MODERN MEXICO, A Guided Rare Mezcal Tasting & Contemporary Classical Music Performance Coming to NYC

Unison Media, the WFMT Radio Network, and Access Contemporary Music are excited to co-present an evening celebrating Cinco de Mayo on May 1, with a guided tasting of mezcales from the private collection of Alejandro Aispuro at The Bowery Electric, followed by a live, on-air concert of Mexican contemporary classical music at (Le) Poisson Rouge.

The event will begin with the tasting from 5:30-7:00PM at The Bowery Electric, followed by the concert at nearby (Le) Poisson Rouge at 7:30PM.Tickets will be $35, and include both the tasting and concert.

The mezcales will come from the collection of world-renowned expert and master distiller Alejandro Aispuro, and are not available anywhere in the United States. Aispuro, who will guide the tasting, speaks to the similarities between the mezcal and the music: "Much like contemporary classical music, these mezcales represent the classic roots and traditional flavor, but are always new at the same time....Ideas develop over time like the agave growing for seven long years, waiting for the hands that transform it into spirit."

The concert features all New York City premieres, including pieces by Gabriela Ortiz, Felipe Pérez Santiago, Ana Lara, Hilda Paredes, and Mexico's most celebrated living composer, Mario Lavista, performed by an ensemble led by violinist Suliman Tekalli. It will be broadcast live on Relevant Tones out of WFMT in Chicago - the world's only weekly syndicated radio program dedicated to contemporary classical music - as well as WKCR in New York.

The performance will be preceded by Relevant Tones's half-hour "Discovery Series," which features an in-depth exploration of a piece by talented young Mexican composer Juan Pablo Contreras.

The concert is one of a new series at LPR by Unison, Relevant Tones and ACM, featuring quarterly events designed to bring contemporary classical music to a wider audience through creative programming and experience-centered events, as well as a live radio broadcast element that harkens back to the staple on-air events of the 40s, 50s, and 60s. The next event, in July, will center around the theme of "Vanishing New York."

Hosted by Seth Boustead, the nationally syndicated Relevant Tones is the world's only weekly radio program featuring the music of living composers. Unison Media curate, present, and produce the acclaimed concert series The Crypt Sessions at the crypt chapel under the Church of the Intercession in Harlem.

To post a comment, you must register and login.