Tucson Symphony to premiere Mexican composer’s work

Rising Mexican composer Juan Pablo Contreras’ “MeChicano” is getting six.

“Which is very unique for a composer,” Contreras admitted during a phone call from his Los Angeles home last week. “Typically, I would say, it’s easier to have a single premiere, but it’s difficult to take it to other orchestras and establish it in the repertoire (with just one performance).”

Contreras, a native of Guadalajara, Mexico, will be on hand this weekend for premiere No. 3, with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and Music Director José Luis Gomez.

The TSO is one of six orchestras — Tucson, Las Vegas Philharmonic, California Symphony, Fresno Philharmonic, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and the Richmond Symphony — to commission Contreras as part of the New Music USA’s two-year-old Amplifying Voices project, which fosters collaborations between orchestras and composers with the goal of achieving more racial and gender equality in classical music.

Contreras, who has been in the United States for 15 years and recently became a citizen, is one of a dozen composers of color to be selected for the program.

“This is the first piece that I composed as a Mexican-American composer,” he said, adding that the title was inspired by his newfound citizenship.

“MeChicano” celebrates the vibrant Mexican-American communities in the U.S., especially those in the cities whose orchestras participated in the commission.

“A lot of these communities are in border states so I thought it would be a great idea to honor Mexican-Americans because they have contributed so much to this country,” Contreras said. “The idea was to amplify these voices.”

“MeChicano” borrows soundscapes from Mexico and European classical music. Parts of it will sound like a setlist from the 1980s-style Saturday night dances held in some Mexican-American communities to help new citizens discover their own identities and feel more at home, the composer said.

“They would incorporate Mexican music with jazz and pop,” he said. “In the 1980s, when Mexican-Americans became more prominent, music was the way that they discovered their own identity.”

“MeChicano” is fast-paced and uptempo, opening with the quintessential Mexican flair of a trumpet solo, then weaves quintessential Mexican musical styles from Tejano and pop (think Selena) to groove (think Ritchie Valens) in an orchestral setting. Contreras adds a drum kit, Mexican tubas and a trio of clarinets effecting the sound of an accordion for more authentic Mexican flourishes.

“The audience will transport themselves to a Saturday night dance and hear all of these melodies inspired by these songs in an orchestra context,” said Contreras, who last month won a 2023 Vilcek Foundation Prize in Music celebrating immigrant contributions to intellectual and cultural life in the U.S.

“I love it,” Conductor Gomez said of “MeChicano.” “I was already excited when I looked at the score. And when I heard it, I wasn’t surprised. He really wants to bring out the popular elements of the music, which is real prominent in the music.”

Contreras said his piece should strike a familiar chord with Tucson given its rich Mexican heritage.

“I think there are very few opportunities where you can attend an orchestra concert and feel that you are being represented on stage and feel connected to the music being performed,” he said.

“MeChicano” opens the orchestra’s “Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2” concert, part of the orchestra’s ¡Celebración Latina! series that shines a spotlight on Latin composers. Russian-American pianist Natasha Paremski will debut with the orchestra on the Rach 2. Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4 “Inextinguishable” closes out the program.

The orchestra will perform the concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 13, at the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave. Tickets are $18–$90 through tucsonsymphony.org or by calling 520-882-8585.