Here is our monthly summary about Cayambis composers and artists and their recent activities.
Carlos Camacho won the first prize in Panama’s Roque Cordero National Competition with the work, a Conjuration [to Electra], for solo marimba, SATB choirs and two percussionists.
In that same competition, Samuel Robles received two honorable mentions, one for Sur (symphonic band) and the other, for Veraguas (orchestra). Both are under preparation.
Federico Núñez has been involved in a recording project of didactic works for guitar:
In Santiago, Chile, Luis Pérez Valero’sDanzón para momentos tristes, for guitar ensemble, was premiered during the XV Festival of Contemporary Music that was held at the Catholic University in that city.
On October 24 in Lima, Alvaro Zúñiga’s short opera, No matarás, was premiered under the scenic direction of Jean Pierre Gamarra.
Nilo Velarde’s work, El Ayla, el agua y la vida, was recently performed on a didactic concert on October 31, at the Catholic University of Lima, Peru. The musicians were María Fuchs, violin; Leo Barraza, cello; Lito Santos, flute; Fari Laurente, piano; and Oscar Cavero, piano. On November 13 and 15, his opera, La ciudad bajo el mar, was presented in Cuenca, Ecuador, by the Symphony Orchestra of the University of Cuenca under the baton of William Vergara.
On November 5 in the Fedora Alemán Hall in Caracas, Venezuela, Luis Ernesto Gómez’sPoema tímbrico for percussion trio was given its premier performance by the Catatumbo Percussion Group during the XI International Percussion Festival that was held in that city. Also premiered was Naturaleza muerta introspectiva by Andrés Levell.
Comediantes, an opera in one act by Alvaro Zúñiga, was premiered on November 12 in Lima.
English pianist Martin Jones will play the world premiere of Anachronisms: Seven Preludes, by Kent Holliday. The concert will take place in Radford, Virginia’s Covington Center on November 19. The pieces were composed this past summer at Jones’s suggestion.
On November 22, Luis Pérez Valero will be presenting a paper about his work, Eremuk, at an ethnomusicological conference in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Cayambis artist Julie Koidin writes to remind us that her next “roda de choro” will be on Sunday, November 24, from 7-9 pm, and to please come and be part of the audience or bring an instrument and sit in! The details: Sabor a Café Steakhouse, 2435 W. Peterson Ave., Chicago, Illinois.
On December 6, Darwin Aquino will be conducting the Washington University Symphony Orchestra on a program that will feature international soloists Benedetta Orsi, mezzo-soprano; Dana Hotle, clarinet; and Amy Greenhald, viola. Aquino also writes to tell us that Florida Grand Opera has commissioned him for the Spanish translation of Cimarosa’s comic opera, Il matrimonio segreto, for an April 2020 premiere.
