Westminster Choir College Presents 'Canta Brasil' on March 1
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The Westminster Collegiate Chapter of the Music Educators National Conference (CMENC) will present Canta Brasil, an evening of choral music from Brazil, on Sunday, March 1 at 8 p.m. in Bristol Chapel on the Westminster Choir College of Rider University campus in Princeton, N.J.
Performers include The Rider University Choir, conducted by Philip Orr; Westminster Conservatory Youth Chorale, conducted by Joe Miller; The CMENC Singers, conducted by Frank Abrahams; the Bridgewater-Raritan High School Chamber Choir, conducted by John Wilson; and The William Tennent High School Choir, conducted by Tyrone Dinkins.
The program will include works by Guillherme Bernstein, Ernani Aguiar, Henrique de Curitiba, Esther Scliar and Eduardo Lakschevitz. There will also be examples of MPB (Brazilian Popular Music), which combines traditional Brazilian styles, such as the samba, with contemporary musical styles, such as rock and pop. Guest conductor Eduardo Lakschevitz will lead the combined ensembles in his arrangement of America the Beautiful.
The concert is part of the Brazil-Westminster initiative, which includes a partnership with Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and visits by four Brazilian music educators in the spring semester. Proceeds from the concert will fund the Westminster CMENC chapter’s presentation about O Passo at the Eastern Division meeting of MENC in Providence, R.I., in March. O Passo is an innovative music education method developed by Lucas Ciavatta in Brazil that connects movement to cognition and sensory perception as a way of aiding in the development of musical skills and musicianship.
Lakschevitz is a professor of Music History and Conducting at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UNI-RIO). A composer, arranger and conductor, he is the founder of the Oficina Coral do Rio de Janeiro, an organization that creates performing opportunities for young singers and organizes exchange programs between Brazilian and foreign choirs. Lakschevitz is one of four faculty members from Brazil visiting Westminster during the spring semester.
Admission to this concert is $20. Tickets are available through the Westminster box office or at the door. To learn more, call the box office at 609-921-2663.
