Conductor Alondra de la Parra to offer classical music fest in Quintana Roo

A classical music festival conceived by renowned Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra will be held in Quintana Roo over five days in late June and early July.

The GNP Paax Festival, at which over 100 international artists will perform, will take place at the Hotel Xcaret Arte near Playa del Carmen from June 29 to July 3.

“There will be two concerts every night at 7 and 10 as well as presentations of books, chamber music and talks with the creators,” said de la Parra, who has conducted some of the world’s most prestigious orchestras.

The festival will feature the inaugural public performance by The Impossible Orchestra, a group of musicians from 14 different countries brought together by de la Parra in order to raise funds to support Mexican women and children affected by COVID-19.

The musicians separately recorded parts of Danzón No. 2 by Mexican composer Arturo Márquez for the musical project supported by the insurance company GNP, but have never played together. A video of their interpretation of the composition has been viewed over half a million times on YouTube.

At the upcoming festival, The Impossible Orchestra will perform a new arrangement composed by Márquez called sinfonía imposible, or impossible symphony.

The festival will also feature a partial performance of Christopher Wheeldon’s ballet Like Water for Chocolate, a Royal Ballet interpretation of the magical realism novel of the same name by Mexican author Laura Esquivel. De la Parra is a musical consultant for the ballet’s score.

She told a virtual press conference that the festival is named after the Mayan word for music.

“Paax means music in Mayan and phonetically it’s peace in Latin,” de la Parra said. “We liked it a lot because it connects a word that we all know, peace, with what we’re doing – music in the Mayan lands where we’re having our festival.”

The conductor, who will also present her “The Silence of Sound” show in Quintana Roo, said the plan is to hold the festival annually at the Hotel Xcaret Arte.

With reports from Reforma and El Universal