Latin ensemble features Mexican composer

The IU Vocal Contemporary Ensemble and the Latin American Music Center will present a concert Sunday featuring composer and conductor Juan Trigos. The program will take place at 8 p.m. in Auer Hall.\n"(Trigos) is a really well-known composer in Mexico," said Carelle Flores, graduate assistant at the Latin American Music Center. "He's been rehearsing with the choir all week." \nTrigos has produced a number of compositions.\n"I lose them, (it's so) many, I don't remember," Trigos said. \nHighlighting the night will be Trigos' conduction of his own piece, "Missa Cunctipotens Genitor."\n"Missa Cunctipotens Genitor," fuses two different musical styles together -- Gregorian chant, a medieval choral style, and contemporary styles.\n"It's kind of a technique from medieval times," Trigos said. \nTrigos said he is looking forward to the concert.\n"I'm conducting more outside of Mexico," Trigos said of his recent professional years. "It's very nice to be here." \nTrigos was last at IU in 1996 for the Crossroads of Traditions Music Festival.\nTrigos said although composing and conducting an original piece is difficult for students and the artist, it is just as rewarding.\n"When you make new music you feel like you are making a contribution to the culture," Trigos said.\nAs far as influences are concerned, Trigos said all composers are influenced by everything they experience. \n"We are a kind of professional thieves," Trigos said. \nBut he also said he has been particularly influenced by composer Bela Bartok and his teacher Franco Donatoni. \n"My music is very particular, unique," Trigos said when asked about his style. \nTrigos will also be conducting a piece entitled "De Profundis," written by Mexican composer Joaquin Gutierrez-Heras.\n"She is very important in Mexico," said Trigos of his fellow Mexican composer. \nTrigos said the influences of Gutierrez-Heras are highly classical. \n"It's not really contemporary stuff," he said.\nCarmenTellez, who also heads the Latin American Music Center here on campus, will be conducting "Though Under Medium," which will top off the night, a piece by American composer Eric Richards. "(He) has experimented with positioning the singers in front of and around the conductor to create a more enveloping effect," said Tellez of Richards' expertise.\n"She did a wonderful job with both pieces," Trigos said of Tellez. \nThe Latin American Music Center has featured many highly-touted guests in the recent past, particularly for the "Inter-American Composition Workshops" and the "Latin American Popular Music Ensemble." \nAmong these guests were Pulitzer prize winners George Crumb and John Corigliano.\nThe Latin American Music Center also recently commissioned a Mexican mass by composer Mario Lavista.\n"This work earned the reward of 'Best Classical Music Recording in Mexico,'" Tellez said. \n-- Contact staff writer Michael Beal at mdbeal@indiana.edu.