Dia de los Muertos Celebrations Coming to Segerstrom Center This Fall

Segerstrom Center for the Arts will celebrate Mexico's revered Dia de los Muertos with performances by Perla Batalla, La Santa Cecilia, Pacifico Dance and Quetzal on November 2, 2016 in the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall starting at 7:30 p.m. Four performances will take place in a single concert: Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Perla Batalla, LA bands La Santa Cecilia and Quetzal and Pacifico Dance Company.

Tickets for the Dia de los Muertos celebration start at $39 and are available online at www.SCFTA.org, at the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling (714) 556-2787. Artists and program are subject to change.

PERLA BATALLA

Grammy Award®-nominated singer-songwriter Perla Batalla consistently earns critical acclaim for her unique voice and culture-merging compositions. Formerly a Leonard Cohen back-up singer, the Los Angeles-born vocalist launched her solo career with his encouragement. Since then Batalla has recorded seven albums, been featured in films and television, and taken her unique sound on tour to some of the most prestigious venues around the world. The L.A. Times wrote, "Batalla is comfortable in both English and Spanish, proud of her mestiza heritage, musically adventurous and always accompanied by impeccable performers.... above all, she is a born storyteller with a rambunctious sense of humor." Batalla's mission of honoring her roots and introducing young audiences to the beauty of music and the Spanish language is ongoing. She visits some of the poorest communities in the United States. She is the recipient of the United Nation's Earth Charter Award for "extraordinary devotion to social and economic justice" and the Premio Fronterizo Award for "healing work in the world".

Perla is currently workshopping an original live theater project inspired by the journals of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. It will be premiered in August at the 2016 Ojai Playwrights Conference.

LA SANTA CECILIA

La Santa Cecilia returns to the Center for this year's Di?a de los Muertos concert. The group started its career by serenading passers-by on the embellished corners of Downtown Los Angeles' Olvera Street. They are a musical phenomenon that has won a Grammy, toured from coast to coast, collaborated with Elvis Costello, appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and, most recently, shared the stage with Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones.

Named after St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music, La Santa Cecilia is composed of accordionist and requinto player Jose 'Pepe' Carlos, bassist Alex Bendan?a, percussionist Miguel 'Oso' Ramirez and vocalist 'La Marisoul'.With songs about love, loss, and disappointment, the band has become the voice of a new bicultural generation in the United States, fully immersed in modern music, but still close to their Latin American influences and Mexican heritage. La Santa Cecilia's debut album in 2011, Noches y Citas, the band won its first nomination at the Latin Grammy Awards for the single "La Negra". It was also with this release that they first voiced their sympathy and support for various human rights movements.

El Valor in 2012 was named one of the best albums of the year by NPR's Alt Latino. And then came the big one: Treinta Di?as. The album was recorded in 2013 and displayed a combination of cumbia, reggae, soul, tango, and their L.A. spice, creating an album that won the Grammy for Best Latin Rock Album, Alternative or Urban in 2014.

In 2014, La Santa Cecilia made their major label debut with Someday New released on Universal. Late the same year they presented their politically-infused video for Strawberry Fields Forever at the LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) luncheon. La Marisoul had the honor of singing the national anthem to the more than 1,500 Latino leaders in attendance as well as First Lady Michelle Obama. Later that summer, the band played the sold out Revento?n festival for over 20,000 people.

La Santa Cecilia recorded the song "Tu Vida Es Un Escenario", which was included in the award-winning film Cantinflas and collaborated with Gustavo Santaolalla on The Apology Song for the animated hit film The Book of Life.

The band is also highly synced, with songs appearing in popular TV shows like Weeds, Entourage and The Bridge. Marisoul was also featured as a guest performer on Pepe Aguilar's MTV Unplugged, which turned out to be the first Unplugged by a Ranchero artist. In 2015, they released "I Won't Cry for You". This year, the band played Jeff Buck's Todos Santos Festival in Baja California, where they were joined on stage by none other than Led Zeppelin's own John Paul Jones on electric mandolin for a special rendition of "La Morena". Buenaventur, their most recent album, was released earlier this year. And will celebrate by playing the Appel Room at Lincoln Center in New York City and a homecoming show at the Walt Disney Concert Hall alongside Buika.

QUETZAL

From the ashes of Los Angeles' 1992 rebellion/riots arose a collective of East Side musicians committed to respectfully continuing the legacy of more than 70 years of Chicano Rock. According to All About Jazz, "Breakthrough music with greater gravity than what pop music currently offers. This is Latin American pop for the serious listener." Standing on the shoulders of giants like Lalo Guerrero, Ritchie Valens, Cannibal and The Headhunters, The Brat, Los Lobos, and many others, Quetzal has created a path that has earned them the title of "one of Los Angeles' most important bands"(LA Times).

Quetzal forges a sound that makes you want to dance and contemplate change simultaneously. It is a sound as rich and complex as their pluri-ethnic barrio experience. Their unique combination of community activism and creative compositions has allowed them to travel the world using music as a tool for creating a global network of musicians committed to building community.

Since 2002 Quetzal has been part of a transnational dialogue between musicians in California and Veracruz, Mexico known as "Fandango Sin Fronteras". Many recordings, performances, and publications have been born from this dialogue. Their 5th album, Imaginaries, released by Smithsonian Folkways, received the Grammy Award in 2013 for Best Latin Rock, Urban, or Alternative Album.

Pacifi?co Dance Company

Orange County-based Pacifi?co Dance Company was founded in 1992 as a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and reconstruction of classical and contemporary Mexican dance forms. Under the Artistic direction of Adriana Astorga-Gainey, Pacifi?co Dance Company has performed for audiences around the world. The company of 40 dancers and musicians prides itself on educating culturally diverse communities as well as providing Hispanic audiences with a forum for developing pride in their own heritage. These brilliant artists present both traditional and innovative works that combine the essence of traditional styles with modern dance idioms.

Some of the company's most ambitious works include Frida Kahlo, the Legend of La Llorona, Salon Mexico, Mictlan, Calacas Clandestinas, and the Virgin of Guadalupe. Pre-Hispanic works from Concheros and traditional dances from Jalisco, Guerrero, Puebla, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Michoacan, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas and Veracruz round out the repertoire.

Pacifico Dance Company performed for six consecutive years at the prestigious Dance Kaleidoscope Summer Dance Festival in Los Angeles. They have collaborated with several well-known musicians, including Mariachi Sol de Mexico de Jose? Hernandez, Pablo Montero, Conjunto Jardin and Pepe Aguilar for live performances.

The company has performed at many venues throughout the Southwestern United States including Utah, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico. Pacifico performed in residence at the world famous Kennedy Center in 2007. The company has also performed at The Carpenter Center in Long Beach, the Cerritos Performing Arts Center, the Redlands Bowl, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Luckman Fine Arts Complex, The Getty Center, and the Universal Amphitheatre. In 2001, Pacifi?co Dance Company along with Mariachi Sol de Mexico made a historic visit to North Korea and the People's Republic of China as part of a cultural arts exchange.

In a conjunction with major partners like Los Angeles Music Center, The Ford Amphitheatre, Kennedy Center and Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Pacifico has been educating young children and adults all over the U.S. Pacifico's educational workshops provide students with further knowledge of all the rich components that make up the beautiful culture of Mexican Folklore.

Throughout its 20 year history, Pacifi?co has put much emphasis on collaborations with educational organizations to produce performances for students from K through 12. The company has been recognized twice as part of the Irvine DanceMaker awards. It is currently one of the artists on the roster of the Music Center's Education Division and performs at local schools throughout Los Angeles County. For two years, the company was in residence at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts where it taught Mexican Folk Dancing and rehearsed.

Pacifico Dance Company offers classes that combine classical ballet technique with the folkloric roots of traditional Mexican dance. The company offers master classes, student shows, and community outreach to people of all ethnicities and ages.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is an acclaimed arts institution as well as a beautiful multi-disciplinary cultural campus. It is committed to supporting artistic excellence on all of its stages, offering unsurpassed experiences, and to engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through the unique power of live performance and a diverse array of inspiring programs.

Previously called the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Segerstrom Center is Orange County's largest non-profit arts organization. In addition to its six performance venues, Segerstrom Center is also home to the American Ballet Theatre William J. Gillespie School, where students ages 3 - 14 are taught by acclaimed teachers utilizing the renowned ABT National Training Curriculum in studios utilized by the world's greatest dancers and choreographers.

The Center presents a broad range of programming for audiences of all ages, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, intimate performances of jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family-friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events.

The Center's education programs are designed to inspire young people through the arts and reach hundreds of thousands of students each year. In addition to the presenting and producing institution Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the 14-acre campus also embraces the facilities of two independently acclaimed organizations: Tony Award®-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the future home of the Orange County Museum of Art.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is also proud to serve as the artistic home to three of the region's major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and the Pacific Chorale, who contribute greatly to the artistic life of the region with annual seasons at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

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