Berkeley Choro Ensemble and Special Guest, Claudia Villela

500 Coventry Road, Kensington, CA,Kensington CA 94707

23 October, 2021

Description

Berkeley Choro Ensemble presents our first live in-person concert in two years in a beautiful outdoor amphitheatre in Kensington. Masks and vaccine proof required to attend this event. Please be aware this is an outdoor event in a residential neighborhood. Please park in legal spots only. "No Parking" signs are strictly enforced. Please be prepared to walk several blocks in hilly terrain. Folding chairs are provided, and beverages and snacks are available for purchase as well. Performing in this magnificent outdoor space in Kensington under the redwoods, we'll feature music from our choro repertoire, and share arrangements which were created in 2020-21 for our choro festival celebrating women in Brazilian music. The concert will include some vocal selections with special guest Claudia Villela, including compositions by Luciana Rabello, Chiquinha Gonzaga, Jacob do Bandolim and Ricado Peixoto and Claudia Villela. If this event is cancelled due to weather or unsafe air, it will be rescheduled. Ticket purchases can be refunded or credited to another performance per request. The Berkeley Choro Ensemble (pronounced "shoro"), is a group of world-class musicians from the SF Bay Area that made its debut in January, 2010, at the Berkeley Public Library. The group celebrates the music, culture and history of Brazil, with a special emphasis on the Choro genre, a style of music which emerged in the 1800's in Brazil, fusing the music of Brazil's European immigrants and the native music of Brazil's indigenous and African-Brazilian population. In particular, the choro sound is somewhat akin to a combination of European classical music, ragtime, and blues. Historically, the choro style influenced Brazil's most famous classical composer, Heitor Villa Lobos, to compose some of the world's most hauntingly beautiful music, the Bachianas Brasileiras. Our repertoire also includes samba, bossa nova, jazz, and the music of Northeast Brazil. Flutist Jane Lenoir is the founder of Berkeley Choro Ensemble and the Berkeley Festival of Choro. Trained classically as a young student at Interlochen Arts Academy and the Oberlin Conservatory, she has performed as an orchestral musician and soloist in many diverse styles, including new music, jazz, world, latin styles, and early music. Her love of Brazilian music dates to her introduction to Rio clarinetist, Paulo Sergio Santos, in 2008, by her sister, the late clarinetist Annie Lenoir. She has recorded two recent albums of Brazilian music: The View from Here (2018) with Berkeley Choro Ensemble, and Jane Lenoir plays Penezzi (2017), with São Paulo guitarist/composer Alessandro Penezzi, featuring his compositions. She is co-director of the Berkeley Festival of Choro. Other recent recordings include sessions with Léa Freire, Rogerio Souza, Paulo Sergio Santos, Caio Marcio dos Santos. Multi-instrumentalist and composer,clarinetist Harvey Wainapel, has forged a well-earned reputation as one of the foremost artists in Brazilian styles in the US today. Trained as a jazz saxophonist and celebrated for his numerous recordings in the jazz idiom, Harvey has spent many years touring and studying in Brazil with the leading musicians of the day, including Airto and Flora Purim, ..... His 2006 CD, Amigos Brasileiros, received rave reviews as a testament to the history of Brazilian styles of music. With over 40 Brazilian musicians represented on the CD, it was a musical odyssey and labor of love. In 2014, Amigos Brasileiros Volume 2 came out to rave reviews. Harvey has contributed extensively to the repertoire of Berkeley Choro Ensemble through his in-depth research of the choro repertoire, and his arrangements of compositions by living Brazilian composers for our concerts. Originally from Rio de Janeiro and based in the Bay Area, guitarist/composer Ricardo Peixoto is among the top representatives of Brazilian guitar in the US, with a fluid melodic style and a keen compositional sense. His performances explore Brazil’s rich and diverse traditions, both in his original work as well as in arrangements of Brazilian classics. His approach is grounded both in the jazz and Brazilian music traditions, but always ventures well beyond their borders, combining rich melodies, sophisticated harmonies, and the unmistakable rhythms of Brazil. Ricardo came to the US on a scholarship to the Berkeley School of Music in Boston, and later continued his studies in classical guitar at the SF Conservatory of Music.He has recorded, performed, and collaborated with, among others, Claudia Villela, Flora Purim and Airto, saxophonist Bud Shank, percussionist Dom Um Romão, Toots Thielemans, Dori Caymmi, Guinga, guitarist Carlos Oliveira, Harvey Wainapel, Marcos Silva and Terra Sul. He has performed throughout the US, Europe, Canada, Japan and Brazil. Percussionist Brian Rice graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy and Oberlin College Conservatory of Music with a B.M. in Percussion Performance and Ethnomusicology. A well-rounded musician, Brian is a highly acclaimed performer, educator and recording artist adept at numerous musical styles ranging from classical and jazz, to Latin, Afro-Cuban, and Brazilian, to contemporary and experimental music. Brian's study of the Brazilian pandeiro began in 1986 when the Sao Paulo State University percussion ensemble visited Oberlin and percussionist/composer Carlos Stasi, then a student at SPSU, gave Brian a quick pandeiro lesson after the concert. Since then Brian's obsession with the pandeiro has led him to study with Guello, Marcos Suzano, Airto, Claudio Bueno and Clarice Magalhaes, and his prowess on the instrument has led him to perform with numerous Brazilian artists including, Jovino Santos Neto, Paulo Sergio Santos, Danilo Brito, Dudu Maia and Jorge Alabe. It was studies with Marcos Suzano that inspired Brian to expand his use of the pandeiro outside the Brazilian music world and apply it to Balkan, Celtic, Middle Eastern, Spanish, and Cuban music with great effect. Brian is on the faculties of UC Berkeley and UC Davis as a percussion instructor in latin and Brazilian styles. “A Brazilian-born genius with a blistering voice" (JazzTimes), the dynamic Rio-born artist Claudia Villela has developed a reputation as a singularly unique singer, pianist and composer, lending her five-octave voice to work with jazz luminaries including Kenny Werner, Michael Brecker and Toots Thielemans. Inspired to sing from hearing the intoxicating sounds emanating from the samba school behind her grandmother’s house, Villela began singing professionally as a teen and eventually moved to the Bay Area. A scholarship to New York’s Manhattan School of Music and studies with the legendary Sheila Jordan cemented Villela’s jazz credentials, and she returned to California as an artist on a mission to create fresh, original music born of her Brazilian upbringing and passion for jazz. She blends the ever-present samba of her native Brazil with jazz, blues, and songs from around the globe, inspiring the iconic San Francisco Chronicle critic Phil Elwood to enthuse, “Villela doesn't just sing – she actually dances with her voice on top of Brazilian beats.” Her recorded albums, including Inverse Universe (2003, with guitarist/composer Ricardo Peixoto and the legendary harmonica player Toots Thielemanns as guest artist), and in 2004, with pianist Kenny Werner, entitled Dream Tales, demonstrate her amazing abilities as a composer an vocal improviser. She frequently collaborates with Brazilian guitarist Romero Lumbabo, Vitor Gonçalves and others.