Dia de Muertos (the Day of the Dead) is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico on and around All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day (November 1-2). Families create altars, decorated with candles, flowers, water, food, and photos of their deceased family members, to represent love and respect for their ancestors. The celebration typically continues throughout towns and cities with lights, flowers, skeletons, music and parades. Our celebration of this rich cultural tradition opens with Cancion para una Fiesta (“Song for a Party”) by 20th-century Mexican composer Salvador Martínez. This festive and lively work contrasts sharply with a unique arrangement of the traditional Mexican song Cielito Lindo (“Beautiful Little Sky”). We then feature two works arranged by renowned Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov through commissions by the Kronos Quartet. First, Tabú (“Taboo”), one of the most popular songs by Cuban singer and composer Margarita Lecuona, which is especially notable for its complex and exotic dance rhythms; and El Sinaloense (“The Sinaloan”), which has become one of the most recorded pieces of music from Mexico and is often associated with the banda music genre. Our guest soloist is Yamaha artist and Las Vegas native, Alexandria Le, who is making her return engagement with YAO in Franz Liszt’s Totentanz (“Dance of Death”). This dark, dramatic showpiece by the legendary Hungarian piano virtuoso is based on the Gregorian plainchant melody Dies Irae (“Day of Wrath”), and is a rich testament to its composer’s obsession with death, so typical of romantic-era artists. We close with one of the most popular contemporary Mexican orchestral compositions, the Danzon No. 2 by Arturo Marquez. This work reflects on a dance style that originated in Cuba, but has roots in the Mexican state of Veracruz, and was inspired by the composer’s visit to a Veracruz ballroom.

Music has a way of transporting audiences and emoting feelings that can resonate with our souls in a deep, impactful way. Most importantly, music has the power to define our culture for generations to come. Today’s performance features one of the most enduringly popular works of the late-19th century, alongside some much older English folk song melodies. We open with the Pizzicato Polka by Johann Strauss II, which the Viennese “Waltz King” wrote with his brother Josef in 1869 for a trip to Imperial Russia, and is scored for plucked strings and glockenspiel. In 1939, the great British symphonist Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus, a work for harp and string orchestra, based on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus found in Luke 16:19-31. The work quotes the melodies from traditional English folk songs and Christmas carols found in the Roud Folk Song Index. Today’s featured work is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite, which the Russian master arranged from his ballet score. Although the 1892 premiere in St Petersburg was not deemed a success, in recent decades The Nutcracker has become a holiday season staple of ballet companies worldwide and is now one of the Russian master’s most instantly recognizable works.

Musicians from all over Southern Nevada compete for scholarships and cash prizes in the annual Carol Jackson Concerto Competition. The YAO is proud to honor the memory of Ms. Carol Jackson through the establishment of an annual concerto competition in her name. Ms. Jackson was the founding orchestra director at the Las Vegas Academy for the Arts and was credited for building a nationally recognized program. Moreover, she inspired many young musicians including YAO Founder & Music Director, Yunior Lopez.

Want to compete? Visit the competition sign-up page: https://lvyao.org/competition

Today’s program is another collaborative venture between the YAO and the Las Vegas-based hip-hop/jazz/funk band The Lique (pronounced “Leak”). This project is an educational and performance initiative highlighting the historical evolution of hip-hop in America, and exploring how the genre has shaped American life and culture for half a century. Originating with inner-city African-Americans and Latino Americans in the Bronx during the 1970s, the movement was a counter-culture reaction to one of the most turbulent times in urban America. DJs, poets, street artists and break dancers confronted and commented on inner-city life and injustice through their art. Hip-hop music is a rich and endlessly evolving fusion of styles and genres including blues, reggae, jazz, spoken word, funk, and performance poetry. Today, hip-hop has expanded to become a bona fide cultural phenomenon and a multibillion-dollar business, with sounds, styles and fashions that are hugely influential throughout the world.

“The fusion of hip-hop and jazz has produced memorable results through the years – from Guru, A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots and many more – and locals are fortunate to have a dynamic example right here in Las Vegas.” – Las Vegas Weekly on “The Lique”

This performance is made possible through the support of the Sphinx Organization, a Detroit-based national organization dedicated to transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts.