Arturo Marquez, México Born in 1950, Marquez is the foremost Mexican composer of his generation.   His works show richness, variety and an impeccable craftsmanship.  He has created his own musical language, as a result of his own music background: piano, violin, trombone, music bands, jazz, rock, and music studies with some of Mexico’s leading composers, such as Gutierrez Heras, Quintanar, Ibarra, Enriquez.  He did post-graduate studies in music in France and the United States, where he worked on electronic music techniques with Morton Subotnick.  Marquez has been praised for his deep knowledge of Mexican traditional music, which he has successfully employed in his own music without falling victim to the “folksy” stereotypical idioms.  He is an accomplished arranger and orchestrator.  Marquez has said of Danzon No. 2 that he wrote it while traveling to Malinalco with the painter Andres Fonseca and the dancer Irene Martinez. Both of his travelling companions were experts in social dances and both loved the danzon, which they indulged in dance halls in the port city of Veracruz and the popular Salon Colonia in Mexico City.   From sharing these dance experiences of his two friends, Marquez learned the rhythms, the forms, and the melodic twists of the dance.  He also listened to old recordings of the legendary Acerina and his Danzonera.  In his own words, Marquez explains the significance of this beautifully, melodic work:   “I discovered that the apparent lightness of the danzon hides a music full of sensuality and rigor, music that our old folks live with, nostalgia and joy, a world that we can still grasp in the dance music of Veracruz and the dance halls of Mexico City.  Danzon No. 2 is a tribute to this world that nurtured it.  It tries to get as close as possible to the dance, to the nostalgic melodies, its monotonous rhythms, and although it desecrates its intimacy, its form and its harmonic vocabulary, it is a personal way of expressing my admiration and feelings towards real popular music”.