| | |  Vallarta Living | February 2009 
Becas Vallarta Valentine Benefit Concert Under the Stars
 Cecile Scriban & Polly Vicars - PVNN
| | Becas President Mariel de Fregoso and MC Rod Scriban | 
| | Cecile Scriban with helpers in front of the lovely floral arrangement donated by Maripepa Gonzalez' FLORART | 
| | Musicians Alejandro Villarreal and Daniel Juárez Armenta with Coco Iñiguez of Breakfast with Coco-BarrioSur | |
Under the generous auspices of Westin Resort and Spa, and with the gracious and meticulous supervision of Maripepa Gonzalez, Public Relations Manager, Becas Vallarta Valentine Classical Concert, the first of its kind, was held at Los Jardines El Patio de Los Arcos by the hotel's enchanted shores on February 6, 2009.
Becas member and co-organizer with his wife Cecile, Ron Scriban, was exceptional in both English and Spanish in announcing the musical numbers and translating for the Spanish speaking musicians. The large and appreciative audience was treated to a magical outdoor musical soiree, with state of the art lighting, stage, sound system, even a gigantic overhead projection screen for the much appreciated power point concert program presentation.
After enjoying a brilliant sunset, the stars above soon greeted the dashing musical duet, Alejandro Villarreal, pianist, and violinist, Daniel Juárez Armenta. They presented a program ranging from Mozart's Minuet and Trio and Rondo alla Turca to the lively Hungarian Dances No. 5 and 7 by Johannes Brahms.
A number of lyrical pieces by Elgar, Severn and Shostakovich followed, only to be interrupted by Manuel de Falla's Ritual Fire Dance, vigorously soloed by Alejandro Villarreal at the piano. The contrasting moods of Jules Massenet's Meditation were followed by Juárez' most convincing virtuoso violin interpretation of Victor Monti's fiery Csárdás, concluding the first part of the program.
During a short intermission, there was a silent auction for two stunningly beautiful and imposing floral arrangements donated by Florart, Maripepa Gonzalez' Plaza Neptuno florist shop. Then charmed spectators were treated to two melodious piano pieces by Tobias Gonzalez, followed by the famous Intermezzo No. 1 by Manuel Maria Ponce.
The evening ended with several more piano and violin arrangements of mellow fin-de-siècle pieces by Mexican composers of the Porfiriato period (late 19th / early 20th centuries) which, although not household names to North American audiences, are immensely popular in this country, Juventino Rosas, Macedonio Alcala, Alfredo Carrasco.
The delighted audience surely felt doubly gratified knowing that Becas Vallarta's scholarship funds benefited from the concert's proceeds while local professional classical musicians were supported and promoted. Hopefully this will be the first of many Becas Vallarta sponsored classical music concerts.
To learn more about Becas Vallarta, click HERE or visit BecasVallarta.com. If you would like to volunteer or make a tax deductible donation, please call Polly Vicars at 011-52-322-223-1371 or Buri Gray at (322) 221-5285, or send an email to becasvallarta(at)gmail.com. |
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