Dear friends of the CSO,

At the CSO Latino Alliance, we are immensely happy to start our 10th year of service as cultural ambassadors with the amazing task of bringing the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Latino community together. During the past decade, our goal has been to share the experience of the extraordinary music performed by the CSO, its conductors and soloists with the diverse and dynamic Latino community of Chicagoland, with programs and events that combine artistic mastery, affordable prices, networking opportunities and cultural and educational insights. We are also convinced that the music of composers from Latin America and Spain is a magnificent and necessary treasure that must be listened to, performed and appreciated more every day.

In this sense, the body of work of the Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas is an extraordinary example of how an artist devoted himself to including the voices and rhythms of the people in his compositions, without submitting to stereotypes or ‘correct forms,’ and by including messages denouncing oppression and calling for radical change. Revueltas certainly created a unique Mexican musical image, but he also projected in his works the notions of cultural dialogue and internationalism.

“I would not only call Revueltas Mexico’s greatest composer, but the supreme political composer of concert music produced in our Western hemisphere,” said Joseph Horowitz, one of the top contemporary American cultural historians, on the 1A NPR show.

With all this in mind, the CSO Latino Alliance started the first program of the 2023/24 Nuestras Noches season on October 24 with a preconcert event that showcased Revueltas — who lived, studied music, worked and started a family in Chicago a century ago. Plus, the CSO Latino Alliance delved into the relationship between Revueltas’ Sensemayá and singular Afro Cuban traditions, sharing other examples of famous Mexican popular music that have Afro Mexican roots.

I had the pleasure of sharing details about Revueltas’ life, his Chicago connection and his music, and the renowned Sones de México Ensemble performed examples of the influence of African musical elements in Mexican folk music for the delight of our audience.

In the present times of social conflict and polarization, the voices for freedom, social change and diversity championed by Revueltas through his unique compositions resonate with great contemporary power.

Sensemayá is “terrifying and amazing. It’s a hell of a way to blow the roof off at the end of the program,” said conductor James Gaffigan in a CSO Experience article. On October 24, Gaffigan conducted the CSO in a program that included Revueltas’ Sensemayá and works by Samuel Barber, George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein. That night at Symphony Center, the music of Silvestre Revueltas indeed blew the roof off.

Please join the Latino Alliance in our Nuestras Noches 2023/24 season, which will continue in the coming months with great CSO programs.

Finally, please save the date for January 26 for our special 10th anniversary celebratory concert. Stay tuned for more information!

Best regards and enjoy,

Jesús Del Toro

Director of La Raza newspaper, author of the book Silvestre Revueltas del otro lado and member of the CSO Latino Alliance Advisory Board

Use your Latino Alliance member ticket benefit to enjoy an upcoming concert!

As a member of the CSO Latino Alliance, you have access to specially priced tickets for $40 or less to many concerts throughout the season using promo code LA. Learn more at cso.org/latinoalliance.

Upcoming concerts include:

Global Perspectives — November 4

Glass & Rachmaninov — November 9-11

Maxim Vengerov & Polina Osetinskaya  — November 10

Sir András Schiff — November 12

A night of a Mexican masterpiece!