Echoes of Mexico: Spencer’s Musical Travelogue
/In May 2022 I woke up from a nap in my car to the ping of an email notification. The subject line read “OperaMaya 2022.” I had parked in an empty lot in Claypool, Arizona en route to visit family in Southeast Arizona (to avoid falling asleep while driving). I had almost completely forgotten about a recorded audition I submitted a few months prior for the OperaMaya International Summer Festival. The attached letter not only offered me acceptance to play in the orchestra, but with the role of “concertino” (aka concertmaster). Upon accepting the offer I was guided to connect with the conductor, but in the meantime had access to an attached folder containing the repertoire for that summer.
Having lived in Guadalajara for two years in the mid-2000s, I developed an affection and deep admiration for all-things-Mexico. Over the years since, I have continued to discover the breadth of diversity and beauty that distinguishes, yet also unites its 31 states. Much of this diversity is celebrated through each state's food, art, dance, and music. The opportunity to connect with new communities in Mexico, especially within different regions, was particularly exciting to me. I was of course thrilled to have this new opportunity, especially as a violinist.
At OperaMaya, I was introduced to a wider-array of Mexican music, some of which was native to the Yucatán. Along with preparing and performing music from the classic opera repertoire, was a full program of music by Mexican composers, most of whom I did not recognize: Juventino Rosas, María Grever, Carlos Herrera, Carlos Jiménez Mabarák, Higinio Ruvalcaba, and Daniel Ayala Pérez, to name a few. I connected with my Yucatecan colleagues in the orchestra and quickly became friends with them during the festival. We performed many times among different communities all around the peninsula, always for audiences who expressed overwhelming warmth, excitement and celebration for the region’s rich culture. My interest in music from the Yucatán grew more as I connected with these new friends of mine. I was in turn ecstatic to share my love for classical music from Mexico with my edition of Samuel Máynez Prince’s music (the subject of my doctoral dissertation) with them. Upon further research on the new (for me) composers, I learned that many of them leaned heavily into their regional identity through their compositions. I found this noteworthy because, in my experience, “world music composers” often are generalized as musical voices representing an entire country.
The pieces and songs that I chose to arrange for BCSQ are among my favorite musical discoveries over recent years. I would like to share the significance of them for me and why I believe they are important for a wider audience.
Jose Ayala Pérez’s Tres Miniaturas Folklóricas is a three movement suite which highlights dance and imagery of three states within three different regions of Mexico: Sonora (Northwest), Veracruz (Central Gulf Coast), and Yucatán (Southeast Peninsula). I came across this work through another violinist at OperaMaya, Alejando Tec Sel, who is from Mérida, Yucatán. He had accessed the work through an archive in Mérida and scanned a version of the piece, which had been engraved with (for my note-reading capabilities) some confusing notation. As an ensemble, we were given enough instruction to decipher the notation and use it for a performance. I loved the rhythmic drive of Sonora, the lopsided rhythmic backbone to Veracruz, and the spirit of Yucatán so much that I sought to create a new edition by using standardized notation and edits that would be intuitive for string quartet or string orchestra musicians. Little did I know, but this work was indeed originally conceived for string quartet, but has more documented history for use for string orchestras since 1952. In addition to this, Ayala Pérez also composed a version of the suite for full orchestra (titled Panoramas de México, 1936). As I play each movement of Tres Minaturas Folklóricas, I feel a closer connection to expressions specific to traditions from Sonora, Veracruz, and Yucatán.
María Grever’s Alma Mía and Natalia Lafourcade’s Pajarito Colibrí were songs which immediately spoke to me. The text for each song seemed to portray feelings that I felt were unique to me. On a musical level, the melodic material presents itself as simple or “innocent”. The coloration of the harmony and decoration of the text develops the music (for me) in a way that gradually removes itself from the initial feeling or presentation of innocence. Alma Mía (“My Soul”), presents a painful quandary: “My soul, alone, always alone, without anyone understanding my suffering, faking an always full existence of joy and pleasure.” Pajarito Colibrí “Little Hummingbird,” uses the imagery of a hummingbird awaiting flight into a dark night, “little hummingbird don’t be afraid to come out, the world wants you to wake up to be happy. Little hummingbird, don’t be afraid to live, the dark, and mysterious night dances for you.”
These powerful expressions, although not expressly the same, evoke feelings of fear and solitude, with a yearning to break free. I find that these deeply personal feelings are shared across humanity, regardless of geopolitical borders or other divisions we create between each other as humans. The expression from each song writer is distinguished by how, for example, Lafourcade uses imagery of wildlife and plantlife in her garden in Veracruz, to Grever’s references of Mexico’s cultural richness. Some words from Grever herself, encapsulates BCSQ’s program for this Fall concert:
I am interested in Jazz and Modern Rhythms, but above all, in Mexican Music, which I long to present to the American people. I am afraid they don’t know much about it. It is music worth spreading; there is such a cultural richness in Mexican Music (its Hispanic and indigenous origins and how they mix) where melody and rhythm merge. It is my wish and yearning to present the native rhythms and tunes (of Mexico) from a real perspective, but with the necessary flexibility to appeal to the universal audience. (accessed from Rodriguez, Lee M. L. Maria Grever: Poeta Y Compositora. Potomac, MD: Scripta Humanistica, 1994).
It is my desire that our audiences, especially for BCSQ’s Fall 2025 performances, can embrace the richness of Mexico’s cultural heritage and feel the beauty and human expression of its many artists within these settings and representations from María Grever, Natalia Lafourcade, Manuel Ponce, and Daniel Ayala Pérez’s works, in particular.
Spencer Ekenes, September 2025