San Diego ensemble, Camarada, launched its 3-part series Music of the Americas on Thursday, October 27, to an animated sold-out crowd. The performance, titled “Frida Dreams,” was held in the central performance space at UC San Diego Park & Market with a backdrop of the lively downtown San Diego Market Street.
“Frida Dreams” featured Camarada Founder and Artistic Director, Beth Ross Buckley, with artists Danny Green, Coral MacFarland Thuet, Peter Sprague and Mackenize Leighton. Attendees were treated to an exploration of the world of Frida Kahlo through her musical favorites like “La Bruja”, “La Llorona” and music by Agustín Lara, Carlos Gardel, José Alfredo Jiménez, and Duke Ellington. In addition, Peter Sprague premiered a vibrant new composition titled “The Two Fridas.”
A review by Ken Herman noted, “I was particularly impressed with Brazilian composer Celso Machado’s Musiques populaires brésiliennes, an elegantly constructed set of Latin dances scored for piano, flute, and bass; the ensemble’s fleet arrangement of Agustín Lara’s song ‘Solamente una vez,’ and the passion of Gardel’s tango ‘Volver.’”
The Music of the Americas series celebrates our binational region featuring living composers and international guest artists in a visionary new performance space.
Hosting Music of the Americas at Park & Market will come as no surprise to those who know the organizations’ shared commitments to our unique, binational region.
Serving as a cultural intersection point, Park & Market was built to provide access to multidisciplinary and culturally informed art and science, technology, civic engagement and lifelong learning. Through this space, UC San Diego Extended Studies seeks to express its commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion by learning from and connecting with our region’s cultural heritage and shared values.
The mission of Camarada is to elevate and enrich the San Diego community and beyond by presenting phenomenal chamber music concerts, while engaging diverse audiences through visionary and educational programming, featuring living composers, commissioning new music, and igniting a powerful connection between the audience, artists, and music. Established in 1994, Camarada concerts share the joy of chamber music by pairing performers of the highest caliber with intimate spaces throughout the San Diego area. Camarada has carved out a unique niche in San Diego by specializing in Latin and Spanish music.
Pairing these two missions will undoubtedly bring the kind of dynamic creativity and cultural education both organizations hope to facilitate. The remaining performances in Camarada’s Music of the Americas series at Park & Market are not to be missed:
- Saturday, January 21, 2023 – Angels in Flight featuring flute, clarinet, string quartet, bass, and harp with textures of rock, tango, soaring film score, and 20th-century avant-garde
- Saturday, April 22, 2023 – En Fuego featuring flute, trumpet, bassoon, violin, bass, piano, percussion and mariachi with music from Cuba, Mexico, and Buenos Aires
Tickets and more information are available at camarada.org/camarada-park-market.
From theaters to conferencing spaces, classrooms to galleries, Park & Market welcomes the opportunity to host creative collaborations, exhibitions, cultural events, and more. View more upcoming events, learn about hosting your event at UC San Diego Park & Market, or tour spaces at the building.