For many people, Walt Disney’s 1940 animated film “Fantasia” was their first experience of Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring,” a sublime and savage work that Leonard Bernstein called “the most important piece of the 20th century.” Premiered in 1913 as a ballet, its pounding rhythms, whirling melodies, snarling chords and chaotic energy are more familiar today as a concert suite. Music Director Designate Paolo Bortolameolli, a Chilean-Italian who also is Music Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional Esperanza Azteca in México and Principal Guest Conductor of Orquesta Filarmónica de Santiago in Chile, conducts two works by contemporary Mexican composer Arturo Márquez, Danzón No. 8 and “Místico y Profano Guitar Concerto.” The latter welcomes back Spanish guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas who collaborated with the composer and premiered the concerto in Mexico City in July 2025. After you hear it, you’ll leave the concert hall humming its melodies. “Villegas’s subtlety, passion, technical command, and dramatic flair made this the high point of the evening.” – San Francisco Recital Review