14TH CHICAGO LATINO MUSIC FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES FEATURED ARTISTS AND CONCERT SCHEDULE OF LATIN AMERICAN & SPANISH CLASSICAL MUSIC
OCTOBER 3 – NOVEMBER 21
Featured artists include Spain’s leading concert pianist Daniel del Pino, virtuoso Cuban guitarist René Izquierdo, and Chicago harpsichordist David Schrader
Concert programming – the majority free – includes World Premiere of Nocturnes performed by Zohn Collective; Festival partners include Chicago-based all-female KAIA String Quartet, Instituto Cervantes of Chicago, Old Town School of Folk Music, Fulcrum Point, The Art Institute of Chicago, and more
CHICAGO (September 11, 2019) – The 14th Chicago Latino Music Festival, Chicago’s only Latino-focused classical music festival and one of few in the U.S., proudly announces its complete performance schedule from October 3 – November 21, 2019, at multiple venues throughout Chicago, featuring local talent as well as internationally acclaimed artists. This annual festival showcases an expansive range of classical music and celebrates Spanish and Latin American composers, with works often inspired by their Afro-Cuban, tango, flamenco and other far-reaching roots.
“Despite their huge contribution to classical music for hundreds of years, so many Spanish and Latin American composers remain unknown,” said International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago founder and executive director, Pepe Vargas. “The Chicago Latino Music Festival elevates these composers, and today’s musicians who are passionate about their works, so that our community understands that classical music comes from many regions and can be heard, appreciated and understood by all. The festival’s beautiful Latin soundscapes hail from the colonial period to today and offers an experience that is both cross-cultural and universal.”
In addition to presenting a roster of international soloists, such as Spain’s leading concert pianist Daniel del Pino and Cuban guitarist René Izquierdo, the Chicago Latino Music Festival features local artists including Chicago-born harpsichordist David Schrader and the all-female budding musicians KAIA String Quartet.
Performance highlights include the World Premiere of the literary-inspired Nocturnes, by Daniel Pesca, performed by Chicago group Zohn Collective and staged by celebrated puppet company La Coperacha; the festival culminates with a finale concert by Harmonia del Parnàs, an ensemble committed to reviving and restoring unknown or forgotten music scores by Spanish composers from the 17th and 18th centuries, that will perform music by Spanish composers from the 17th and 18th centuries.
The Chicago Latino Music Festival is a program of the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago (ILCC), co-curated by Artistic Directors and composers Gustavo Leone (Argentinian-born) and Elbio Barilari (Uruguay-born). For more information, visit http://latinomusicfest.org.
Chicago Latino Music Festival 2019 Schedule
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 6:00 PM
Festival opening with Spain’s Leading Concert Pianist, Daniel del Pino
Instituto Cervantes, 31 W. Ohio St.
$20 admission; $15 for members of International Latino Cultural Center & Instituto Cervantes
Tickets: latinomusicfest.org/
Daniel del Pino, one of Spain’s leading concert pianists on the international scene, will perform some of the most challenging works for piano, including Iberia by Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz (1905-1909), Danzas Españolas (Spanish Dances) by Enrique Granados’ (1809) and Rhapsodie Espagnole (Spanish Rhapsody), by Franz Liszt (1858).
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20, 4:00 PM
Zohn Collective Presents: Portals
Featuring World Premiere of “Nocturnes”
The University of Chicago, International House (Coulter Lounge),
1414 E. 59th St.
Free admission.
Portals will bring together two contemporary musical works based on literary texts, dramatized through puppetry: the world premiere of Nocturnes, composed by Daniel Pesca, as well as the scenic cantata Comala by Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, based on the classic Mexican novel Pedro Páramo. The concert—performed by Zohn Collective and staged by celebrated puppet company La Coperacha—illuminates fundamental themes of love, loss, and identity.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 7:00 PM
Latinx Electroacoustic Music & Poetry Latino Music Festival
In collaboration with Fulcrum Point Project
DePaul University, Allen Recital Hall, 2330 North Halsted St.
$20 admission/$10 for students, senior citizens, and members of International Latino Cultural Center & Instituto Cervantes
In partnership with The Poetry Foundation, Contratiempo and Young Chicago Authors, the community is invited to explore the powerful expressions of music, electronics, and poetry of Latin American artists who give voice to the magic and mysteries at the crux of spiritual, political, and intellectual forces. Young Chicago Authors and Poetry Foundation poets create the soulful contexts in which these diverse composers’ music resonates deeply.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 6:30 PM
Spanish & Mexican Music for the Harpsichord and the Clavichord
Featuring David Schrader
Chicago Public Library, Cindy Pritzker Auditorium, 400 S. State St.
A resident of Chicago, Schrader performs regularly with Music of the Baroque, the Newberry Consort, and Bach Week in Evanston. He has also appeared with The Chicago Chamber Musicians, Contempo (f.k.a. the Contemporary Chamber Players), the Chicago Baroque Ensemble, and The City Musick. He is a founding member of Baroque Band, Chicago’s period-instrument orchestra. Schrader is on the faculty of Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 6:30 PM
Music from Mexico, Argentina and Uruguay featuring Chicago Panamerican Ensemble
Chicago Public Library, Cindy Pritzker Auditorium, 400 S. State St.
Free admission.
Chamber music from Mexico, Argentina and Uruguay—from duets to septet—composed by Gutierrez Heras, Moncayo, Ginastera, Piazzolla and Del Aguila will be performed by Chicago Panamerican Ensemble with special guests from Eykamp String Quartet and pianist Joanne Chang.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 8:30 PM
René Izquierdo presents New Latin American Music for the Guitar
Old Town School of Folk Music, Maurer Hall, 4544 N. Lincoln Ave.
Free admission. RSVP required at oldtownschool.org.
Virtuoso guitarist René Izquierdo takes audiences on a musical journey through scores created by generations of Latin American composers. Izquierdo is a native from Cuba and is currently a professor of classical guitar at the Wisconsin State University in Milwaukee and an active solo performer and chamber musician.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2:00 PM
KAIA String Quartet: Mexican Modernist Music for String Quartet
The Art Institute of Chicago, Fullerton Hall 111 S. Michigan Ave.
Free with Museum admission.
The Chicago-based all-female KAIA String Quartet performs the colorful music of Mexico in conjunction with The Art Institute of Chicago’s current exhibition, In a Cloud, in a Wall, in a Chair: Six Modernists in Mexico at Midcentury. Select compositions by mid-century and contemporary Mexican composers include Metro Chabacano by Javier Álvarez, String Quartet No. 1 by Carlos Chávez, String Quartet No. 2 “Los Magueyes” by Silvestre Revueltas, and Cuarteto Virreinal by Miguel Bernal Jiménez.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 7:00 PM
Harmonia del Parnàs: Baroque and Classical Spanish Music
Instituto Cervantes, 31 W. Ohio St.
$20 admission; $15 for members of International Latino Cultural Center & Instituto Cervantes
As part of their commitment to reviving and restoring unknown or forgotten music scores, Harmonia del Parnàs is presenting a program of music by Spanish composers from the 17th and 18th centuries. This music that is seldom heard live, is a sample of the extensive heritage of music of Hispanic origin from Europe and the Americas. Proceeds for this event benefit the mission of the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago.
Harmonia del Parnàs will host a workshop on Spanish music with the Early Music Ensemble on Friday, November 22 at Logan Center.
FESTIVAL ARTISTIC DIRECTORS: Elbio Barilari & Gustavo Leone
Elbio Barilari is one of the founders of Volcano Radar, a Chicago ensemble devoted to the exploration of various cultural traditions. As a composer, Barilari has received commissions from the Grant Park Music Festival, Concertante di Chicago, Chicago Park District, Chicago Composer Forums, Orquesta Filarmonica de Montevideo, pianists Maria João Pires and Marcel Worms and guitarist Eduardo Fernández, and a grant from the Sara Lee Foundation. In addition to works for orchestra, chamber ensembles and solo instruments, he has provided scores for more than forty plays in the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. In 2007, his “Los Cantos for Soprano, Choir and Orchestra” was premiered at Lyric Opera of Chicago to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Chicago Children’s Choir. His “Lincolniana,” incorporating texts by Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman and featuring jazz trumpeter Orbert Davis, Goodman Theatre actor/director Henry Godinez and the Ondas Ensemble, was first heard at the Ravinia Festival in September 2008.
Gustavo Leone is a Professor of Music in the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at Loyola University Chicago. He holds a Ph.D. in composition from the University of Chicago. Leone is a recipient of a Walter Hinrichsen Award given by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His music scores are included in the catalogs of C.F. Peters, New York, Lyon and Healy, Chicago, and ONE-L, Chicago. Ensembles and organizations such as Grant Park Festival Orchestra, the Symphonic Orchestra of Michoacán, México, the Chicago Sinfonietta, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra have played, commissioned, and recorded Leone’s works. His work for the theater includes composing music for productions at companies such as the Indiana Repertory Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre, Goodman Theatre, and Yale Repertory Theatre.
ABOUT INTERNATIONAL LATINO CULTURAL CENTER OF CHICAGO (ILCC)
The International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago (ILCC) is a Pan-Latino, nonprofit, multidisciplinary arts organization dedicated to developing, promoting, and increasing awareness of Latino cultures among Latinos and other communities by presenting a wide variety of art forms and education including film, music, dance, visual arts, comedy, and theater. The Center prides itself for its outstanding multidisciplinary local and international cultural programming which spans Latin America, Spain, Portugal, and the United States.
Born out of the Chicago Latino Film Festival, The ILCC also produces other programs, such as Film in the Parks, also in its 14th season; the monthly Reel Film Club, already in its 10th year; and many others.
All in all, the audience has grown from 500 people in 1985 for the first Chicago Latino Film Festival to more than 70,000 (Latinos and non-Latinos), who enjoy the year-round multidisciplinary cross-cultural exchanges offered by the Center. For more information on the International Latino Cultural Center, please visit http://latinoculturalcenter.org.
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