International String Quartet of Yucatán concert

It’s the ISQY’s sixth season, and their first in their new home at Hacienda Santa Cruz.

There will be lots of wonderful new music, as well as the return of some old favorites, promises First Violin Christopher Collins Lee.

The group is managed by their colleague from the French horn section of the Yucatán Symphony Orchestra, Samuel Rafinesque, who is also director of the Mérida International Brass Festival.

At the ISQY’s new performance home, Hacienda Santa Cruz, the oldest buildings date from 1640, “40 years older than my violin!” says Collins Lee, who is also first concertmaster of the Yucatán Symphony Orchestra.

Hacienda Santa Cruz is off Exit 2 of the Periférico, a 20-minute drive from Centro. The new owners have installed air conditioning in the Grand Sala, just for ISQY. The restaurant, run by an award-winning female chef from Ciudad de Mexico, specializes in “gourmet Yucatecan food with a twist.”

Tickets may be purchased in advance — online at www.isqy.mx or Elektrotickets.mx. You can also buy your tickets in Centro at Teatro Fantasio, at various branches of Segafredo including Alta Brisa, or at the hacienda itself the night of the concert — for $210. The hacienda’s Grand Sala comfortably seats 80, with brand new bathroom facilities and valet parking.

On stage are:

Christopher Collins Lee, 1st Violin
Timothy Myall, 2nd Violin
Nikolay Dimitrov, Viola
Nadezda Golubeva, Cello

Concert schedule:
All concerts except Nov. 23 start at 8 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 20
Wednesday, Nov. 23 (7 p.m.)
Friday, Dec. 23 
Thursday, Jan. 5
Thursday, Feb. 2
Thursday, March 16
Thursday, April 20
Thursday, May 25 (Program: Joseph Haydn, Bedřich Smetana and Percy Grainger)
Thursday, June 1 (Program: Javier Álvarez, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonín Dvořák)