The fourth and final performance of the 22-23 season of the Maple City Community Orchestra took place at 4:00 on Sunday afternoon, April 23, in Sauder Hall at the Goshen College Music Center.
The program – entitled “Mestizo America” – featured music from Mexico, Peru and Argentina. The Concierto Sinfónico Machu Picchu para Quena (flauta andina) (Machu Picchu Concerto for Quena and Orchestra) was the featured work of the program, with noted musician and Goshen resident Nayo Ulloa playing the Quena (Andean folk flute) as solo instrument for this composition. The concierto was written specifically for Mr. Ulloa, a native of Peru, by the noted Peruvian composer Jaime Díaz Orihuela in 2006. The instruments played by Mr. Ulloa for this performance were made for him by local Goshen instrument maker Dr. Weldon Friesen.
In this documentary, Nayo tells the story of his friendship with maestro Jaime Díaz Orihuela:
The program also included Libertango, by the Argentinian composer Piazzolla, and Danzón No.2, by the Mexican composer Márquez. Danzón No. 2 was popularized by Gustavo Dudamel with the Simón Bolívar National Youth Orchestra and has become a standard of contemporary orchestral music. Both Dudamel and the Youth Orchestra are products of Venezuela’s El Sistema music training program, which has now become planted in Elkhart County as ECoSistema through the efforts of the Horizon Educational Alliance and Goshen College.
Thanks to the efforts of The Goshen Chronicles, you can watch the full concert here: