Online Concert, in collaboration with the Longy School of Music of Bard College
Purchase a digital Event Pass to join us for the Live Watch Party of the premiere of Amazonita on Saturday, Dec. 12 at 8pm, and enjoy new Video On Demand features that allow you to watch the concert again and again!
“Amazonita” is musically grounded in the cultural traditions of Peru, Colombia, and Brazil - countries that touch the Amazon River and surround the Amazon rainforest. Struck by these natural wonders, the program revels in the awe and beauty of the Earth and ancestral societies, and contemplates how modernity interacts with them.
In Milagros (Miracles), Gabriela Lena Frank imagines a visit to her mother’s native Peru and the “little miracles” she encounters along the way, from artifacts of long-gone indigenous civilizations, to the breathtaking vision of Lake Titicaca. Composed and recorded in 1972, Jacqueline Nova’s Creation of the Earth modifies recordings of creation chants of the U’wa peoples of Northeastern Colombia. The soundworld is both beautiful and terrifying, graphically depicting the ways technology and modernity can impact language, traditions, and human culture. Inspired by Bach and Villa-Lobos, Brazilian guitarist Paulinho Nogueira’s painfully lyrical Bachianinhas Nos. 1 and 2 follow in response. Brazilian-American composer Clarice Assad's energetic Obrigado loosely follows the arc of a traditional Umbanda religious ceremony drawing on Afro-Brazilian Umbanda religious chants and dances and ending with a "powerful message of gratitude for the gift of life."
Did you know? “Amazonita” was inspired by and is affectionately named as the “small” chamber music version of a themed A Far Cry program called “Amazonia” which can be found in the Criers’ Vault!
Musical Program
Gabriela Lena Frank | Milagros
Jacqueline Nova | Creación de la Tierra
Paulinho Nogueira | Bachianinhas No. 1 & 2 (arranged by A Far Cry)
Clarice Assad | Obrigado for Mandolin and String Quartet
All programs and dates are subject to change.
This program is in collaboration with the Longy School of Music of Bard College, and was filmed at Longy’s beautiful Pickman Hall.
