Jader Conducts Stravinsky's Firebird by Khachaturian, A., Márquez, Stravinsky, Od (2023/2023), Dirigent Jader Bignamini, Orchestra Hall, Detroit, United States

Stravinsky’s Firebird, awash in orchestral colors, crackles with wild rhythms and an iridescent finale. Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers commissioned Arturo Márquez—one of today’s leading Mexican composers—to write Fandango, a mariachi-inspired concerto, for which he drew on his childhood immersion in that style (his father was a mariachi musician). Inspired by a visit to a ballroom in Veracruz, Márquez’s Danzón No. 2 sways with animated dance rhythms. The program opens with a dramatic selection from Khachaturian’s ballet about the gladiator who led a slave uprising in ancient Rome.