Angela Peralta 150th Anniversary Concert staring Magos Herrera

Published May 17, 2023

By: Fernanda Morales

To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Angela Peralta Theater, singer Magos Herrera will premiere her new album “Aire”.

On June 3, the renowned Mexican Jazz singer will arrive at the Best Heritage City of Mexico, to give a concert with her trio and the string quartet of José White.

In this new album, the composer transforms pain, fears and loneliness into a luminous collection of songs that represent “a celebration of our humanity and the healing power of music”, as well as presenting a brilliant collection for a post-pandemic world of new songs and jewels of the great Latin American songbook performed in English, Spanish and Portuguese, in an embrace of his life as an immigrant musician in New York, opening his work to diverse musical traditions, as well as including a tribute to the famous and legendary Mexican shaman María Sabina.

“Aire” contains twelve songs and includes new compositions by Magos commissioned by Chamber Music Américas New Jazz Works and gems from the Gran Cancionero Latinoamericano, such as “Alfonsina y el mar” and “Gracias a la Vida”. Those two classics suggest two central narratives of the experience in Aire, “Alfonsina…” as a recognition of our impermanence and death; “Thanks to Life” as a prayer of thanks for the many gifts that daily living gives us.

Likewise, Magos Herrera will sing on a sound tapestry provided by his jazz trio augmented by The Knights, an orchestra of 21 musicians under the artistic direction of Eric and Colin Jacobsen, former members of the Brooklyn Rider string quartet, granting a musical journey never seen before. The arrangements in this proposal are from three regular collaborators of the singer. From different backgrounds, they share an extraordinary fluency in several languages and musical traditions such as Venezuelan multi-instrumentalist Gonzalo Grau, Brazilian cellist, arranger and conductor Jaques Morelenbaum and Argentine pianist and composer Diego Schissi.