About this event:  

The Colorado Music Festival & Center for Musical Arts is hosting a recital and album release party for the talented violinist Mariama Alcântara. Mariama came to our attention through our friends at Boulder’s renowned Takács Quartet, as Mariama is a doctoral student of the Quartet’s Ed Dusinberre and Harumi Rhodes. Read more about Mariama’s incredible project below, and join us to celebrate her fantastic album Brazilian Landscapes.

About Mariama Alcântara and Brazilian Landscapes: 

Featuring Flausino Vale’s 26 Preludes and Andre Mehmari’s Partita, Mariama Alcântara’s debut album Brazilian Landscapes: Music for Solo Violin from Brazil encompasses her diverse musical background as well as her passion for discovering and performing a broad range of music.

Born and raised in the rural countryside of Brazil, Flausino Vale created a distinctive compositional style that truly represents the Brazilian essence: a mixture of African, Indigenous, and European cultures. Vale’s inspirations came from his country’s nature, landscape, folk traditions, religious rituals, and the most prominent genre of music in his state: caipira music. These influences, combined with his extensive knowledge of the violin, resulted in the creation of the 26 Preludes for solo violin.

Commissioned in 2020 by Mariama Alcântara, Andre Mehmari’s Partita para Violino Solo draws inspiration from J.S. Bach’s compositions for the violin. Varied in construction, Bach’s Partitas for Solo Violin have from five to eight movements, based upon rhythms of European Baroque dances. Mehmari’s Partita has seven movements, and is based upon rhythms and sounds of Brazil.

Words from Ed Dusinberre and Harumi Rhodes of Takács Quartet:

Recently our student Mariama Alcântara released a cd that grew out of her doctoral thesis project. But having just listened to the disc, and had a bit of distance from the project, we realized that this is no ordinary student project. Brazilian Landscapes: Music for Solo Violin from Brazil was released by Da Vinci Classics worldwide in December, featuring Flausino Vale’s 26 Prelúdios Caracteristicos e Concertantes for solo violin and a Partita that Mariama commissioned from André Mehmari, one of Brazil’s most talented composers and musicians. Both the playing and the music are remarkable. Here’s the link, also available on digital platforms.