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Music Monday | Mexico’s Second National Anthem, on Two Pianos | September 7, 2026
Some pieces of music escape the concert hall and come to belong to an entire country. “Danzón No. 2,” by the Mexican composer Arturo Márquez, is one of them. Written in 1994 and carried around the world by Gustavo Dudamel and his young Venezuelan musicians, it is so beloved that Mexicans simply call it their second national anthem.
Márquez, now 75 and one of Mexico’s most celebrated living composers, built it from the danzón, a sultry, syncopated ballroom dance born in Cuba and adored in the dance halls of Veracruz. The music smolders at first, a lone melody over a swaying pulse, then gathers heat until it erupts in pure, foot-stomping joy. Written for full orchestra, it loses none of its fire in the hands of two pianists.
As we count down to our 40th anniversary concert, here is proof that two pianos can set a room ablaze. Watch Duo Meksyk perform it in Poland.
