A rare Guarneri del Gesù is sounding inside Symphony Center this week, as violinist Anne Akiko Meyers joins the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for three performances of Arturo Márquez's concerto Fandango, running Thursday through Saturday. Meyers, who has family ties to Chicago through her father, spoke with CBS News Chicago about the performances, her connection to the city, her work with the CSO, and an upcoming Aerosmith project.
The run, according to CBS News Chicago, marks the concerto's debut with the orchestra, with Fandango drawing on the Spanish dance tradition and its musical evolution through the New World. Márquez composed the piece specifically for Meyers, the station reports, and guest conductor Giancarlo Guerrero leads the performances, with tickets available through the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
A Concerto Rooted In a Father's Memory
Fandango did not begin as a commercial commission so much as a personal one. Meyers approached Márquez in 2018 after falling for his Danzón No. 2, a request that prompted the Mexican composer to finally write the violin concerto he had carried in his heart for 25 years, according to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Fandango draws on the sound of mariachi bands, and Márquez’s father was a mariachi violinist.
That emotional backstory has translated into unusually fast global adoption. Since its August 2021 world premiere at the Hollywood Bowl, Fandango has been performed by 19 different orchestras worldwide ahead of this week's CSO debut, the orchestra notes. The piece's momentum culminated in two Latin Grammy wins in November 2024, Best Classical Album and Best Classical Contemporary Composition, for a live recording Meyers made with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, according to the same account from the orchestra. Musical America reports that recording captured live performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2022.
The Instrument Behind the Music
Meyers has the 1741 Ex-Vieuxtemps Guarneri del Gesù on exclusive lifetime loan. The instrument was sold to an anonymous buyer in 2012 for a reported price exceeding $16 million, per Strings Magazine.
Meyers later studied at Juilliard, according to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Guerrero's Growing Chicago Footprint
Leading the podium this week is Guerrero, who was named artistic director and principal conductor of Chicago's Grant Park Music Festival for its 2026 season, a role Hoodline detailed in its report on his Grant Park programming plans, which also listed Meyers among the festival's upcoming guest soloists. The CSO's program places Fandango between Puerto Rican composer Roberto Sierra's Fandangos, itself rooted in 18th-century fandango traditions, and Sir Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations, according to the orchestra.
The October 15 performance also anchored the CSO Latino Alliance's launch of its 2026-27 Nuestras noches season, which included a post-concert reception and Q&A with Guerrero in Orchestra Hall's Grainger Ballroom, the orchestra says. The live recording Meyers made with the Los Angeles Philharmonic was released in 2023 on Apple-owned Platoon.
