At holiday time in San Miguel, there are always music-themed events, but rarely is there an extravaganza on the scale of the Big Band Ball. On Thursday, December 14, in the elegant ballroom of the Hotel Real de Minas, three dozen dining tables will encircle a large dance floor and stage. On the stage, veteran bandleader Luis Gasca (who has toured and recorded with the likes of Count Basie, Herbie Hancock, Janis Joplin and Santana) will conduct a 17-piece orchestra, fronting an all-star mix of singers and instrumental soloists, from San Miguel and beyond.

Gasca will be conducting his band using the original Nelson Riddle charts prepared by the master arranger for Count Basie and Frank Sinatra “Live at the Sands.”

Headline singer Spencer Day has performed at Lincoln Center, the Hollywood Bowl and London’s West End. “One of the most beautiful singing voices around today,” raves Julian Fleisher of New York Public Radio. “What a prodigious talent!” echoes the Village Voice. “Dazzling,” concurs the San Francisco Chronicle.

Other star vocalists include Johnny Favorite, Katy Chan and Fil Formicola. The virtuoso instrumental soloists include Alfred Thompson on sax, Gabriel Hernandez on piano, and Lyka on violin.

Their musical forces will be enhanced by members of the Thornton School of Music, an academy at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, ranked as one of the top ten music schools in the United States.

The official starting time is 7:30pm, but if you arrive at 6:00pm, you can participate in a free ballroom dance lesson courtesy of the Arthur Murray Dance Studio.