Carlos Miguel Prieto & Orquestra Sinfónica Nacional

Event Description

The Orquestra Sinfónica Nacional is the second-oldest orchestra in North America (tied with the Boston Symphony), having been founded in 1881 by conductor, composer, educator, and journalist Carlos Chávez. Under the baton of renowned Music Director Carlos Miguel Prieto, Musical America’s 2019 Conductor of the Year, the orchestra pays tribute to its founder with a performance of Chávez’s immensely popular Symphony No. 2, a one-movement piece inspired by the music of Native American tribes in northern Mexico. The all-Latin American  program continues with pianist and composer Gabriela Montero playing her own Latin Concerto, a piece that pays homage to the complexities and contradictions of Latin America. Revueltas’ La noche de los Mayas closes out the evening. Originally scored for film and later arranged for the concert hall, this vibrant piece features an extended percussion section that calls for the massive (and rambunctious) forces of timpani, bass drum, snare drum, xylophone, bongos, congas, tom-toms, raggles, a notched gourd, a conch shell, and a log drum.