Mexican brass quintet brings humor, entertaining music to concerts
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By JEFF KORBELIK / GZO
So how does a German trumpet player end up in a brass quintet with four musicians from Mexico?
“It’s a long story,” said Alexander Freund, laughing during a phone interview last week to promote his ensemble’s concerts this week.
The Metales M5 is part of the this summer’s Meadowlark Music Festival and concludes its week-long stay with a performance Friday at James Arthur Vineyards.
The Meadowlark Music Festival, began Sunday with concerts across Nebraska.
Tickets to events in Lincoln, Raymond and Walton are available at www.meadowlarkfestival.org or by calling 477-2522.
The following is the remaining performance schedule with ticket information:
*Friday
Metales M5 Brass Quintet, 8 p.m., James Arthur Vineyards, 2001 West Raymond Road, Raymond. Tickets: $15; children under 16 free with adult admission.
Jupiter String Quartet, 7:30 p.m., Margre Henningson Durham Center, Dana College, Blair. Tickets: $10; available at the door.
* Saturday
Jupiter String Quartet joined by Max and Lillie Larsen Young Artist Winner Arthur Masyuk, 9 and 10:30 a.m., Grace Lutheran Church, Walton. Tickets: $5; children under 16 free with adult admission.
Spencer Myer and the Jupiter String Quartet, 7:30 p.m., Kimball Recital Hall, 11th and R street. Tickets: $15; children under 16 free with adult admission.
Freund’s tale involves a Mexican woman, his following her back to Mexico, where, after spending some time there, he grew to like it.
“You start looking for jobs,” he said. “You find some decent things and then you stay. That’s how it was for me.”
His latest musical endeavor has been one of his most enjoyable. Since its founding a few years ago in Morelia — located in the Central Highlands between Guadalajara and Mexico City — the Metales M5 has become one of Mexico’s leading brass quintets.
The other members include Oscar Villegas (trumpet), Juan Carlos Quiterio Miguel (French horn), Fernando Islas Melendez (trombone) and José Lopez Juárez (tuba).
They are known for their diverse repertoire — ranging from Bach to movie soundtracks to Mexican folk dances — and stage presence.
“We are five different characters, with one crazier than the other one,” Freund said.
Indeed, Meadowlark artistic director William Smith called Metales’ performance earlier this week at a fundraiser “wild.”
“This is pretty much a stiff and staid crowd, and they all went nuts,” Smith said. “Anybody who comes close (to these men) is going to have a great time.
“They are not as razor sharp and precise like the Boston Brass,” Smith added. “They more than make up for it with all the other stuff they do.”
Especially at James Arthur Vineyards, where Meadowlark returns after using the Spring Creek Prairie in Denton last year for its outdoor concert.
“Our patrons seem to really enjoy the vineyard,” Smith said. “We decided to go back.”
Metales M5 is enjoying just its third trip outside Mexico, having also performed in Texas and Colorado.
For tonight’s concert, it will present its “Está Cañon,” a program featuring familiar music, from Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” to the James Bond movie theme to “La Virgen de la Macarena” (a Spanish bullfighter song).
“The idea for this came because many of our Mexican audiences aren’t educated in classical literature,” he said. “We play something they recognize and then slip in a Bach fugue afterward.”
Metales M5 also has programs dedicated to Mexican music, Bach and baroque. The trick, Freund said, is keeping everybody on the same page.
“Me as the German and the four Mexican guys have different points of view about everything,” he said. “There’s always a solution. That’s the cool thing.”
Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@journalstar.com.
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