Event

VIVA! Music of Latin America.

Join Masterwork for VIVA! Music of Latin America. This concert features vivacious and electric choral music from Latin America, including Ariel Ramirez's Misa Criolla and the Lamentations of Jeremiah by Alberto Ginastera.

Ramirez, an Argentinian composer and pianist, wrote Misa Criolla in 1963 - 64. Each of its five movements is based on a different folk genre and is scored for soloists, choir, and chamber ensemble, including Andean folk instruments. The Washington Post described the work as "a stunning artistic achievement" which combines "Spanish text with indigenous instruments and rhythms". The Mass has been very successfully recorded; millions of copies have been sold throughout the world, and singers such as Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras have sung the solo roles.

Alberto Ginastera is considered one of the most important Latin American composers. Although his setting of the Lamentations of Jeremiah is his only significant a cappella choral work, it is a masterpiece of choral music, and one of Ginastera's most moving and intense works. Written in 1946, it sets the anguished words of the prophet Jeremiah lamenting the fall of Jerusalem. It is in three contrasting movements, depicting an emotional journey from wild, wailing despair to hopeful acceptance.

Smaller works on the program include Latin American folksongs and "O vos omnes", a motet by Pablo Casals, the extraordinary Spanish cellist and composer who spent the final years of his life in Puerto Rico.