Fiesta is devoted to Latino concert music and presents artistically significant compositions from Latin America, Spain and Portugal to listeners. The creative force behind this series is Elbio Barilari, an acclaimed composer, musician, performer and professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The Uruguayan-born Barilari says, "Fiesta features the hottest Latin-American music from the sixteenth to the twenty-first centuries."
Baroque Composers from Mexico, Spain and Cuba: For over 300 years there was a musical exchange during the Spanish Empire. Elbio reflects on this time through the music of Manuel de Zumaya, Juan Manuel de la Puente and Esteban Salas.
The “other” Joaquín Rodrigo: The tremendous popularity of “Concierto de Aranjuez” has made Joaquín Rodrigo a well-known composer. In this program, Fiesta reviews this eclectic composer's vocal, piano and chamber music.