The deep warmth of Ana Ruth Bermúdez’s cello, framed beautifully by guitarist Rene Izquierdo’s impeccable articulation and tonal palette, in music of Europe and Latin America
“Izquierdo’s big sound and command made his guitar a worthy partner to Bermudez’s cello in songs by Manuel de Falla … Bermudez gave them full voice and phrased generously.” — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Wednesday, April 9, 2014, at 7:30 pm
Renee Weiler Concert Hall at Greenwich House Music School
46 Barrow Street
New York City (see map)
Tickets: $18 / $15 for students, seniors, and NYCCGS members. Join now.
Click here to order tickets.
Program
GRANADOS Intermezzo (from Goyescas)
PUJOL Suite Buenos Aires
TARREGA Gran Jota Aragonesa
FALLA Suite Popular Española
ALVAREZ Cinco Breves
ZENAMON Reflexões No. 6
BARRIOS MANGORÉ Julia Florida and Danza Paraguaya
VILLA-LOBOS Aria from Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5
MARTIN Hasta Alicia Baila
PIAZZOLLA Histoire du Tango
After many years out of their homeland, these two gifted musicians found each other in Milwaukee and began a beautiful friendship giving birth to a musical collaboration inspired on their cultural identity.
Rene Izquierdo graduated from the “Amadeo Roldan” Conservatory of Music and Superior Institute of Art in Havana, where he studied with renowned guitarist Jesus Ortega. After his arrival in the United States, he graduated from Yale University School of Music, where he studied with Benjamin Verdery, and obtained a Master of Music and an Artist Diploma degree in 2001 and was awarded the Eliot Fisk Prize. He has studied with Leo Brouwer, David Russell, Shin-Ichi Fukuda, Eli Kastner, Pepe Romero, Angel Romero, Carlos Barbosa-Lima, David Starobin, Eduardo Fernandez, Jorge Morel, Robert Beaser and Anthony Newman. Mr. Izquierdo is currently recording his debut CD with Luthier Music Corporation.
Izquierdo has been awarded several competition prizes, and most recently was a finalist in the JoAnne Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition. He has appeared as a guest soloist and in chamber music concerts throughout the United States, Canada, Cuba, Spain, France and Italy. He has shared the stage with many prestigious guitarists including Eliot Fisk, Jorge Morel and Benjamin Verdery as well as renowned flutist Ransom Wilson at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. At the Only in America Cameo Concerts Series, Izquierdo performed music by composer Bruce Adolphe, in collaboration with David Jolley and Lucy Shelton. Renowned composers such as Jorge Morel and Carlos R. Rivera have dedicated works to him. In 2004 he performed the Villa-Lobos concerto with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and played the U.S. premiere of The Divan of Moses Ibn-Ezra by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, a 19-song cycle, with soprano Arianne Slack in a Merkin Archive concert. Before joining the faculty at the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee, Izquierdo taught at the State University of New York at Purchase and Yale University.
Ana Ruth Bermudez, a sought-after soloist, recitalist and pedagogue, holds a B.M. in Cello Performance from the “Amadeo Roldan” Conservatory of Music, and “Superior Instituto of Art” in Havana. She also studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Moscow. Since October 2000, she has resided in the United States. Her solo and chamber music appearances have led her to play in Cuba, Russia, Spain, Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, England, and the United States, where she premiered a solo cello piece written specifically for her at the Miami International Composers Festival. She has recorded for television, theater, radio and film in Cuba, Spain, Venezuela, and the United States. She has also played with the International Chamber Orchestra of Moscow and the Havana Chamber Orchestra, becoming the artistic director in 1991.
A committed teacher, she taught at Havana’s National School of Music and Higher Institute of Art, as well as the Simon Bolivar Conservatory of Music and University Institute of Musical Studies in Caracas, Venezuela. Currently, she teaches at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music as well as in Latino Art, string program. She is also member of the Skylight Opera Teather.
