Music to be inspired by horse whisperer

By Freya Bergren

The Orchestra of New Spain (ONS) will present its second Concert of the 21-22 season with the Tom Lea Project on Sunday, Nov. 14 at 3 p.m. at the Texas Hall of State at Fair Park. Tickets are $45 and include the concert, wine reception and a presentation on Lea’s book “The Hands of Cantú.” This concert finds ONS in the Great Hall of Fair Park’s Hall of State in a collaborative event with the El Paso based Tom Lea Institute. Tom Lea, native son of El Paso, was a prolific illustrator, artist, war correspondent, muralist and writer whose two magnificent murals have recently been restored along with the Hall of State. Annually the Tom Lea Project places an event honoring him in a different Texas city and we’ve been chosen in 2021 to focus on Lea’s illustrated historical novel “The Hands of Cantú,” which describes a horse whisperer who in the 16th century trained the Spanish horses imported to Mexico and subsequently the Southwest United States. 

Adair Margo, founder of the Institute, will present the story and ink-wash illustrations all in the stunning art-deco setting of the Hall of State, which originally commissioned the Lea murals. The subject is sure to be of interest to equestrians and historians of the Southwest. To coincide with the time period, ONS will provide music of the Spanish Renaissance and Baroque, which is rich with its choral tradition and dance rhythms. “This is a wonderful opportunity to link our Spanish early music with an unusual voyage of discovery, bringing prized Spanish horses to the New World,” said ONS Artistic Director Grover Wilkins. “‘Hands of Cantú’ is a ‘chef d’oeuvre’ of the world of horsemanship. Lea’s description of those hands brings them right into one’s imagination. The music we put with this includes one work that describes the classic Spanish jousts in which canes rather than lances are used. An extraordinary comment on the Renaissance in the New World and in Spain.” Wilkins continued, “Early Mexican baroque is brought into focus with works by Italian transplant Ignacio Jerusalem and Native-born Manuel de Sumaya.”

The concert will also be live streamed. Tickets available at Ticketdfw.com.