Piano Llanero at the Bolívar Hall

Wednesday 16th June 2004
Piano Llanero at the Bolívar Hall
7:30 pm.
free entrance
Bolívar Hall of the embassy of Venezuela
54 Grafton Way, London W1T 5DL

Claudia Calderón has produced a compilation of the best pieces for the harp from Los Llanos and from the Valley of the river Tuy (llanera harp and tuyera harp), and some from the Andean Colombo-Venezuelan tradition. In this exclusive repertoire for the piano, the pieces have acquired unsuspected dimensions, revealing a high degree of crystallisation in their forms and variations. The Andean ingredient, an appropriate stylistic complement to the music from Los Llanos, introduces here freshness and repose in the caressing sonorities of the "tiple" and the delicate compass of the melodies. In Claudia Calderón´s work for the piano, universal instrument par excellence, a deep cultural unity and shared history has come to light between the Colombian bambuco and pasillo and the Venezuelan joropos and waltzes.

Claudia Calderón, pianist and composer born in Palmira, Colombia, has lived in Venezuela since 1987. She studied in Cali, Bogotá and later in Hannover with David Wilde y Diether de la Motte and in Italy with Gyorgy Sandor, disciple of Béla Bartok. She has been faculty at the Conservatorio Nacional Simón Bolívar and the Instituto Superior de Estudios Musicales de Caracas.

For a number of years, Calderón has passionately studied the ethnic music from the plains, the mountains and the coasts of Venezuela and Colombia and published articles and essays on her findings in Colombia, Venezuela and France; she has also given lectures at the Historical Harp Society of the University of Amherst, Massachussetts and in the Universidad of Mainz.

She created the Fundación Editorial Arpamérica, an institution for the purpose of researching, rescuing and promoting the history of the harp through publications and new compositions. Calderón´s own works include solo piano pieces, chamber and symphonic music. This repertoire has been presented in Venezuela´s most important concert halls, and in international events, such as the Festival Cervantino de Guanajuato and the Week of Colombia in México, the Sala Luis Angel Arango in Bogotá, the Sala Zitarrosa de Montevideo, the University of Mainz in Germany, and in London at the Bolívar Hall, the City of London Festival, Canning House, and the Barbican Centre.

The CD Piano Llanero, published by the Fundación Bigott, contains highly original piano repertoire based on music for the harp, the mandoline and the bandola.

Rafael Brito, with a unique brilliancy and innovative style, is the leader of the new cuatro movement in Venezuela. He is currently director of the National Cuatro Department of the Simon Bolívar Foundation. Brito is a member of the Saúl Vera Ensamble, the Grupo Arcano, Alzheimer, Claudia Calderón's Piano LLanero and María Eugenia Méndez Jazz Ensemble. He composes, produces and directs musical shows and jingles in radio and television and appears as a singer in many recordings.

Roberto Koch, is one of the country's most versatile performers of the bass and double bass. His interests range from Venezuelan colonial and traditional music, salsa, jazz, flamenco and Latin American music.

He was bass of the Grupo Onkora, sharing the stage with the likes of Chick Corea and Gary Burton in 1996. His recordings include Onkora´s Con el Tiempo, Cecilia Todd´s Canciones de Henry Martínez., Simón Díaz´s Tangos. Aquiles Báez´s Reflejando el Dorado, He has accompanied international singers like the Argentinian María Marta Serra Lima, and the Mexican David Haro.He has also played with international jazz artists such as Steve Khan, Mario Canonge and Luis Perdomo.

José Pérez is a maracas player and percussionist born in San Fernando de Apure. He has performed with acclaimed harpists such as Joseíto Romero, Omar Moreno, Eudes Alvarez, Cándido Herrera, Henry Rubio, José Archila, Carlos Orozco, Carlos Tapia, Alexis Ojeda y Gustavo Sánchez and with singers Simón Díaz, Reyna Lucero, Cristóbal Jiménez, El Catire Carpio and El Carrao de Palmarito.