Fiesta is devoted to Latino concert music and presents artistically significant compositions from Latin America, Spain and Portugal to listeners. The creative force behind this series is Elbio Barilari, an acclaimed composer, musician, performer and professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The Uruguayan-born Barilari says, "Fiesta features the hottest Latin-American music from the sixteenth to the twenty-first centuries."
Puerto Rican Composer Ernesto Cordero: Guitarist and composer, Ernesto Cordero has become one of the most important voices among Puerto Rican composers. We will feature his vocal and orchestral works as well as his guitar concerto.
Alicia de Larrocha: Fiesta celebrates the legacy of the great Spanish pianist, Alicia de Larrocha. We will share some of her own compositions as well as works by Manuel de Falla and Joaquín Turina.
Colonial Music from Brazil: Thousands of churches performed live music every week and the court of Rio de Janeiro also had a very active musical scene. Fiesta presents rarely heard Brazilian musical treasures of these ceremonies.