New York City based mezzo-soprano Anna Tonna and pianist Max Lifchitz join forces on Tuesday evening October 29 to perform a program highlighting art songs by composers from throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. The event is being marks the beginning of the 34th consecutive season of free-admission concerts sponsored by North/South Consonance, Inc.
The program will feature a panoramic view of the Latin American art song repertoire written during the 20th century. It will include songs by Carlos Chávez and
Manuel M. Ponce (from México); Modesta Bor (from Venezuela); Antonio
Valencia (from Colombia); Alejandro García-Caturla (from Cuba); Carlos Guastavino (from Argentina); and
Heitor Villa-Lobos (from Brazil). Also on the program will be the New York premiere of a song cycle inspired by Federico García-Lorca's poetry written by the late Mexican-American composer Ramiro Cortés as well as the first performance of Perfume, a new song cycle written especially for the occasion by Darwin Aquino, a young composer from the Dominican Republic.
Art Songs from Latin America, with works by Darwin Aquino, Modesta Bor, Alejandro Caturla, Carlos Chávez, Ramiro Cortés, Carlos Guastavino,
Manuel M. Ponce, Antonio
Valencia &
Heitor Villa-Lobos, will feature performers Anna Tonna, mezzo-soprano and
Max Lifchitz, piano. The concert is set for today, October 27 at 3 PM at Christ and St Stephen's Church, 120 West 69th St, New York, NY 10023. Free Admission.
Please visit
www.northsouthmusic.org for further information.
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS:
"A born star who effectively stole the show" is how the press describes New York City based mezzo-soprano Anna Tonna. Her performances have been depicted as "...full of charm and magnetism with her dark, compact lyric mezzo-soprano ideally suited for the flamenco-like vocal flourishes of Spanish music."
Well known for her commitment to the music of Spain and Latin America, Ms. Tonna was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study and perform in Spain upon her graduation from the Mannes
College of Music. Reviewing her appearances in Puerto Rico as part of the Casals Festival, Luis Hernández Mergal from El Nuevo Día in San Juan remarked: "...the traditional modal harmonies where interpreted with mastery.... She knew how to bring out the contrasts between the picaresque tones of the hillbilly character as well as the African cadences of the Nicolas Guillén text."
Pianist
Max Lifchitz has appeared on concert stages throughout Europe, Latin
America and the US. The San Francisco Chronicle described him as "a stunning, ultra-sensitive pianist" while the New York Times praised him for his "clean, measured and sensitive performances."
Lifchitz was awarded the first prize in the 1976 Gaudeamus Competition for Performers of Contemporary Music held in Holland. His concert appearances throughout Latin
America have been underwritten by the Fund for US Artists at International Festivals. Recently, he appeared as conductor of the Houston-based Foundation for Modern Music Ensemble and as pianist in the Grand Canyon Music
Festival (Arizona); the Nuovi Spazi Musicali
Festival (Rome, Italy); the
Barcelona Festival of Song (Spain); and the Inter-American
Festival of the Arts in Puerto Rico.
Lifchitz appears as collaborative artist and conductor in over fifty compact disc albums, including nine widely praised solo albums featuring piano music from the Americas.
