(Above) A dancer performs at last year's Boston Pops Día de Muertos concert; (Below right) Veronica Robles waves to the audience during the 2024 concert; (Below left) Latin pop icon Juan Gabriel performing in 2014. The singer-songwriter died in 2016.

Boston’s Symphony Hall, revered home of Beethoven and Bach performances, is about to get a spicy makeover. To kick off the second annual Día de Muertos at the hall, the Boston Pops will perform the energetic “Antrópolis” by Gabriela Ortiz, a composition inspired by Mexico City’s nightclubs.

Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a Mexican holiday focused on remembering loved ones who have passed on. The celebration usually includes music, performances, sharing memories and putting loved ones’ favorite things on an Ofrenda [an altar] for them to enjoy in the afterlife.

This year’s concert is a tribute to Juan Gabriel, a Mexican performer beloved for his flamboyant style and ability to blend genres ranging from mariachi to disco. The program will feature a performance by local cultural leader Veronica Robles. She’ll sing “Querida,” a well-known ballad of Gabriel’s as well as “Tata Dios,” a folksong about accepting death that feels in tune with the holiday.

Previously, Robles has performed with her all-female mariachi band but this year she will take the stage solo. she hopes this performance will educate Bostonians about the holiday and create a safe space for shared memories.

“I want to make sure that people continue to understand that the Dia de Muertos is a moment to celebrate our loved ones,” said Robles. “It's a healing opportunity to bring it out to the community, to your loved ones, to talk about what you are afraid to, or you don't feel comfortable with regularly during the year.”

Audiences will also hear original songs and Gabriel hits from Grammy-winning Mexican singer-songwriter Ely Guerra and La Marisoul, lead singer of the Grammy-winning Latin music band La Santa Cecilia.

It’s not only the music that will convey a celebratory atmosphere. Concertgoers can order traditional Día de Muertos food and drinks and Symphony Hall will be decked out in cultural decorations. The concert takes place on Nov. 1 at Symphony Hall on Huntington Avenue. Tickets start at $40.

This celebratory concert is part of the larger “E Puribus Unum: From Many, One” initiative that will explore the pluralities of American identity throughout the symphony season. As part of this initiative, the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra will also make its Boston debut next month.

Josué González, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Helaine B. Allen vice president of education and external engagement said, “The November ‘E Pluribus Unum’ series invites our community to experience and learn about how Latino voices shape a collective understanding of our American identity and cultural life.”

ON THE WEB

learn more about the concert at bso.org/events/day-of-the-dead-2025