municipal de Zapopan Tuesday, May 23, 8:30 p.m. and the Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil de Zapopan, with guitarist David Mozqueda, interprets the famous Concierto de Aranjuez at the Parroquia del Calvario in the Jardines del Bosque neighborhood (a church designed by award-winning architect Luis Barragan) on Wednesday, May 24, 8:30 p.m.
To see the full Festival Cultural de Mayo program, go to festivaldemayo.org.