The organizers of Carnaval Mazatlán 2007 (Feb. 15-20) have nailed down most of the major entertainment for next month’s citywide fiesta, whose theme is “Sorcery at the Old Port.” While better known in Latin America than north of the border, this lineup of performers has appealing credentials for anybody who likes a good show. The Election of the Queens on Feb. 3 will feature entertainment by the performing arts department of the Technological University of Monterrey, Guadalajara Campus. The Evening of the Arts, which takes place Feb. 6, will star Chilean soprano Cristina Gallardo Domas and the Sinaloa Symphony Orchestra with Mazatlán-born Enrique Patron de Rueda conducting. Gallardo Domas, who has made a career of interpreting “The Women of Puccini,” will present a program with just that title on the stage of the Angela Peralta Theater on the evening when the winners of the carnaval’s Antonio Lopez Saenz Prize for Painting are awarded their prizes. The soprano recently opened the 2006-2007 season at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York in the role of Cho-Cho-San, Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly.” Raul Rico Gonzalez, director of the Municipal Institute of Culture, Tourism and Art (CULTURA) and also head of the organizing committee for Carnaval Mazatlán, recently told the press that it ”is truly a great honor for Mazatlán to have a soprano of her quality for a performance at our Angela Peralta Theater.” For the coronation pageant honoring the Queen of Carnaval on the evening of Feb. 17 in the Teodoro Mariscal Stadium, the entertainment will be topped off by international recording star Ricardo Montaner. The Venezuelan vocalist who has sold more than 20 million records will dazzle his fans with romantic ballads

and some of the rhythms of his native country. Noel Schajris and Leonel Garcia, members of the prize-winning group Sin Bandera, will entertain the crowds on Feb. 19 during the pageant when the Child Queen of Carnaval is crowned in the Mariscal baseball stadium. Sin Bandera has garnered such awards as the Grammy Latino for Best Album by a Duet or Vocal Group, the MTV Latino and Billboard Latin Music prize. Yet to be confirmed at the Pearl’s deadline was the headliner(s) for the traditional cultural pageant that surrounds the coronation of the Queen of the Flower Games. Rico would only say that it would be an international show but would give no further details because the contracts had not been signed. He did say that the coronation of the King of Joy, a free show presented in the open air, will feature regional bandas and also include a homage to Mazatlán-born film star Pedro Infante commemorating the 50th anniversary of his death. And another carnaval freebie, the ship-to-shore fireworks battle always staged at Olas Altas on the Saturday of carnaval in memory of the heroic Battle of Mazatlán, will be repeated that same night on Paseo Claussen where many more people can see it from along the entire curve of the coastline from south of the Fisherman’s Monument to Valentino’s. Tickets for all carnaval shows go on sale at the Angela Peralta Theater and at the offices of CULTURA, Av. Aleman 203, from Jan. 2 through Feb. 19. Starting on Jan. 15, thanks to a new electronic system that allows real time selection and purchase of seats, tickets also can be purchased at a booth in the Gran Plaza shopping center. Prices run as follows: Election of the Queens, 120-250 pesos; Evening of the Arts, 200- 500 pesos; Juegos Florales (Flower Games), 50-300 pesos; Coronation of the Queen, 100-350 pesos; Child Queen Coronation Pageant, 50-300 pesos.