LCCO’s next concerts will feature the world premiere of a newly commissioned work by composer Cody Criswell-Badillo. In the piece - named “Ofrenda No. 1” - Criswell-Badillo blends melodies from the Texas-Mexican folk songs Trigueña Hermosa (Beautiful Brunette) and Señora Santa Ana (Lady Santa Ana) as well as the quasi-folk song La Golondrina (The Swallow) in different styles of Mexican and Tex-Mex music.
Ofrenda is the Spanish word for offering and often refers to the offering placed in a home alter during the annual and traditionally Mexican Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration. The ofrenda is usually created by the family members of a person who has died and is intended to welcome the deceased to the altar setting.
The composer says this work is the first in a series of musical offerings to people dear to him. “Ofrenda No. 1 is for my great grandmother Adela,” said Criswell-Badillo. “I barely knew her since she never learned English and I never learned Spanish, but I do know how much she loved her Mexican music.”
“Ofrenda No. 1”will be performed along with the Armed Forces Salute and Schubert’s Symphony No. 4 in C-minor at LCCO’s FREE “Darkness and Light” concerts Saturday, May 21 (7:30) and Sunday, May 22 (3:00) at the Mann Center in Sanford.
Criswell-Badillo is a composer, percussionist, and guitarist. His music is informed by his experiences growing up in rural southwestern Oklahoma. He is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Oklahoma. Criswell lives in Baltimore with his wife and children. Learn more at www.codycriswell.com.
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