Tucson’s Hispanic heritage and ties to Mexico will be on full display at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall on Sunday afternoon when the Tucson Symphony Orchestra performs its annual Día de los Muertos concert.
The concert features soaring trumpets and weeping violins from one of the Southwest’s most promising and celebrated youth ensembles, Mariachi Aztlán de Pueblo High School, and an introduction to the bolero trio Trio Tucson.
Mariachi Aztlán de Pueblo High School, shown here at the 2022 Mexican Independence Day concert at Fox Tucson Theatre, is joining the Tucson Symphony Orchestra for Sunday’s Día de los Muertos concert.
A highlight of the concert might come when Oregon-based/Jalisco, Mexico-born singer-songwriter Edna Vazquez, a soloist with the multi-genre Pink Martini, joins the orchestra as its featured guest. She will perform original works including “Sola Soy” and “Sana” and cultural favorites, including the ubiquitous “Bésame Mucho.”
Sunday’s concert, which begins at 2 p.m. at Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave., is the finale of the orchestra’s monthlong ¡Fiesta latina! series, an initiative from longtime Music Director José Luis Gomez to celebrate Hispanic composers and artists in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, Sept. 15-Oct. 15.
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“I wanted to showcase what it means to be a person from the Hispanic heritage in Tucson, and for me, that is Día de los Muertos,” Gomez said.
The orchestra has performed a Día de los Muertos concert nearly every year of Gomez’s 10-year tenure, including a concert several years ago during the popular All Souls Procession when the two holidays intersected. To promote the event, Gomez donned the calavera (sugar skull) makeup worn by hundreds of people in the parade.
In his first Día de los Muertos concert with the TSO in 2017, Music Director José Luis Gomez donned makeup to promote the All Souls Procession event.
This year, All Souls falls on Nov. 8 with the procession starting and ending at the MSA Annex just west of downtown.
Sunday marks one of the first public performances for Trio Tucson, sponsored in part by Tucson Desert Song Festival. The guitar and vocal ensemble of Alex Arenas, Diego Nava and Belen Valle, under the direction of Alberto Ranjel, is among the artists on the 15th annual Song Festival Jan. 22 to April 20, 2027.
TSO tickets are $25.70–$86.35 through tucsonsymphony.org.
Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@tucson.com. On Bluesky @Starburch
Cathalena E. Burch
Reporter
