“Conductor Enrico Lopez-Yañez has several reasons to love his involvement with the Omaha Symphony’s Hispanic Heritage Month concert on Thursday,” writes Betsie Freeman in Wednesday’s (10/11) World-Herald (Omaha, NE). “The first, of course, is his Mexican ancestry. Then there’s his background with the symphony.… He was the assistant conductor [before becoming assistant conductor of the Nashville Symphony last year]. And his father, noted Mexican opera singer Jorge Lopez-Yañez, will be a guest artist for the free Omaha concert.… ‘Omaha has such a rich and vibrant Hispanic community, especially with Omaha South,’ he said…. Omaha’s Luna Y Sol [mariachi group] will play with the symphony on Thursday…. The program will include José Pablo Moncayo’s ‘Huapuango’ [and music] by Spanish composer Manuel de Falla, Carlos Chávez and Arturo Márquez…. Symphony public relations manager Stephanie Ludwig said [that] patrons from southeast Omaha made up only 6.5 percent of the symphony’s audience last year…. To increase awareness for Thursday’s concert, the symphony sought neighborhood participation from neighborhood entities such as schools, El Museo Latino, the South Omaha Business Association and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, among others. ‘These are groups that we haven’t reached before,’ she said.”
Posted October 11, 2018
