Music Amherst Symphony Orchestra: ¡Cuba y Brasil!

The Amherst Symphony Orchestra continues the fall 2018 season of the music of Spain and Latin America with music from Cuba and Brazil on Friday, Dec. 9, at 8 p.m. in Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College. Tickets are available on the day of the concert beginning at 7 p.m. in the lobby of Arms Music Center.

For more information, please call (413) 542-2195, email concerts@amherst.edu or visit amherstsymphonyorchestra.com.

Program
Tania León: "Alegre" ("Cheerful") and "La indígena" ("Indigenous")
Heitor Villa-Lobos: "Bachianas Brasilieras #5"
Zequinha de Abre: "Tico Tico"
George Gershwin: "Cuban Overture"
Traditional Cuban folk song: "La Paloma"

Traditional Afro-Cuban and agricultural worker Guajiro styles first incorporated in art music of Roldan and Caturla find their modern-day expression in the work of Cuban-born composer Tania León (b. 1943). The orchestra performs León’s boisterous and jazzy "Alegre" ("Cheerful") as well as the chamber work "La Indígena" ("Indigenous"), a collage of melodic memories evoking the sonic environment of León's childhood in Havana.

Sandwiched between Cuban repertoires is the ravishing "Bachianas Brasilieras #5" (1942/1945) for solo soprano and eight cellos, from a suite of nine works by the Brazilian master Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959), as well as the whirlwind showpiece "Tico Tico" by Zequinha de Abreu (1880-1935).
The concert closes with "Cuban Overture" (1932) by the American master George Gershwin (1900-1937), a giant rumba that draws on popular hits Gershwin absorbed during a vacation in Havana in 1932, followed by the traditional Cuban folk song "La Paloma."

For information on ticketing and directions to the concert, please see https://www.amherstsymphonyorchestra.com/musicians

Tickets may be purchased only at the door. Tickets are $10 for the general public; $5 for senior citizens, students with ID and children under 12; and free to Amherst and all Five College students with ID.