Oaxaca: The Historic Organ Festival 2

Following our report of the events at Tlacolula (we will have more to say about the church and its treasures in later posts) we now report on other highlights of the Historic Organ Festival:

Oaxaca cathedral organ (© IOHIO)

The Spanish organist Roberto Fresco began the festivities on Thursday evening (February 20) with a public concert in Oaxaca cathedral. The large audience enjoyed a varied program emphasizing baroque music from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Huayapam, with the author and IOHIO Director Cicely Winter facing the main altar 

On Friday morning the group set off to view unrestored organs in communities in the valley south of the city including San Andrés Huayapam, where the villagers welcomed us with a bounteous lunch including mescal, the local alcoholic beverage.

En route we made stops to see unrestored organs in the churches of San Matias Jalatlaco and San Miguel Tlalixtac (more on Tlalixtac later) and briefly enjoyed the shade of the famous Tule tree.

La Soledad organ

In the evening, in contrast to the earlier Cathedral concert, the program at the city Basilica of La Soledad was free to the public and featured traditional musical favorities from different regions of Oaxaca, adapted by Cecily Winter, the organist and IOHIO director, with the help of the energetic percussionist Valentín Hernández.

 text © 2014 Richard D. Perry photography by the author except where noted.