Fiesta Finale

In his 30th season as music director of the Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO), Grammy and Tony Award-winning conductor John DeMain is noted for his dynamic performances on concert and opera stages throughout the world. American composer Jake Heggie assessed the conductor’s broad appeal, saying, “There’s no one like John DeMain. In my opinion, he’s one of the top conductors in the world.” In January 2023 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Opera Association, the NOA’s highest award.

During his three decades in Madison as the MSO music director, DeMain has consistently raised the quality of the orchestra by introducing blind auditions and continuously expanding the repertoire to encompass ever more challenging and virtuosic works, including the highly-acclaimed performances of the complete symphonies of Gustav Mahler. DeMain also oversaw the move into the world-class Overture Hall and expanded the subscription season to triple performances.

His active conducting schedule has taken him to the stages of the National Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the symphonies of Seattle, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Columbus, Houston, San Antonio, Long Beach, and Jacksonville, along with the Pacific Symphony, Boston Pops, Aspen Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Orchestra of Seville, the Leipzig MDR Sinfonieorchester, and Mexico’s Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional.

Prior engagements include visiting San Francisco Opera as guest conductor for General Director David Gockley’s farewell gala, Northwestern University to conduct Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, and the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center in D.C. to conduct Kurt Weill’s Lost in the Stars. In 2019, he conducted the world premiere of Tazewell Thompson’s Blue at the Glimmerglass Festival to critical acclaim — he “drew a vibrant performance from an orchestra of nearly 50 players; the cast was superb.” (The New York Times) He was also planning to conduct the premiere of Blue at the Washington National Opera in March 2020.

DeMain also serves as artistic director for Madison Opera and in their 2023–2024 season conducts Tosca, The Anonymous Lovers, and Candide. He has been a regular guest conductor with Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center and has made appearances at the Teatre Liceu in Barcelona, New York City Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera, San Francisco Opera, Virginia Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Aspen Music Festival, Portland Opera, and Mexico’s National Opera.

During his distinguished 17-year tenure with Houston Grand Opera, DeMain led a history-making production of Porgy and Bess, winning a Grammy Award, Tony Award, and France’s Grand Prix du Disque for the RCA recording. In spring 2014, the San Francisco Opera released an HD DVD of their most recent production of Porgy and Bess, conducted by John DeMain.

DeMain began his career as a pianist and conductor in his native Youngstown, Ohio. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at The Juilliard School and made a highly-acclaimed debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. DeMain was the second recipient of the Julius Rudel Award at New York City Opera and one of the first six conductors to receive the Exxon/National Endowment for the Arts Conductor Fellowship for his work with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

DeMain holds honorary degrees from the University of Nebraska and Edgewood College and he is a Fellow of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. He resides in Madison and his daughter, Jennifer, is a UW–Madison graduate.

Recipient of the prestigious Medalla Bellas Artes, the highest honor granted by Mexico’s National Institute of Fine Arts, Jorge Federico Osorio has been lauded throughout the world for his superb musicianship, powerful technique, vibrant imagination, and deep passion. He has performed with many of the world’s leading ensembles, including the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Fort Worth, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Seattle, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico; the Israel, Warsaw, and Royal Philharmonics; RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra (Dublin), Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai (Torino), São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (OSESP), Moscow State Orchestra, Orchestre Nationale de France, Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Concertgebouw Orchestra. He has collaborated with such distinguished conductors as Marin Alsop, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, James Conlon, Bernard Haitink, Manfred Honeck, Mariss Jansons, Lorin Maazel, Ken-David Masur, Juanjo Mena, Jorge Mester, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Robert Spano, Klaus Tennstedt, and Jaap van Zweden, among many others. His concert tours have taken him to Asia, North, Central and South America, and Europe, where he has performed in Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Leipzig, Stuttgart, and Torino.

Osorio has given recitals recently in Los Angeles (The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts); Mexico City and Xalapa, Mexico; Aix en Provence, France; Highland Park, Illinois (Ravinia Festival); San José, Costa Rica; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Other recitals during the past few seasons have taken place in Berkeley, California (Cal Performances), Boston, and Chicago, where he has appeared on Symphony Center’s distinguished Piano Series on four separate occasions. He has also given two recitals in New York City at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, both of which were highly acclaimed by Allan Kozinn of The New York Times. North American festival appearances have included the Hollywood Bowl, Mainly Mozart, Bard, Newport, Aspen, Grant Park, and Ravinia, where he performed all five Beethoven Concerti with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Conlon in two consecutive evenings.

A prolific recording artist, Osorio has documented a wide variety of repertoire, including a solo Brahms CD that Gramophone proclaimed “one of the most distinguished discs of Brahms’ piano music in recent years.” Orchestral recordings include Beethoven’s five Piano Concertos and Choral Fantasy; both Brahms Concertos; and concertos by Chávez, Mozart, Ponce, Rachmaninov, Ravel, Rodrigo, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, and Weinberg. Osorio’s acclaimed solo recordings on Cedille Records include Final Thoughts – The Last Piano Works of Schubert & Brahms; Russian Recital with compositions by Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich; Salón Mexicano, comprising music of Mexican composers Manuel M. Ponce, Felipe Villanueva, Ricardo Castro, and José Rolon; an entire disc devoted to music of Ponce; a 2-CD set of Debussy and Liszt; and Piano Español, a collection of works by Albéniz, Falla, Granados, and Soler that received glowing reviews internationally and marked Osorio as one of the world’s great interpreters of Spanish piano music. In addition to Cedille, Osorio’s recorded work may be found on the Artek, ASV, CBS, EMI, IMP, and Naxos labels.

An avid chamber music performer, Osorio has served as artistic director of the Brahms Chamber Music Festival in Mexico; performed in a piano trio with violinist Mayumi Fujikawa and cellist Richard Markson; and collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma, Ani Kavafian, Elmar Oliveira, Henryk Szeryng, and the Pacifica and Moscow Quartets. He began studying the piano at the age of five with his mother, Luz María Puente, and later attended the conservatories of Mexico, Paris, and Moscow, where he worked with Bernard Flavigny, Monique Haas, and Jacob Milstein. He also studied with

Nadia Reisenberg and Wilhelm Kempff. Highly revered in his native Mexico, Osorio resides in the Chicagoland area.

Steinway Artist

The Grammy award winning ensemble, Mariachi Los Camperos was founded in 1961 by Jose Natividad “Nati” Cano Ruiz. Mr. Cano played a fundamental role in the development of mariachi music in the United States by training and mentoring new generations of mariachi musicians. The Mariachi “Giant” was a visionary leader that wanted to take the mariachi performance out of customary locations such as Cantinas and into concert halls where celebrities performed. Nati Cano fulfilled his dream by presenting Los Camperos and performing at casinos in Las Vegas, Reno, Sparks, Lake Tahoe and other places where mariachis had never previously performed. Los Camperos became well known and in 1964, they were the first Mariachi to perform in New York’s Carnegie Hall. In 1969, Mr. Cano opened the first ever Mariachi Dine and Show at “La Fonda Casa de Los Camperos” now known as a Landmark in the city of Los Angeles, California. Today, mariachi restaurants all over the world are modeled after La Fonda.

Mariachi Los Camperos, one of the most popular mariachi ensembles in the world, is noted for innovative shows and distinction as a concert ensemble. The group has performed for over 60 years on stage and television, including various PBS specials, “In Performance at the White House”, “The Spirit of Mexico”, “Viva La Tradicion” and others. Motion pictures such as: “Sex in the City 2”, “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” “Jerry Maguire” and many more. The Grammy Award-winning ensemble has recorded and performed with many artists including Pedro Fernandez, Pepe Aguilar, Angeles Ochoa, Eugenia Leon, Lila Downs, Alejandro Fernandez, Luis Miguel and many more. Including, the collaboration on Linda Ronstadt’s 1987 milestone album, “Canciones de Mi Padre” and Ronstadt’s sequel album, “Mas Canciones” (released in 1992), they toured with the singer nationwide.

On October 3rd, 2014, Los Camperos mourned the death of Nati Cano. His passing was greatly felt by followers, students and performers worldwide. Mr. Cano left the group to the musical director, Jesus “Chuy” Guzman whom has served as the musical director since 1992.

Chuy Guzman is known for his musical arrangements that highlight the skills and voices of the group. He is widely recognized as arranger, director, instructor, and musician in the genre of Mariachi music. Mr. Guzman has served as head instructor for numerous international mariachi festivals in the United States and Mexico. He is the Musical Director for the Mariachi Master Apprentice Program (MMAP) in San Fernando and continues as the instructor for Music of Mexico, at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Under Guzman’s direction, in 2006, Mariachi Los Camperos received a Grammy nomination for their Album “Llegaron Los Camperos.” In 2008, Mariachi Los Camperos took home a Grammy Award for Best Regional Mexican Music Album with “Amor, Dolor y Lagrimas”. They later released a 2015 Grammy-nominated musical tribute to Nati Cano called: Tradición, Arte, y Pasión, this album gave Mariachi Los Camperos a Grammy nomination. Determined for a Grammy Award, in January 2020 at the 62nd Grammy award celebration, Mariachi Los Camperos took home another Grammy Award with their album release “De Ayer Para Siempre” for Best Regional Mexican Music Album.