Music and Art in the Mexican Revolution

Part of TŌN’s Sight & Sound series

Sight & Sound goes “on the road” this season while The Met Museum is under construction, bringing TŌN’s popular music-and-visual-art series to new locations! Each performance includes a discussion with conductor and music historian Leon Botstein accompanied by on-screen images and live musical excerpts, followed by a full performance of the works discussed.

The Mexican Revolution birthed a fiercely proud, independent national identity. The government funded massive public art projects, directly sparking the famous Mexican Muralist Movement led by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and José Clemente Orozco. This intense period of cultural nationalism also inspired the highly rhythmic, folklore-driven music of composers like Carlos Chávez, José Pablo Moncayo, Manuel Ponce, and Silvestre Revueltas later in the 1920s and 30s.