Last Saturday was the second work in progress performance of the suite of music about La Peña. The suite was written by Wayne Wallace with libretto by Aya de Leon and performed by the La Peña International Orchestra.

The enthusiastic audience was comprised of people who had been coming to La Peña from the beginning, over thirty years ago, to people who had come for the first time that night. It had a very community feel as time was given at the end for audience members to ask questions or make comments about the night.

Spoken word, singing, music and video all came together to tell the history of La Peña and it’s importance in the community and Bay Area music scene. It will be exciting when this suite has it’s official premiere in 2010 to help mark La Peña’s 35th anniversary.

Visual art was also a big part of the night. There was an art installation curated by Hector Salgado titled,”Creating Home Away from Home”.

There were also several newly commissioned murals in the main theater.

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It’s so inspiring to see the work of composer, Wayne Wallace and librettist Aya de Leon and all the great musicians of the La Peña International Orchestra come together to create this living, breathing performance about our community’s history! I hope folks can come see the performance on June 13th!

The second rehearsal of La Peña-Ayer, Hoy, y P’alante last Friday was so exciting. DJ Wonway Posibul put excerpts of community member interviews onto vinyl to integrate into Aya de Leon’s libretto. Those stories combined with the music and spoken word added an incredible layer to this piece. It was also great to hear Lichi’s new song, and Wayne’s music come to life. Congratulations La Peña International Orchestra!