Music of the Americas: Recorded in New York, Montevideo, and Zürich

Monday, February 6, 10 am

Katty Mayorga is a New York-based Nicaraguan guitarist, composer, songwriter, and educator. Her performances encompass various styles, from classical to folkloric music, from Latin American to neoclassical. She performs as a soloist and as part of Artemis Guitar Duo with Isabella Abbonizio and flute and guitar group JKLM duo with Jamie Lee. She has premiered musicals showcasing minorities and worked with award-winning Latin American choreographers. She holds a bachelor's and master's degree in classical guitar performance under the tutelage of Frederic Hand. 

Mayorga sent us two videos, recorded in New York. This week, we share "Respiro," an original composition dedicated to her mother. 

Tuesday, February 7, 10 am

Uruguayan singer and composer Estefanía Melonio was on En Casa last November with guitarist Enzo Bonizzi and is back with a larger ensemble and dancers in this video of her "Las dos milongas," recorded in Montevideo in January 2023.

Wednesday, February 8, 10 am

Mario Espinoza hails from El Tigre, in the east of Venezuela, and has during his childhood lived in Italy and the United States. After studying fine arts in Italy, he moved to Granada, in Andalucía, to pursue his passion for flamenco singing, and there he came into contact with the folklore of his own homeland. Playing in various stages across Spain and Southern Europe, Espinoza considers himself a live artist; however, after the pandemic, he decided to record his debut EP with the guidance of Latin Grammy-nominated producer Rafa Pino.

From his home in Switzerland, Espinoza sent us "Tonada a la Vaca Imaginaria," an original composition inspired in the aesthetic of the tonada genre of the Llanos of central Venezuela. The tonada is sung during the intimate ceremony of cow-milking, in the hours before dawn, and is said to soothe the cow and help it produce more milk. This tonada, however, is sung to a cow that is imaginary, since the artist has never milked a cow himself. 

Thursday, February 9, 10 am

In 2018, the daring Talea Ensemble made its Music of the Americas debut with a concert dedicated to the music of Brazilian composer Michelle Agnes Magalhães, while she was in residence at the Radcliffe Institute in Boston. 

The concert was the premiere of Magalhães' Herbarium, an evening-length cycle for piano, percussion, bass, and electronic sounds inspired by Emily Dickinson’s poetry. From that concert, we share "Of all the sounds despatched abroad," in which percussionist Alex Lipowski is joined by pianist Stephen Gosling and bassist Greg Chudzik playing inside the piano.

Friday, February 10, 10 am

Ensemble 2e2m, one of France's leading new music groups, was in New York last summer for a week-long residence organized in collaboration with Argentina's Fundación Williams. During their stay, the ensemble presented new works by young Latin American composers and new music classics in three concerts in our hall in Manhattan and at Target Margin Theater in Brooklyn. This week, we release the video of their final concert, which took place on August 5. 

The MetLife Foundation Music of the Americas concert series is made possible by the generous support of Presenting Sponsor MetLife Foundation.

The Spring 2023 Music program is also supported, in part, by by the Howard Gilman Foundation, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Additional support comes from the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, The Amphion Foundation, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, New Music USA’s Organizational Development Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Association of Performing Arts Professionals’ ArtsForward program, made possible through support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and The Augustine Foundation. 

The residency and performances of Ensemble 2e2m in New York City have been made possible through Jazz & New Music, a program of Villa Albertine and FACE Foundation, in partnership with the French Embassy in the United States with support from the French Ministry of Culture, Institut français, SACEM (Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique) and the CNM (Centre National de la Musique).