Reflections on Joaquín Orellana's Marimba Imaginaria

The guest speakers will talk about Joaquín Orellana’s legacy in the musical and artistic scenes, both in Guatemala and the world, as well as his history, including his formation at the Centro Latinoamericano de Altos Estudios Musicales (CLAEM) at the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires.

About Joaquín Orellana:

Joaquín Orellana is among the most influential living members of Latin America’s musical avant-garde. Born in Guatemala City in 1930, he studied violin and composition at the National Conservatory of Music in Guatemala and was a fellow at the preeminent CLAEM in Buenos Aires. During his time at the CLAEM, Orellana encountered contemporary avant-garde innovations and became particularly interested in electronic music, then in its infancy.

Check out Americas Society's current exhibition Joaquín Orellana: The Spine of Music, on display through April 24.

Speakers:

• Laura Novoa, Musicologist Universidad de Buenos Aires. 
• María Alejandra Privado, Sociologist 
• Stefan Benchoam, Proyectos Ultravioleta 
• Diana Flatto, Former Assistant Curator at Americas Society and Ph.D. student at the University of Pittsburgh (moderator and co-curator) 
• Sebastián Zubieta, Music Director, Americas Society (moderator and co-curator)

This event will be free, open to the public, and will be held in English.

To join: Click here at the time of the event.
For more information, please contact: nvierasalgado@as-coa.org

Laura Novoa graduated from the Conservatorio Nacional de Música “Carlos L. Buchardo” and received a Ph.D. in art history and theory from Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA). She has taught at the UBA and is currently a researcher at the Instituto de Teoría e Historia del Arte “Julio E. Payró” (UBA), where she studies the connections between Argentina and Latin American music from the 1960s. She is the author of numerous articles published in books, catalogs and magazines related to the CLAEM and the application of technology in the field of music from the late ’50s. In 2009 she obtained a grant from the Fondo Nacional de las Artes to publish the book Alberto Ginastera at the Instituto Di Tella: Correspondence 1958-1970. 

María Alejandra Privado is a Guatemalan sociologist deeply engaged in questions of aesthetics and everyday practices. She holds a bachelor's degree from Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala and her master's degree in sociology from Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla in Mexico. Her writings include her published bachelor’s thesis Los social en las fibras de la música de Joaquín Orellana, her master's thesis entitled The rebel singing of Q'eqchi' women, essays on Joaquín Orellana’s aesthetic legacy, and the prologue of the new edition of the composer's El violin valsante de Huis. Armadel. She has been a panelist in several public discussions and conferences regarding Orellana’s work. For eleven years she was a member of the Coro Victoria in Guatemala, where she first encountered Orellana and his music. 

Stefan Benchoam is an artist and curator with a strong interest in collaboration. He has had solo exhibitions in La Casa Encendida, Madrid (2013), The White Cubicle Toilet Gallery, London (2011) and La Loseta, San Juan (2011), and has participated in numerous international group exhibitions. Benchoam has also curated and co-curated exhibitions in a variety of alternative project spaces and institutions. He is also Co-Founder and active member of the Buró de Intervenciones Públicas [Bureau of Public Interventions], a collective that develops low-cost high-impact interventions in various cities worldwide. He is Co-Founder and Director of Proyectos Ultravioleta (2009), a multifaceted platform for experimentation in contemporary art, based in the heart of Guatemala City, and together with Jessica Kairé, he is Co-Founder and Co-Director of NuMu (Nuevo Museo de Arte Contemporáneo) which opened in 2012 and is Guatemala’s first, and only, contemporary art museum.

Diana Flatto is a Ph.D. student in the Department of History of Art & Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh and the former Assistant Curator of Visual Arts at Americas Society. She holds an MA in art history with an advanced certificate in curatorial studies from Hunter College. She has co-curated and assisted on several exhibitions, including Alice Miceli: Projeto Chernobyl at Americas Society (2019) and Framing Community: Magnum Photos 1947–Present at Hunter College Art Galleries (2017).

Sebastián Zubieta has been Music Director at Americas Society since 2005. He has taught music history, and composition, and is also a composer and the conductor of the vocal ensemble Meridionalis, with which he has performed contemporary and early music in the United States and Latin America. He holds a doctorate in composition from Yale and a licentiate in musicology from Universidad Católica Argentina in Buenos Aires. 

More digital content from Visual Arts at Americas Society:

• Read the exhibition catalogue for Joaquín Orellana: The Spine of Music.
• Read the exhibition catalogue for Feliciano Centurión: Abrigo.
• Watch the documentary Feliciano Centurión: Abrazo Íntimo al Natural, directed by Mon Ross (2016).
• Watch videos of recent events:
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  • Curator's Perspective – Jacopo Crivelli Visconti
  • "I Am Reborn at Every Moment" – Contemporary Reflections on Feliciano Centurión and AIDS
  • Ulises Carrión – Art, Mail, Books, and So…
  • Book Launch: Alejandra Seeber – Picture This Featuring the Artist in Conversation with Guillermo Kuitca