The Day of the Dead will have an evening in Symphony Hall

The concert – which of course takes place on Friday, Día de Muertos itself, in Symphony Hall – is of course not the Pops’ first foray into Latin American music. In recent years, Arturo Rodriguez’s “Noche de Posadas (The Night of Las Posadas)” has been added to the orchestra’s holiday repertoire, and Lockhart is quick to point out with amusement that the Pops are a Latin Grammy-nominated ensemble, courtesy of van “The Latin Album” (2000). Still, dedicating an entire concert to the Day of the Dead, the festive commemoration of loved ones from the past that takes place every year on the first two days of November, is a significant statement from an orchestra that has spent the past few years working to diversifying its programming. year.

That turned out to be as easy as looking at Boston itself. “We decided to give the whole show a very local character,” says Lockhart. “We really wanted it to feel like a collaboration with musicians from the community and not just bring a famous Mexican singer from somewhere else to do the concert.” To that end, the concert (featuring works by Mexican composers such as Rodriguez, Gabriela Ortiz and José Pablo Moncayo, in addition to a suite from the Pixar film “Coco”) will feature performances by two celebrated Boston artists making their Pops debut: Veronica Robles and her Mariachi Ensemble (Boston’s first all-female mariachi band) and Zaira Meneses, the internationally acclaimed classical guitarist with a passion for the son Yarocho folk style, which combines elements of Mexican, African and Sephardic music.

For Meneses, who arrived in Boston in 2001 and studied at the New England Conservatory of Music, there is an element of acceptance in the concert, even without her intervention. “What I love about the Boston Pops is that they take a community to the next level,” she says. “They pay tribute, they give recognition. I started saying to you, I didn’t belong, right? So now that the Boston Pops are presenting Día de Muertos, I feel like, “Oh, okay, I’m part of Boston.” I feel welcome.”

In Robles’ case, it’s more of a justification. “When I came here, someone said to me: ‘What are you doing here? Why don’t you go to California? There are no mariachis here. People, they’re not used to listening to mariachi music.” And I’m like, ‘No, I want to stay in Boston,'” she says, laughing. “It took a long time for Boston to understand that I was a performing artist, because people think of a mariachi in a restaurant with fajitas everywhere.”

This clarification of misconceptions was even implemented during the Pops concert itself. Robles describes her own experience with Día de Muertos – getting to know the grandfather who had died before she was born during the holiday and using it to cope with the loss of her teenage daughter and keep her present – ​​and how she helped the dads advise on how to properly decorate Symphony Hall for the event.

“We were talking about Día de los Muertos, putting an altar at the entrance to the theater, and people were talking about skeletons and I said, ‘You should post pictures of people from BSO who are someone people remember.’ ” says Robles. ‘You don’t have to post anything else. Just put up the flowers and the photos.” Because when people come in, they’re going to see those pictures, people who used to come to Symphony Hall. They know the history and story of the Boston Symphony Orchestra people in the room. I think that’s it.”

Even with the specifics of the holiday, that’s something with universal resonance, and Lockhart is careful to emphasize that the concert isn’t just for one constituency. “I don’t believe you should have a Día de Muertos concert and expect the room to be filled with 2,000 people who are Mexican or celebrate that holiday,” he says. “I think our music is for everyone, and I think that’s a two-way street. We have to be hospitable and we have to be a platform where people, even those who are not familiar with this tradition, can fall in love with it.”

And of course, Día de Muertos is above all a celebration, something that translates into different languages ​​and cultures. Says Meneses as she prepares to perform with the Pops for the first time: “The fact that they’re putting on a concert and doing their best in a very respectful way is just really beautiful. It drives everyone crazy. All my friends are coming, and for me it’s huge. I mean, I try not to think about it… I just focus on the fun part. Let’s have fun.”

BOSTON POPS: CELEBRATING DÍA DE MUERTOS – THE DAY OF THE DEAD

At Symphony Hall, Friday, November 1, 7:30 p.m

Marc Hirsh can be reached at [email protected] or on Bluesky @spacecitymarc.bsky.social