LATIN TALENT WILL BE PRESENT AT THE FESTIVAL PAAX GNP 2023

The countdown continues for the FESTIVAL PAAX GNP 2023 and among the best of the best that this festival has to offer, there is a large group of Latin American artists who have brought to all corners of the world a sample of the talent that exists on our continent , whether in music, dance or performing arts. We present, in their own words, some of these outstanding artists who will meet at the Hotel Xcaret from June 29 to July 8 and they tell us why we should not miss this second edition.

GABY MUÑOZ “CHULA THE CLOWN”

“Alondra and I did the show The Silence of Sound with great success at the FESTIVAL PAAX GNP 2022. It makes me very happy to return to present one of my most special creations, since it was the first piece I created 13 years ago. This is a one-man show titled, Perhaps, perhaps… Quizas which I have been able to reach many places and many people. This year I am happy to return home, to Mexico, to present it in the incredible context of the FESTIVAL PAAX GNP 2023.

I am a Mexican artist, I live in Helsinki, but Mexico is my roots and my heart. All my creations carry something about my country, specifically, humor.

Perhaps, perhaps… Quizas It is a theater and clown show where I touch on many human dualities. Between love and heartbreak, hope and despair, Greta (the protagonist) tirelessly searches for someone else’s love and does so with the help of the audience, which makes it unrepeatable every night because the outcome depends on the game with the audience. Will he have luck that night? …Perhaps, perhaps… Quizas

PAAX is a unique experience that creates a new meeting point both between creators from different disciplines and with the audience. Its variety is what attracts me most, a program meticulously planned to truly be a celebration, a festivity in paradise and an experience that deeply touches the viewer and provokes all the senses.”

ANAIS BUENO

DANCER FROM THE JOFFREY BALLET OF CHICAGO

“My sister participated in the festival last year and Christopher Wheeldon promised to invite me to this second edition. Chris and I have known each other for a long time and have worked together many times. I am excited to be part of this festival because as a Mexican dancer I love performing in my native country and I am also excited to share the stage with incredible musicians and Alondra de la Parra.

I’m from mexico. Córdoba, Veracruz, is the place where I started dancing ballet, so it is always very special for me to come home and dance for the Mexican public.

At this festival I will dance with my colleagues from the Joffrey Ballet a new piece by Yoshihisa Arai in collaboration with composer Gili Schwarzman. I will also perform an excerpt from the ballet Anna Karenina by Yuri Possokhov with music by Ilya Demutsky with another Mexican dancer from the Joffrey Ballet, José Pablo Castro Cuevas.

The FESTIVAL PAAX GNP is an incredible opportunity to see talent from all over the world together on stage. “The hotel is incredible and you can enjoy one of the most beautiful places in Mexico in a world-class festival that is truly one of its kind.”

JOSÉ PABLO CASTRO CUEVAS

DANCER FROM THE JOFFREY BALLET OF CHICAGO

“The production of The Nutcracker from the Joffrey Ballet is choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, he came to the Joffrey to do some touch-ups and make sure the production looked good, so he personally invited me to be part of the FESTIVAL PAAX GNP during his visit to Chicago. What excites me most about participating in this edition is being able to represent Mexico, as well as having the opportunity to work with such incredible artists from all over the world, and of course meeting the one and only Alondra de la Parra, whom I have admired since I was a child.

I am Mexican, born and raised in Querétaro. I was lucky to grow up with a mother who admires the culture of our country, so we always traveled throughout the country exploring its different cultures, food, music. I always carry my country with me when I dance.

My participation in this edition of the Festival will be with a new creation by Yoshihisa Arai, former dancer at the Joffrey Ballet, with a new score by Gili Schwarzman. This is a quartet in which I will perform with three of my Joffrey colleagues (Anais, Alberto and Amanda). I will also perform the last pas de deux of “Anna Karenina” by Yuri Possokhov, together with Anais Bueno.

I would tell the public not to miss the FESTIVAL PAAX GNP 2023 as it is the perfect opportunity to experience art at its finest. It features incredible artists from around the world, as well as a great representation of what Mexico has to offer.”

YAMANDU COSTA

GUITAR PLAYER

“My arrival at the Festival PAAX GNP 2023 was at the invitation of my dear friend, Alondra de la Parra. We met many years ago, we played together many times in different situations, different countries and we have a very great friendship and musical complicity. She has invited me to be part of this beautiful festival.

I am very excited to have a festival with this versatility, with this very original programming, mixing not only concert music but also popular music. Inviting artists from different genres in an impressive program. So I am very happy to be able to be there, not only to play, to meet people, to see everything that is going to happen with this wonderful amount of people who will be at PAAX.

My relationship with Mexico is quite distant, but at the same time deep, because my dad, my family in general was always totally passionate about Mexican music. In the sixties and seventies there was a lot of cultural exchange, not only through music, but also with movies. I am from a province in the south of Brazil that borders Argentina and Uruguay, so I always had many Latin American references and of course Mexican culture also arrived. So I am deeply linked and feel very fond of Mexico.

On this occasion I will be playing a new work of mine at the FESTIVAL PAAX GNP 2023 that I composed for four hands with a great Brazilian composer and guitarist named Sergio Asat. Sergio is an incredible composer, a guitarist too, and we made this music called Concertante Islands, three movements. The first is a Brazilian island in the northeast of Brazil, with a bay. The second is an island in the Canary Islands, it is called La Graciosa, a quite romantic raft. And the third is a freshwater island, between rivers in Argentina, it is a milonga to close the three-movement concert.

I believe that the public cannot miss the Festival PAAX GNP 2023 because of the number of different aspects it has, and the concept of creating an orchestra of soloists. The excellence of the musicians, of course, and also for that meeting that is something unprecedented and promises to be something that will remain in the memory of all of us.”

Omar Massa

BANDONEONIST

“I am very excited to be part of this Festival because it gives me the possibility of bringing to our beloved Latin America a little of the work that I am mostly doing in Europe and other countries. Doing it alongside an artist of professional and human quality like Alondra, a Latin American pride, makes it even more beautiful.

Mexico has been a very important part of my development as a composer and artist. Just 10 years ago, in 2013, the Palacio de Bellas Artes programmed my “Suite Patagonia” and my “Concertango” as part of a chamber series and I went on a very intense tour with my ensemble, performing at the City Festival of Mexico, the MUNAL, the Ollin Yoliztli Hall, the IMER, the National Conservatory of Music, the UNAM, the Metropolitan Cathedral and so many more halls that I don’t remember.

That tour was a key moment for me personally. It gave me the confidence I needed to undertake everything I later did in Europe. Mexico was like a friend that encourages you to give your all and move forward, that tells you “Let’s go! You have to believe in yourself and do your best!”

At the Festival we will present my Concerto for Bandoneon and Orchestra. It is a work that I wrote in 2019 as a commission from the Argentine Embassy and the Berlin Secretariat of Culture. It was premiered that year at the Berlin Philharmonic with me as soloist alongside the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. Two years later, in 2021, we recorded the CD “Nuevo Tango Concertos by Piazzolla and Massa”, which also includes this work. That album earned me several important nominations and a prize in Germany, so it is a work that I love very much.

I would tell the public to go to the Festival PAAX GNP 2023 because what Alondra has achieved is simply incredible. The greatest international artists, to see them you would have to take I don’t know how many planes and pursue them on tours through various countries. Instead, here they will all be together, and in a heavenly place! It is simply unbelievable.”

So now you know, you still have time to join an unparalleled experience, get your tickets at http://festivalpaaxgnp.com