Camerata Features Living Latin Composers in October

Concerts features music by Osvaldo Golijov, Gabriela Lena Frank and Johannes Brahms

Recently nominated for two Latin Grammy awards for their recording of music by Uruguayan-American composer Miguel del Aguila (Salon Buenos Aires - Bridge 9304), Camerata San Antonio has a passion for Latin music and composers and is excited to share that passion with audiences during Hispanic Heritage Month with two contemporary works for string quartet by Osvaldo Golijov and Gabriela Lena Frank, paired with a recognized masterpiece of the repertoire, Johannes Brahms' Clarinet Quintet, Op. 115.

Osvaldo Golijov could be called a superstar composer - his premieres are hotly anticipated and greeted enthusiastically. He grew up in an Eastern European Jewish household in La Plata, Argentina. Born to a piano teacher mother and physician father, Golijov was raised surrounded by classical chamber music, Jewish liturgical and klezmer music, and the new tango of Astor Piazzolla, and that clash of musical influences is a hallmark of his compositions. The work featured on Camerata's program, Tenebrae, combines French Baroque quotations with imitations of tropical frogs and a cello melody thatshould sound "as a object in cosmic orbit."


Gabriela Lena Frank, born in 1972 in Berkeley, California, to a mother of mixed Peruvian/Chinese ancestry anda father of Lithuanian/Jewish descent, explores her multicultural heritage most ardently through her compositions. She has travelled extensively throughout South America andher pieces reflect and refract her studies of Latin-American folklore, incorporating poetry, mythology, and native musical styles into a western classical framework that is uniquely her own. Her work on Camerata's program, Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout, vividly depicts various characters of the Andes - thechasqui (an Incan running messenger), the llorona (a professional mourner), and the romancero (a gallant young man). Frank also uses the instruments of the string quartet brilliantly to evoke Andean instruments, such as the pan pipes, charango and guitars.


Both the Golijov and Frank works are for string quartet and the musicians performing will be Matthew Zerweck and Sayaka Okada (violins) Emily Freudigman (viola) and Ken Freudigman (cello). All are also musicians with the San Antonio Symphony. Joining them on the second half will be San Antonio Symphony Principal Clarinetist, Ilya Shterenberg, for the Brahms Clarinet Quintet, Op. 115.

Camerata will perform this program three times.
October 14 at 7:30pm in Kerrville at the First Presbyterian Church (800 E. Jefferson)
October 15 at 7:30pm in Boerne at the First United Methodist Church (250 E. James)
October 17 at 3:00pm in San Antonio at the Travis Park United Methodist Church (230 E. Travis)


The Frank and Golijov will also be previewed in a free lunchtime concert at Travis Park UMC on October 13 at noon, as part of the church's Second Wednesday at Travis Park Concert Series.