Mexican Brass Quintet Will Jam At Macey

SOCORRO, N.M. April 19, 2011 – The vibrant brass sounds that celebrate the culture of our southern neighbor, mixing tradition with innovation in moving from the blues to opera, Bach to the roads of Michoacan, are headed to New Mexico Tech’s Macey Center.

		Metales 5 has made a name for itself with lively concerts across the continent. The Mexican band will perform in Socorro on Friday, April 29.

Metales M5, Mexico’s leading brass quintet, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 29, in a Performing Arts Series concert at the 615-seat theater and conference center on the New Mexico Tech campus in Socorro, as part of a six-city New Mexico tour that includes Las Cruces, Alamogordo, Clovis, Albuquerque and Los Alamos.

With two trumpets, a French horn, trombone and a tuba – and a vitality and joy quite contagious – the five musicians are becoming one of Mexico’s most active cultural ambassadors.

Since its founding five years ago in Morelia, the capital of Michoacán in the central highlands of Mexico, Metales M5 has performed hundreds of concerts throughout Mexico. The quintet made its American debut in 2007 and is touring the United States twice this season, with concerts in California, Illinois, Florida and New Mexico.

“We’re excited to bring the brass quintet to town six days before the traditional Cinco de Mayo celebration,” said Ronna Kalish, PAS Director. “Metales M5 will surely set the coals afire with a performance both piquant and powerful.”

Kalish said the contemporary brass quintet was started in the late 1940s in two distinct regions of the country – New York and Chicago. The era is redolent of smoky jazz joints, and marked by songs suitable for Broadway and the concert hall.

In the words of one reviewer: “The most interesting thing about Metales M5 is that their spontaneity and entertaining attitude is always justified by interpretations that make us easily appreciate the high virtuosic level and musical sensitivity of its members.”

The band members

Alexander Freund (trumpet) has performed as a soloist in Mexico, Korea and various countries of Europe. He was principal trumpet of the Morelia Symphony Orchestra and trumpet professor at the Conservatorio de las Rosas of Morelia.

Oscar Villegas Miranda (trumpet) has played with The State of Mexico Symphony, among others, and is currently principal trumpet and soloist in the Philharmonic Orchestra of Toluca.

Juan Carlos Quiterio Miguel (French horn) was born in Mexico City and began playing music at age seven. He is currently co-principal horn in the Symphony Orchestra of the State of Hidalgo in Pachuca.

Fernando Islas Melendez (trombone) was born in the state of Mexico and earned his degree at the National Conservatory of Music. He currently plays principal trombone in the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico.

José Lopez Juàrez (tuba) was born in Texcoco and studied at the National Conservatory of Music. He has been principal tuba with the Symphony Orchestra of the State of Hidalgo in Pachuca since 2002.

The quintet’s repertoire includes Trumpet Voluntary by Maurice Green, Canzona by Giovanni Gabrieli, Fugue in G Minor “The Little” by J.S. Bach, Overture to “La Boda de Luis Alonso” by Geronimo Gimenez, “Escape” by Kevin McKee, High Society by Dixieland, Leonard Bernstein’s Maria, and “La Virgen de la Macarena,” a Spanish bullfighter’s song.

Tickets for Metales M5 are $16 for adults, $14 for senior citizens 65 and over, and $12 for youths 17 and under; with a $2 discount if purchased by 5 p.m. the day before the performance.

Tickets are available at the cashier’s window in the Fidel Center, Brownbilt Shoes and Western Wear, Burrito Tyme Drive-up or at the door.

Before the concert, Tech Club-Club Macey will host a social in Macey Center from 5 to 7:30 p.m., with Mexican-themed appetizers. The clubs present a social hour for people 21 and over. There is a $5 cover charge for non-members.

This performance is supported in part by the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) and the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional sponsorship from The Bank of America, Comcast and Super 8. The concert is dedicated to C. Lorraine Garcia, a Belen resident who passed away suddenly last summer. Ms. Garcia was a faithful attendee at Performing Arts Series concerts with her husband Gilbert and their grandchildren.  She was always a smiling ray of sunshine and an enthusiastic supporter of the arts in New Mexico.

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