The Newberry Consort Presents A Latin American Christmas Dec. 15-17

CHICAGO — This weekend, The Newberry Consort is pleased to present A Latin American Christmas, in Evanston, Little Village and Uptown.

Inspired by the Consort’s previous concert, A Mexican Christmas, which ran for four years, A Latin American Christmas will include both sacred and secular music that would have been heard at Christmastime from the 15th through the 18th centuries. The newly designed program will expand the musical region to include music from Peru, Spain, Guatemala, and will highlight indigenous and African elements in music composed by Spaniards in the New World.

The centerpiece of the program is a funny and entertaining nativity égloga—a very short rustic Christmas drama—written by Juan del Encina in the 15th century. The play is a dialogue between shepherds who speak in a rustic dialect, and ends with Encina’s villancico, “Gran gasajo siento.” The dialogue will be read aloud in Spanish with projected English supertitles. The short play will be interspersed with spirited dances, sonorous motets, and other festive villancicos.

The program will be co-directed by Liza Malamut, artistic director of The Newberry Consort, and Salomé Sandoval, who previously performed as a singer in A Mexican Christmas and who also plays a variety of fretted string instruments such as lutes and classical guitars. A native of Venezuela, Salomé has sung and played early modern Latin American music and contemporary music in various ensembles in Venezuela and the U.S.

“Most music audiences have little knowledge, if any, of the rich cultural heritage from Spain and Latin America. Although we have great researchers and wonderful performers that have created a legacy of studying this repertoire, I feel it is still at a disadvantage compared to other European music. My life goal as a curator and performer is to continue to present and expand the knowledge of such diverse musical history,” Sandoval said.

Malamut says audiences who loved A Mexican Christmas are sure to love this program as well. “This program will once again feature the infectious rhythms that we had in our Mexican Christmas concert that people loved so much, but in a different format. The nativity play, read aloud in Spanish with projected translations, is heartwarming and funny. The music is lively and engrossing–it really captures the joyous spirit of the holiday season,” Malamut said.

The program will feature traditional percussion and plucked instruments from the Iberian Peninsula and the New World, as well as a consort of wind instruments and a vocal ensemble. In addition to Malamut and Sandoval, the musicians will feature soprano Camila Parías, mezzo-soprano Luciana Kube, tenor Matthew Dean, and baritone Eric Miranda. Lucía Mier y Terán Romero, a Mexican Christmas favorite, also joins the cast as a linguist, theatrical coach, dramatic reader, and soprano. In addition, the ensemble will include a traditional polyphonic wind band of reeds and sackbuts as well as a dynamite continuo team of plucked instruments and organ, including Rachel Begley on bajón and recorders, Carlos Cuestas on guitar and lute, Christa Patton on harp and winds, Jacob Reed on organ, Jesús Pacheco on percussion, and Newberry Consort Artist Mentee Andrés Guzmán on sackbut.

Each concert will feature a pre-concert discussion panel with the co-artistic directors and Newberry Consort artists, as well as Northwestern University scholar Paul-Gustav Feller-Simmons, a consultant for the concerts and a recipient of the prestigious Noah Greenberg Award for his work on music from nunneries in New Spain.

A Latin American Christmas will be performed on Dec. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at St. Luke’s Church in Evanston; on Dec. 16 at 2 p.m. at Mother of the Americas Catholic Church in Little Village; and on Dec. 17 at St. Mary’s of the Lake Catholic Church in Uptown. Tickets are $25, $10 for students with a valid student ID or free for children under 16 with the purchase of an adult ticket. Patrons can also purchase a 10-person pass for $100 with the code “Christmas10Pack.” Tickets are available at newberryconsort.org. Pre-concert discussion panels will begin one hour before each performance.

EVENT DETAILS -- A Latin American Christmas

Friday, Dec. 15, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 939 Hinman Ave., Evanston

Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023 at 2 p.m. at Mother of the Americas Catholic Church, 2226 S. Whipple St., Chicago

Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023 at 4 p.m. at St. Mary of the Lake Catholic Church, 4220 N. Sheridan Road, Chicago

Tickets: $25, $10 for students with a valid student ID, or free for children under 16 with purchase of an adult ticket (must email or call to receive student or childrens’ tickets). Purchase a 10-person pass for $100 with code "Christmas10Pack.”

To purchase tickets please visit www.newberryconsort.org.

About the Newberry Consort:

The Newberry Consort brings together singers and instrumentalists of the highest caliber to create historically informed performances of music from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Baroque, and beyond. By integrating historical performance and research with contemporary themes and multimedia, we inspire audiences, musicians, and scholars by providing a window into earlier times and diverse cultures. The Consort continues to uplift Chicago’s early music community through mentorships, teaching, and engagement of local artists.