Get ready to move with and be moved by the sounds of Latin America.
“There are some songs where the audience is called upon to either sing or shout certain things or clap along,” Maestro Enrico Lopez-Yañez said. “There are some famous songs like ‘Brazil,’ which is a fun samba that we encourage people to get up and dance to. There are several moments in the show that should be fun and interactive for the audience.”
Lopez-Yañez will conduct when the Elgin Symphony Orchestra and the Hemmens Cultural Center present “Latin Fire” at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 30 at the Hemmens in Elgin.
“‘Latin Fire’ is a highly energetic show that brings a mix of popular and classical music from all over Latin America,” Lopez-Yañez said. “It features all brand new arrangements, most of which were created by José Sibaja and myself.”
Costa Rican trumpeter Sibaja and acclaimed Mexican soprano Mónica Ábrego will perform in the program with the ESO.
“José is a world renowned trumpet player. He had performed and recorded with Ricky Martin, Gloria Estefan, Celia Cruz, Marc Anthony. All the big artists of Latin America,” Lopez-Yañez said. “He is currently the principal trumpet of the Boston Brass, which is a quintet that tours all over the world.”
Ábrego, whom Lopez-Yañez called “a fantastic singer,” made her debut at Carnegie Hall in 2003 and has since performed with orchestras in the U.S., Bulgaria, and Mexico. In addition, she has performed in many operas, most recently in “Carmen.”
“It’s a really nice blend of some recognizable music, some new tunes, some things written by living composers from Latin America,” Lopez-Yañez said of the program. “And it’s one that will get the audiences hopefully up in their feet, shaking their stuff and having a good time.”
Lopez-Yañez, who is the Principal Pops Conductor of the Nashville Symphony and has been commissioned to write for several symphonies around the country, said one day over lunch he and Sibaja came up with the concept of creating a hybrid Latin program “that would be really fun and energetic for all kinds of ages.
“To accomplish this we had to create a lot of the arrangements ourselves. So that’s what makes this … so unique is that these are versions of the songs that maybe you’ve never heard before,” he said. “It’s engaging for the audience, there’s some audience interaction moments. It’s just a real sort of wide ranging spectrum of music that’s really fun but also a joy for us to be able to create.
“And bringing that show together with José, I said it would be really important to bring along someone who can sing with us and stuff,” Lopez-Yañez said. “So there’s a lot of great songs that Mónica gets to sing. And then they have several duets together that are really fun. It’s a nice mix of all those things.”
Among the selections the audience will hear is “La Llorona” from the Disney Pixar film “Coco,” traditional arias and art songs like “Grenada” and “Júrame,” favorites like “Bésame mucho” and “Estrellita” and more.
“There’s a little ‘Carmen’ suite, so people who are fans of the opera ‘Carmen’ get a little piece of the Spanish influence on Latin music,” Lopez-Yañez said. “So it’s a little bit of everything that hopefully people will find it entertaining.”
The two-hour, all ages program is the first time Lopez-Yañez will perform with the Elgin Symphony Orchestra. The ESO and guest musicians will get one rehearsal together the day of the concert.
“It’s a pretty quick turnaround. We get in, we rehearse that morning, put it all together and by that evening we’re performing it for the audience,” Lopez-Yañez said. “We get the one rehearsal time to get all the kinks fixed and then put it up for the show. But of course the Elgin Symphony has such wonderful musicians and so professional that they’re able to put it together quickly and José, Mónica and I have done it many times.”
The “Latin Fire” program has been performed in cities around the country.
“We do it frequently and often that it kind of becomes ingrained in you. Especially when it’s one you designed yourself and you wrote a lot of the arrangements for,” he said. “It becomes almost like your child that you watched it grow and progress and evolve over time. You get to know it rather well.”
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Lopez-Yañez said the program is all about having a good time.
“You can come in jeans and a T-shirt, it doesn’t matter. It’s just about coming out to listen to some great, fun music,” he said. “Some stuff that will make you want to dance, some stuff that’s familiar, some stuff that’s new and with a fabulous orchestra and two incredible soloists that will hopefully blow the audience away.”
‘Latin Fire’
When: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 30
Where: The Hemmens Cultural Center, 45 Symphony Way, Elgin
Tickets: $20-$65
Information: 847-931-5900; hemmens.org
Kathy Cichon is a freelance reporter for the Courier-News.