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."
The Music of Jose Pablo Moncayo: Jose Pablo Moncayo, the composer of the second Mexican national anthem, Huapango, composed several beautiful and grand symphonic chamber pieces. Today Fiesta pays tribute to this great musician of 20th century music.
Diaspora: Elbio Barilari introduces Fiesta’s listeners to orchestral works that highlight the plight of immigrants from Latin America. We'll hear music by Roberto Sierra, Paquito D’ Rivera, and Elbio’s own work, Immigrant Music.