Grammy Award-winning Mexican-American singer performs concert on Cinco de Mayo
Sunday, May 5, 2013 at 7 p.m.
Lila Downs by Ricardo Trabulsi
The Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas welcomes audiences to celebrate Cinco de Mayo when Mexican-American singer Lila Downs takes the Merchant Hall stage on Sunday, May 5, 2013 at 7 p.m. This dazzling artist and 2013 Grammy Award winner, who has been praised by the Los Angeles Times for her “stunning voice” and “confident multicultural vision,” fuses her own unique interpretations of indigenous Mexican music and her original compositions with blues, soul, jazz and African sounds. A pre-performance discussion, free to ticket holders, begins 45 minutes prior to the performance in the Hylton Center’s Buchanan Partners Art Gallery. Prince William Health System is the 2012-2013 Hylton Presents Season Sponsor.
“[Lila Downs] has earned her supreme confidence and reinvigorated the place in Mexican music where the popular and traditional sound collide.” (The Washington Post) Born in Oaxaca, Mexico, Lila Downs is the daughter of a singer from the Mixteca region in southern Mexico and a Scottish-American art professor and filmmaker. She grew up in Oaxaca, California and Minnesota, and graduated from the University of Minnesota with degrees in voice and anthropology.
For more than a decade, Downs has combined her passion for music with her love of ancient cultures to create an edgy and powerful sound bursting with international flair that explores topics of political and social justice, immigration and transformation. She has traveled across the globe with her band, La Misteriosa, featuring a group of multicultural multi-instrumentalists, including her collaborator, producer and husband, Paul Cohen.
Lila Downs By Elena Pardo
Downs’ marvelous vocal prowess and adventurous blending of genres have earned her a long list of accolades in the last decade. Since 1994, she has released 11 albums, and her most recent release, 2012’s “Pecados Y Milagros” (Sins and Miracles) on Sony Music México, won the 2012 Latin Grammy Award for “Best Folk Album” and the 2013 Grammy Award for “Best Regional Mexican Album.” Downs has appeared at major festivals and venues across the globe, including Carnegie Hall; the World of Music, Arts and Dance (WOMAD) Festival; and the Latino Inaugural Ball for President Obama in 2008. Downs was invited by filmmaker Julie Taymor to perform as a tango singer in the acclaimed 2002 film “Frida,” about the life of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. Downs also sang an Academy Award-nominated song on the film’s soundtrack, and subsequently became the first Mexican artist to perform at the Academy Awards ceremony. Her music has been featured in several other films including “Tortilla Soup,” “Real Women Have Curves,” “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada” and Carlos Saura’s “Fados.” Downs is currently working on a musical theater adaptation of Mexican author Laura Esquivel’s award-winning novel and film, “Like Water for Chocolate.”
Program will be announced from the stage.
The Hylton Performing Arts Center is pleased to recognize Prince William Health System
as the 2012-2013 Hylton Presents Season Sponsor
Tickets for LILA DOWNS are $28, $36 and $44. Visit the box office (open Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.) or charge by phone at 888-945-2468 or visit HyltonCenter.org. The Hylton Performing Arts Center is located on George Mason University’s Prince William Campus at 10960 George Mason Circle, Manassas, Va., 20110. FREE parking is available in the lot next to the Hylton Center. For more information, please visit HyltonCenter.org. Like us on Facebook at Facebook.com/HyltonCenter and follow us on Twitter at @Hylton_PAC.
