Program features Latin American orchestral hits including "Tico-Tico no Fuba," "Bésame Mucho," "Granada," "Carmen Suite," and "Brasil”
Tickets on sale now at dso.org
Detroit, (October 3, 2023) – The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) will continue its PNC Pops Series at Orchestra Hall with Latin Fire on October 27-29. The program will be conducted by Enrico Lopez-Yañez and feature Costa Rican trumpeter José Sibaja and Mexican vocalist Mónica Ábrego. Latin Fire is a passion-filled celebration of Latin American orchestral hits including "Tico-Tico no Fuba," "Bésame Mucho," "Granada," "Carmen Suite," and "Brasil."
Lopez-Yañez holds conducting roles with the Dallas Symphony, the Pacific Symphony, and the Nashville Symphony, and will return to Orchestra Hall this season to conduct Dr. FREAKuency’s Major Monster Bash (October 28), Vanessa Williams (November 18–19), and Disco Fever (May 17–19). Sibaja has toured internationally as an orchestral soloist and with artists including Ricky Martin. Ábrego is an acclaimed soprano with a diverse repertoire that includes opera, lied, oratorio, folk, and popular music. Latin Fire will take place on Friday, October 27 at 10:45 a.m., Saturday, October 28 at 8 p.m., and Sunday, October 29 at 3 p.m. at Orchestra Hall.
Tickets for these performances start at $24 and can be purchased at dso.org or by calling the Box Office at 313.576.5111, open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The title sponsor of the DSO’s PNC Pops Series is PNC Bank.
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LATIN FIRE
PNC Pops Series
Friday, October 27 at 10:45 a.m.
Saturday, October 28 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, October 29 at 3 p.m.
Orchestra Hall
Enrico Lopez-Yañez, conductor
José Sibaja, trumpet
Mónica Ábrego, soprano
Latin Fire is a passion-filled celebration of Latin American orchestral hits, matched with the firework virtuosity of acclaimed Costa Rican trumpeter José Sibaja and Mexican vocalist Mónica Ábrego. Enjoy a sizzling-hot program, featuring "Tico-Tico no Fuba," "Bésame Mucho," "Granada," "Carmen Suite," and "Brasil."
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About Enrico Lopez-Yañez
Enrico Lopez-Yañez is the newly appointed Principal Conductor of Dallas Symphony Presents and Principal Pops Conductor of the Pacific Symphony. In addition, Lopez-Yañez serves as the Principal Pops Conductor of the Nashville Symphony. Lopez-Yañez is quickly establishing himself as one of the nation’s leading conductors of popular music and is becoming known for his unique style of audience engagement. An active composer/arranger, Lopez-Yañez has been commissioned to write pieces for the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Houston Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and Omaha Symphony, and has had his works performed by orchestras including the Baltimore Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Florida Orchestra, Ft. Worth Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, National Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and Utah Symphony, among others.
Lopez-Yañez has conducted concerts with a broad spectrum of artists including Nas, Gladys Knight, Ledisi, Itzhak Perlman, Stewart Copeland, Kenny Loggins, Toby Keith, Mickey Guyton, Kelsea Ballerini, Leslie Odom Jr., Renee Elise Goldsberry, Hanson, The Beach Boys, Kenny G, and more. Lopez-Yañez also conducts the annual Let Freedom Sing! Music City July 4 fireworks show which was first televised on CMT in 2019, reaching millions of viewers across the nation.
This season, Lopez-Yañez will collaborate with artists including Ben Rector, Cody Fry, Patti LaBelle, Trisha Yearwood, Tituss Burgess, Vanessa Williams, Lyle Lovett, Jefferson Starship, Portugal. The Man, Guster, Ben Folds, Aida Cuevas, Lila Downs, and Arturo Sandoval. Lopez-Yañez will appear with the Colorado Symphony, Houston Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and Milwaukee Symphony, as well as make return appearances with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony, The Philadelphia Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, and more. Previously, Lopez-Yañez has appeared with orchestras throughout North America including the Baltimore Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, and the Seattle Symphony, among others.
As Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Symphonica Productions, LLC, Lopez-Yañez curates and leads programs designed to cultivate new audiences. Symphonica manages a wide breadth of pops and family/education productions that “breathe new, exuberant life into classical programming for kids and families” (Nashville Parent Magazine). Symphonica’s productions have been described as “incredibly special – and something that needs to become the new norm” (Lima Symphony). Symphonica Productions is also a sheet music publishing house representing a diverse offering of genres and composers. Their roster of composers includes Grammy nominated composer Clarice Assad, Sverre Indris Joner, Andres Soto, Charles Cozens, Vinicio Meza, and more.
As a producer, composer, and arranger, Lopez-Yañez’s work can be heard on numerous albums including the UNESCO benefit album Action Moves People United and children’s music albums including The Spaceship that Fell in My Backyard, winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, Hollywood Music and Media Awards, and Family Choice Awards; and Kokowanda Bay, winner of a Global Media Award as well as a Parents’ Choice Award, where Lopez-Yañez was lauded for his “catchy arrangements” (Parents’ Choice Foundation).
About José Sibaja
José Sibaja is one of the most acclaimed Costa Rican trumpet players of his generation with worldwide audiences and broadcast media in the classical, Latin, jazz, and pop music genres. His career ranges from international appearances as an orchestral soloist with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica Venezuela, and Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Costa Rica, to worldwide tours with Ricky Martin for Martin's Vuelve and Livin' La Vida Loca tours.
Sibaja plays lead trumpet with the world-renowned Boston Brass. He received his musical training at the New World School of the Arts and the University of Miami and has held positions as Principal Trumpet with the Miami Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonietta de Caracas, and Orquesta Sinfónica Venezuela. He has appeared on the American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, Grammy Awards, and Latin Grammy Awards as well as on Conan, Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Today Show, Late Night with David Letterman, and numerous other television appearances in more than 40 countries.
Sibaja has recorded with artists Ricky Martin, Alejandro Sanz, Luis Enrique, Rey Ruiz, Marc Anthony, Celia Cruz, and Gloria Estefan, among others. Sibaja can be heard with the Boston Brass on the group's Latin Nights, Reminiscing, Rewired, and Simple Gifts CDs, as well as on his solo records Inner Voice and Spanish Air. Sibaja is a Yamaha Performing Artist, giving master classes as a clinician worldwide. He is Associate Professor of Trumpet at the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
About Mónica Ábrego
Mónica Ábrego is one of Mexico’s most outstanding sopranos. She has performed on stages around the world with a diverse repertoire that includes opera, lied, oratorio, folk, and popular music. Ábrego has performed with orchestras such as the San Diego, Colorado, Iowa, Key West, Delaware, La Jolla, Aguascalientes, and Bulgaria symphony orchestras; as well as the Chihuahua Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom she toured Mexico and the US. She has performed the roles of Serpina (La serva padrona), Norina (Don Pasquale), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Gilda (Rigoletto), Magda (La rondine), Violetta (La traviata), Manon (Manon), Musetta (La bohème), Olympia (The Tales of Hoffmann), Nanetta (Falstaff), Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), María (Tango Operita–María de Buenos Aires), and recently as Micaela (Carmen).
Ábrego made her debut at Carnegie Hall in 2003 in New York City as a soloist for the Pacific Opera Encore company. She has also performed in Lincoln Center’s Merkin Hall and has returned to these venues on numerous occasions. Her passion for music has given her the opportunity to proudly perform traditional Mexican music alongside Champaña Nevin Mariachi, both in Mexico and the US, and several concerts at the Jacobs Music Center. In 2012, her first album Alma Mía was released by Vientos del Sur Productions. Her debut recording includes bossa nova, Mexican music, musical theater, and tango.
Ábrego has a Bachelor of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music. She has received awards from the USA National Association of Teachers of Singing (1998), La Jolla Symphony & Chorus in California (1997–1998), RYLA Rotary International Club (1998), Mexico’s National Fund for Culture and Arts (1999–2002) and the Musical Merit Foundation of San Diego (1998–2002). She currently lives in New York City, where she continues to develop professionally.
About the DSO
The acclaimed Detroit Symphony Orchestra is known for trailblazing performances, collaborations with the world’s foremost musical artists, and a deep connection to its city. Led by Music Director Jader Bignamini since 2020, the DSO makes its home at historic Orchestra Hall within the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center, offering a performance schedule that features the PVS Classical, PNC Pops, Paradise Jazz, and Young People’s Family Concert series. In addition, the DSO presents the William Davidson Neighborhood Concert Series in metro area venues, as well as eclectic multi-genre performances in its mid-size venue The Cube, constructed and curated with support from Peter D. & Julie F. Cummings. A dedication to broadcast innovation began in 1922, when the DSO became the first orchestra in the world to present a live radio broadcast of a concert and continues today with the groundbreaking Live from Orchestra Hall series of free webcasts.
Since its first school concerts a century ago, and particularly since the founding of the Civic Youth Ensembles in 1970, the DSO has been a national leader in bringing the benefits of music education to students, teachers, and families in Detroit and surrounding communities. The DSO remains committed to expanding its participation in the growth and well-being of Detroit through programs like its Detroit Neighborhood Initiative—cultural events co-created with community partners and residents—and Detroit Harmony, a promise to provide an instrument and instruction to any student in the city who wants to learn. With unwavering support from the people of Detroit, the DSO actively pursues a mission to impact lives through the power of unforgettable musical experiences.