The Friends of the Robbins Library are delighted to bring you the first concert in the 2025 season of Reading Room Concerts. The event will take place on Sunday, January 19, 2025 at 3:00 pm in the Reading Room; it is free and open to all.
We are excited to present RUMBARROCO, a Latin-Baroque Fusion ensemble of musicians using period, folk, and contemporary popular instruments. Their mission is to unite diverse communities by highlighting the fusion and confluence of the cultures of Europe, Africa, and the Americas through musical performances and educational outreach.
This program features Ibero-American dances and song-dances, including folias, jácaras, and fandangos, from the Renaissance to the present. The music spans from the early Spanish Cancioneros (songbooks) in old Iberia to contemporary folk and popular music from Venezuela and Mexico. Included are dances such as joropo from Venezuela and Colombia and fandanguito from Mexico. Performers will switch from the European viola da gamba and Renaissance guitar to the Venezuelan cuatro and harp, illustrating the similar yet distinctively different sonorities and rhythmic and harmonic connections between the two continents, underlining Africa’s influence on them. The program will also include an aria by Jose de Nebra praising the Fandango for relieving fears, and feature music by Cascante, Coll, Encina, Gureau, Murcia, Soler and others.
Performers: Salome Sandoval, soprano & guitar; Fausto Miro, tenor; Danilo Bonina, violin; Eduardo Betancourt, Venezuelan harp & percussion; Miguel Morales Lavado, percussion; Katherine Shao, keyboards; Kirsten Lamb, bass; Laury Gutiérrez, viola da gamba & cuatro.