Nashville Symphony To Release Gabriela Lena Frank’s CONQUEST REQUIEM And Antonio Estévez’s CANTATA CRIOLLA

The Nashville Symphony, under the direction of Giancarlo Guerrero, will release a new recording pairing the world premiere of Gabriela Lena Frank’s Conquest Requiem with a performance of Antonio Estévez’s Cantata Criolla on November 14, 2025, via Naxos American Classics.

Recorded live in November 2022 at Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Conquest Requiem offers a reflection on Spain’s conquest of the Aztec Empire through the true story of Malinche—a Nahua woman who became an interpreter, advisor, and intermediary for Hernán Cortés. Frank’s large-scale work weaves together Western liturgical traditions, Nahua poetry, and Latin influences, blending text by playwright Nilo Cruz with her own translations of pre-Columbian verse.

Frank describes the piece as “a juxtaposition of traditional liturgical verses from the Latin Mass for the Dead against Nahua poetry… a meditation on colonization, survival, and identity.”

The album also features Estévez’s Cantata Criolla, subtitled Florentino, who sang with the Devil, which sets Venezuelan poet Alberto Arvelo Torrealba’s 1940 epic about a llanero who engages in a lyrical duel with the Devil himself. Since its 1954 premiere, the work has become a cultural landmark in Venezuela. Guerrero—who began his career in the country’s El Sistema program—calls it “one of the greatest 20th-century Latin American choral pieces.”

The Nashville Symphony is joined by the Nashville Symphony Chorus (Tucker Biddlecombe, director) with soloists Jessica Rivera (soprano), Aquiles Machado (tenor), Juan Tomás Martínez Yépez and Andrew Garland (baritones), Daniel Binelli (bandoneon), and Alcides Rodriguez (maracas).

TRACK LIST

Gabriela Lena Frank (b. 1972): Conquest Requiem (2017)

Text by Latin Mass for the Dead, Nilo Cruz, and attributed to Nezahualcoyotl

1. Introit: Cuicatl de Malinche (“Song of Malinche”)

2. Judex ergo cum sedebit

3. Dies Irae: Cuicatl de Martín (“Song of Martín”)

4. Recordare, Jesu pie

5. Rex Tremendae: El aullido de Malinche (“The Howl of Malinche”)

6. Confutatis maledictis

7. In Paradisum: Bendición de Malinche y Martín

Antonio Estévez (1916–1988): Cantata Criolla (“Florentino, who sang with the Devil”) (1947–54)

Text by Alberto Arvelo Torrealba (1905–1971)
8. Part I – El Reto (“The Challenge”)
9. Part II – La Porfía (“The Duel”)