Cuarteto Latinoamericano
Encyclopedia
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
from Latin America. They have toured extensively in Europe, the Americas, Israel, China, Japan and New Zealand. The recipient of a Mexican Music Critics Association award in 1983 and "most adventurous programming" awards from CMA/ASCAP in 1997, 1999 and 2000, the group has introduced more than a hundred works written for them and has participated in over a hundred world premieres.
Formed in Mexico in 1981, Cuarteto Latinoamericano was, from 1987 until 2008, quartet-in-residence at Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
in Pittsburgh. They have collaborated with many artists including cellists Janos Starker
János Starker
János Starker |Kingdom of Hungary]]) is a Hungarian-American cellist. Since 1958 he has taught at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he holds the title of Distinguished Professor.- Child prodigy :...
and Yehuda Hanani, pianists Santiago Rodriguez
Santiago Rodríguez
Santiago Rodríguez is a province of the Dominican Republic. It was split from Monte Cristi in 1948.-Location:The Santiago Rodríguez province has the Monte Cristi and Valverde provinces to the north, the Santiago province to the east, the San Juan and Elías Piña provinces to the south and the...
, Cyprien Katsaris and Rudolph Buchbinder, tenor Ramón Vargas
Ramón Vargas
Ramón Vargas is an award-winning Mexican operatic tenor. Since his debut in the early '90s, he has developed to become one of the most acclaimed tenors of the 21st century. Known for his most expressive and agile lyric tenor voice, he is especially successful in the bel canto...
, and guitarists Narciso Yepes, Sharon Isbin
Sharon Isbin
Sharon Isbin is a widely-recorded American classical guitarist, recording artist, concertizer, and the founder of the Guitar Department at the Juilliard School.-Early life and education:...
, David Tanenbaum and Manuel Barrueco
Manuel Barrueco
Manuel Barrueco is a Cuban virtuoso classical guitarist. He was born in 1952 in Santiago de Cuba, on Cuba's southeastern shore. He has toured in the U.S., Europe and Japan, and serves on the faculty of Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland.-Biography:...
. With Barrueco, they have played in some of the most important venues of the USA and Europe, have recorded two cds, and commissioned guitar quintets from American composers Michael Daugherty
Michael Daugherty
Michael Kevin Daugherty is an American composer, pianist, and teacher. Influenced by popular culture, Romanticism, and Postmodernism, Daugherty is one of the most colorful and widely performed American concert music composers of his generation...
and Gabriela Lena Frank. The work by Frank, Inca Dances, won a Latin Grammy in 2009 for Best New Latin Composition.
Under the auspices of the Sistema Nacional de Orquestas Juveniles of Venezuela
El Sistema
El Sistema is a publicly financed voluntary sector music education program in Venezuela, originally called Social Action for Music. Its official name is Fundación del Estado para el Sistema Nacional de las Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela, , and sometimes translated to English as...
, the Cuarteto has created the Latin American Academy for String Quartets, based in Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
, which serves as a training ground for five select young string quartets from the Sistema. The Cuarteto visits the Academy four times a year. The Cuarteto Latinoamericano is represented by Thomas Gallant, at MCM Artists.
Recordings
Cuarteto Latinoamericano have recorded over fifty CDs, which include the complete works for quartet by Heitor Villa-LobosHeitor Villa-Lobos
Heitor Villa-Lobos was a Brazilian composer, described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the best-known and most significant Latin American composer to date. He wrote numerous orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal works...
, Silvestre Revueltas
Silvestre Revueltas
Silvestre Revueltas Sánchez was a Mexican composer of classical music, a violinist and a conductor.-Life:...
, Alberto Ginastera
Alberto Ginastera
Alberto Evaristo Ginastera was an Argentine composer of classical music. He is considered one of the most important Latin American classical composers.- Biography :...
, Rodolfo Halffter
Rodolfo Halffter
Rodolfo Halffter Escriche was a Spanish composer.-Life:Born in Madrid, Spain into a family of musicians, he was the brother of Ernesto Halffter and uncle of Cristóbal Halffter, also composers. His father Ernesto Halffter Hein came from Königsberg, Germany...
, Carlos Chávez
Carlos Chávez
Carlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez was a Mexican composer, conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, and founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra. He was influenced by native Mexican cultures. Of his six Symphonies, his Symphony No...
, Manuel M. Ponce, Mario Lavista
Mario Lavista
Mario Lavista is a Mexican composer and writer. He has had numerous pieces published, especially chamber music, but also incidental music for plays, film scores, orchestral pieces, and vocal music....
, Francisco Mignone
Francisco Mignone
Francisco Paulo Mignone is one of the most significant figures in Brazilian classical music, and one of the most significant Brazilian composers after Heitor Villa-Lobos...
, Julian Orbon
Julián Orbón
Julián Orbón was a Spanish composer. He lived in Cuba from 1940 to 1960, moving to Mexico...
, and many other Latin American composers. Their sixth, and final, album of Hector Villa-Lobos's string quartets, Quartets Nos. 4, 9 and 11, was lnominated for two Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s (Best Chamber Music and Best Latin Music) in 2002. For Élan Recordings
Élan Recordings
-History:Élan Recordings was established in 1985 by pianist Santiago Rodriguez and his wife, Natalia Rodriguez. The catalogue features numerous Spanish/Latin recordings. It also features a number of historic re-releases...
they have recorded Ginastera: The Three String Quartets and Latin American String Quartets, which includes the world premiere recordings of Orbón's String Quartet and Lavista's Reflejos de la Noche. As of 2011 the Cuarteto Latinoamericano is under an exclusive recording agreement with Sono Luminus, for whom they have released two albums: Encores (2010) and Mexican Romantic Quartets (2011). The upcoming CD Francisco Mignone: Music for String Quartet will be released late in 2011.
Members
- Saul Bitran - violin I,
- Aron Bitran - violin II,
- Javier Montiel - viola,
- Alvaro Bitran - cello
Sources
- Interview with guitarist Manuel Barrueco about working with Cuarteto Latinoamericano
- Art of the States: Cuarteto Latinoamericano performing Memorias Tropicales (1985) by Roberto SierraRoberto SierraRoberto Sierra is a composer of contemporary classical music.Sierra studied composition in Europe, notably with György Ligeti in Hamburg, Germany...