A night of celebration for the 50th anniversary of the priestly ordination of Bishop Mario Espinosa Contreras
Hundreds of people including priests, lay agents and the general public enjoyed the staging of Te Deum Laudamos at the Ángela Peralta Theater, a golden concert with overwhelmingly beautiful music to celebrate the 50th anniversary of priestly ordination of the Bishop of the Diocese of Mazatlán, Mario Espinosa Contreras.
The concert attended by the Archbishop Primate of Mexico, Carlos Aguiar Retes, was held Thursday night and brought together 50 voices from the Guillermo Sarabia Choir and the Ángela Peralta Choir and 50 musicians from the Mazatlán Camerata under the successful baton from guest director, Sergio Freeman.
With this musical show produced by the Instituto Municipal de Cultura, Turismo y Arte de Mazatlán, the Catholic community joined the celebration of gold and endorsed the respect and affection for its highest pastor.
The words of the priests Armando Sánchez Durán and Amador Campos, responsible for reading the profile of the honored Bishop, were followed by the applause of the public that by that time had filled the highest cultural venue in Mazatlán.
Te Deum Laudamus began with the intermission of the Wedding of Luis Alonso, a zarzuela by the Spanish Gerónimo Jiménez, a joyful work with a contagious and exciting rhythm in which Citlali Iglesias added brightness to the galloping sound of the orchestra through the movement of her hands in the magical fluttering of the castanets.
In the second performance of the night, maestro Miguel Rivera appeared on stage, accompanying the Camerata musicians on his piano during the performance of Concerto No. 1 for piano and orchestra Op. 23 by P. Tchaikovsky, a sublime and enveloping work that provoked a swing of emotions in the public.
Maestro Rivera managed to stir hearts by playing the piano with impetus and frenzy in this piece that amalgamates the sound of brass, the cadence of the strings and the sweet sound of the flutes in a tremendous finale.
For the interpretation of the Polovtsian Dances by A. Borodin, the piano was removed from the stage and the Choirs Ángela Peralta and Coro Guillermo appeared in the background, whose voices seemed to compete with enthusiasm in an outrageous song.
The interpretation of the intermezzo of the Cavalleria Rusticana, a melodrama with music by P. Mascagni that tells the story of love, jealousy and revenge that happened one Easter day in the 19th century, gave the audience brilliant moments in the orchestration and extraordinary interventions in the choral part.
Then Symphony No. 9, 4th movement by Ludwig V. Beethoven brought the program to a colossal close; orchestra, choirs and soloists Rebeca de Rueda, Rosa Ferreiro, Alejandro Yépez and José M. Valenzuela, achieved a majestic interpretation of this hymn of peace and freedom to give Te Deum Laudamos a portentous and exultant finale.
The jubilant audience gave the cast clapping hands and brought back the conductor who, as an encore, directed the interpretation of The Impossible Dream by composer Mitch Leig in the voice of Eduardo Tapia and Mazatlán by Mike Laure, a piece that put a joyous and festive stamp on the gold concert.
To thank “Don Mario” for all that he has given, Presbyter Amador Campos took the stage and asked the Bishop to come forward to express: “Your faithful and your priests have wanted to participate with you in what you wanted to celebrate in this way.”
After the hands of Father Daniel Arrellano Macías, Don Mario Espinosa received recognition and a memory from all the priests present, for his unstoppable pastoral dedication since his priestly ordination in the Diocese of Tepic, Tehuacán and Mazatlán.
Moved, Monsignor Mario Espinosa Contreras thanked the musicians of the Mazatlan Camera, the director Sergio Freeman, the choirs and the public for sharing the wonderful gift of music and for his presence.
In his speech, he highlighted the value of artistic and cultural encounters that build the human being and reiterated his recognition and gratitude to those who dedicate themselves to music, singing, and art, since they must be very gratified and fulfilled because they collaborate to ennoble to the human race.
“And I bless the Lord because among the virtues that Mazatlán and the south of Sinaloa have is that a cultural, institutional and (artistic) training wealth has been built, that is why I value all the teachers of the Municipal Instituto de Cultura and all those who participate in the choirs and those who direct them. It has been very pleasant for me to learn about some values and later to know how they have been taking shape and there are currently four or five in operas in Europe, some are in Vienna and they were trained here, maestro Sergio Freeman lives in the United States and had the bond to come and direct this meeting”.
