Internationally acclaimed violinist Gil Shaham will be playing with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO)on Sunday, Dec. 11, in the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, as LACO presents the World Premiere of Juan Pablo Contreras’ “Lucha Libre!,” a LACO Sound Investment commission that pays tribute to Mexican masked wrestling.
Shaham will be playing on Dvořák’s “Violin Concerto in A minor,” colored with the folk music of the composer’s Czech roots.
The concert opens at 8 p.m. with the “Lucha Libre!” world premiere. Contreras found inspiration for the piece from Mexican masked wrestling, the unique cultural phenomenon that the composer watched while growing up in Guadalajara.
Subtitled “Sinfonia Concertante for Chamber Orchestra,” the piece, which LACO initially slated to premiere in March 2020 but was postponed due to the global pandemic, focuses on a “battle” among LACO’s master musicians, whose instruments represent Contreras’ favorites of the iconic Lucha Libre characters.
Contreras was LACO’s 2019-2020 Sound Investment composer; he received a Latin Grammy Best Arrangement nomination for the title track of his debut orchestral album, “Mariachitlán.” He is “one of the most prominent young composers of Latin America,” according to the Mexican newspaper Milenio.
LACO also performs Kodály’s “Dances of Galánta,” reflecting the music of the composer’s childhood in Slovakia, and two distinctive works shaped by Romanian folk music: Ligeti’s “Concert Românesc” and Bartók’s “Romanian Folk Dances for Winds.”
Jaime Martín is conducting.
The Ambassador Auditorium is at 131 S. St. John Ave. in Pasadena.
For tickets and more information, visit www.laco.org/events/shaham-dvorak/ or call (213) 622-7001 ext. 1.
