UTSA to present La Camerata de Coahuila

(Oct. 13, 2004)--As part of the Month of Coahuila in San Antonio, the UTSA Department of Music presents the renowned Mexican orchestra, La Camerata de Coahuila, at 3 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 17 in the Arts Building Recital Hall on the UTSA 1604 Campus. The concert is free and open to all.

Conducted by Ramon Shade, the concert will feature the music of Bela Bartok, Manuel M. Ponce, Joaquin Rodrigo and Eduardo Angulo.

The Camerata of Coahuila was created in 1994 with support from the state of Coahuila and the National Culture and Arts Council. The orchestra, which includes musicians from several nations, performs in Coahuila, several important Mexican music festivals and in the United States with a mission to reach people of all economic levels.

The orchestra has played 1,600 pieces in more than 500 concerts from the classical to contemporary genres. The company has produced more than seven operas and several world premieres of works by Mexican composers.

Shade lived in Vienna, Austria, from 1973 to 1981, where he graduated from the Universitat fur Musik and conducted at the Hochschul Symphonie and City Theater of St. Polten, among others. Since his return to Mexico, he has conducted for the symphony orchestras at Guadalajara Autonomous University and Juarez University and was guest conductor at festivals in Mexico City, Guanajuato, Monterrey and the United States. He was guest conductor with the Saint Cecilia Academy in Rome, Italy, and the Symphonic Orchestra of Cairo. Shade's native city, Torreon, Coahuila, awarded him the Magdalena Mondragon Medal for Artistic Merit.

Sponsors of the event are the Government of the State of Coahuila, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Consulate General of Mexico in San Antonio, Institute of Mexico, Coahuila Cultural Institute, Coahuila Office of Trade, Camerata of Coahuila Foundation, CONACULTA, Coahuila Tourism Institute, City of San Antonio, Autonomus University of Coahuila and Desert Museum in Saltillo, Coahuila.

For more information, contact Cindy Solis, UTSA Department of Music, at (210) 458-5685 or Teresa Cruz, Institute of Mexico at (210) 227-0130 or (210) 233-5100.

--Tim Brownlee