Bridging the Borderlands: A Recital of New Works by Mexican Composers

2020 College Music Society | Pacific Southwest Regional Conference

Northern Arizona University | Kitt Recital Hall | Flagstaff, AZ

In an effort to provide greater representation to Latinx musicians, the purpose of this program will be to premiere two new commissions for clarinet by Mexican composers, Victor Ibarra and Juan Trigos. Featuring the work of two Mexican composers, the music being performed today represents a substantial contribution to the repertoire. With this, each work has been composed using narratives that communicate current socio-political issues related to Mexico. The inspiration for this project resides in the term 'La Onda,' an umbrella term for Latinx music, translating as “the wave,” “sound wave,” or “the force.” La Onda also signifies the ways the broader public and Latinos have claimed music as their own and how the music has emerged as a reflection and consequence of subordinate experiences living in the United States. As a foundational notion, music has historically provided an arena for gender, class, sexuality, and race politics. For minority communities, specifically Mexicans in the United States and abroad, music provides a mechanism for communicating truth within the counterfactual.

The pieces featured on this program have been commissioned as part of a Doctoral recoding project at Arizona State University.