CALARTS : Mexican Culture to Be Celebrated

A performance by a newly formed string quartet from Mexico and an evening of electroacoustic music will highlight programs at the California Institute of the Arts in conjunction with a Mexican cultural festival being promoted by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

The Mexico City String Quartet will perform chamber music at 8 p.m. Wednesday in CalArts’ Roy O. Disney Hall. CalArts students, faculty and alumni will present electroacoustic and other renditions of Mexican-composed music at 8 p.m. Friday.

“The idea is to let people know that yes, we are Mexicans, and yes, we have traditions, but we are not stuck in the past. We are moving ahead,” said Mexican-born composer Bernardo Feldman, a CalArts alumnus whose music will be performed at the concert.

Feldman, who teaches music at College of the Canyons, said similar concerts will take place through December at UCLA, College of the Canyons and other locations as part of the art museum’s promotion.

The Mexico City String Quartet, formed by Roman Reveultas Retes to promote music by Mexican composers, first performed last year at Silvestre Reveultas Hall in Mexico City. All of its members are internationally known musicians.

At CalArts in Valencia, the quartet will perform six pieces of contemporary and traditional chamber music. Feldman said the CalArts performances will “go beyond a concert.” Contemporary dancers and sculptures will be featured along with an electroacoustic clarinet, he said, creating “a very dreamy environment.”