Alturas Duo Showcased at the Hillman Visiting Series

10/08/08

Belton, Texas - The Department of Music at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor opens another season of the Hillman Visiting Artist Series with the Alturas Duo. The concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 16, in Hughes Recital Hall in Presser.

The Alturas Duo has been recognized as one of the most entertaining ensembles performing in the chamber music world today. The only group of its kind, the Duo formed with the idea of playing South American and classical music by bringing together the unusual combination of the viola, charango and guitar creating fiery programs that move at ease between Johann Sebastian Bach, South American folk rhythms and new music commissioned by the duo.

The Duo has performed and lectured across the United States, Canada, Chile and Bolivia including performances at Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, the Music Mountain Chamber Music Series, the Smithsonian Institute, The First Annual Latin American Art Week in New York, the Chilean and Venezuelan embassies in Washington D.C., The Museum of Bolivian Folkloric Instruments in La Paz, the "Entre Cuerdas" guitar festival in Chile, the 34th International Viola Congress, the Québec City and Connecticut Classical Guitar Societies and have performed with the Choral Arts Society of Washington D.C., the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, the Symphony of Southeast Texas, and the Hartford Festival Orchestra. They are First Prize winners of the 2006 New England International Chamber Music Competition and have held residencies at the Lyrica String Festival and the Hartt School of Music. They have recorded for BRIOSO and NAXOS records and have been featured performers on NPR, Radio Nuevo Mundo and Beethoven Radio in Chile. They are the founders and artistic directors of the Simsbury Chamber Music Festival and are members of the Connecticut Commission on the Arts and Tourism's "Directory of Performing Artists Roster".

Constantly in search of new music and diverse collaborations, they have performed with flutist Gonzalo Cortes, charango virtuoso Ernesto Cavour, Chilean guitarist and composer Horacio Salinas, the New World Trio, cellists Jason Duckles and Jennifer Combs, violinists Katalin Viszmeg and Anthea Kreston, pianist Polly Ferman and Argentine bandoneón legend, Daniel Binelli. They have worked with many composers and have commissioned over fifteen works by Thomas Schuttenhelm, Jaime Romero, Dan Román, Garry Antonio, Alberto Cumplido, Javier Farias, Horacio Salinas, José Lezcano, James Argiro and recently premiered "No mas muertes" (No More Deaths) by David Macbride.

The concert is made possible through the generous support of the Helen Frances Hillman Fund for Scholarly Exchange. The Hillman Visiting Artist Recital Series is underwritten by The Helen Frances Hillman Fund for Scholarly Exchange. The fund was established in 1999 by Dr. Jimmye S. Hillman in honor of his wife, Helen Frances Smith Hillman, Mary Hardin-Baylor Class of 1946. The fund was designed to foster scholarly exchange at UMHB, particularly in the area of fine arts, music and languages.

All performances in the Hillman Visiting Artist Series are free and open to the public. For more information please call the College of Visual and Performing Arts at 254- 295-4678.