Boston, MA (Top40 Charts/ Berklee College of Music) Berklee College of
Music presents Berklee Flamenco, a five-piece student group directed by five-time Latin Grammy Award winner and Berklee artist-in-residence Javier Limo;n, performing a concert as part of the Kennedy Center's Conservatory Project, in Washington, DC, Saturday, February 26. The group will perform a vibrant program that includes original works by flamenco guitar virtuoso Paco de Lucia, by Limo;n, and by the group's pianist, Ariadna Castellanos Rivas.
Berklee Flamenco reflects the spirit of the college's future campus in Valencia, Spain. Berklee Valencia will feature a curriculum paying particular focus to the diverse musical traditions of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East that converge in and around Valencia, attracting musicians from around the world to study contemporary music at a high level in the Mediterranean.
Audiences can catch Berklee Flamenco's free performance on February 26 at 6:00 p.m. in the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater, located at 2700 F Street NW, Washington, D.C. Because admission is free, early arrival is encouraged. The performance will be webcast live at Kennedy-Center.org, where past Berklee performances are also archived.
This is the eighth season of the Conservatory Project, the Kennedy Center's initiative to showcase students from America's finest music colleges and conservatories. Since the Conservatory Project's inception in 2004, Berklee students have presented jazz, country, salsa, bluegrass, folk/rock, an improvising string orchestra, and now flamenco.
A graduate of the Madrid Royal Conservatory where he studied piano and guitar, Javier Limo;n is an active composer and teacher. Limo;n's began composing for flamenco artists but has since expanded his reach to compose music for Latin jazz musicians and Cuban artists. His many composition and production credits include major albums by renowned artists such as Paco de Lucia, Bebo Valdes, El Cigala, Enrique Morente, and the acclaimed Spanish singer, Buika.
Berklee Flamenco includes:
* Pianist Ariadna Castellanos Rivas, Madrid, Spain
Pianist Ariadna Castellanos Rivas was born in Madrid in 1983, and began her music studies at age six. When she was 17 she won a full scholarship to study classical piano at the Guildhall School of Music in London, where she graduated after four years. Throughout her music education she has been close to flamenco music, so after graduation she returned to Spain to work with famous flamenco figures such Jorge Pardo, Jesus del Rosario, Agustin Carbonell "El Bola," and toured the world with flamenco dance companies like Los Vivancos 7.
After four years of work on exploring new paths for piano in flamenco, she was signed by the production company Casa Limo;n for her first album, due this year. In 2009, after an impromptu audition in Madrid with Berklee faculty, she won the all expenses paid Presidential Scholarship to Berklee, where she is concentrating on her skills specific to improvisation and jazz. In May of 2010, at the college's commencement exercises, Ariadna was chosen to lead the tribute performance for flamenco legend Paco de Lucia, who was in attendance. She is a dual major at Berklee, in both Professional Music and Performance.
* Qanunist and vocalist Ali Amr, Ramallah, West Bank
Ali Amr is a Palestinian musician born in 1991 in Morocco; he moved to Ramallah, in the West Bank at the age of six. The following year he began to play the qanun. Playing qanun and singing, Ali is a three-time, first prize winner for best Arabic Music performer in the Marcel Khalife Music Competition and has performed frequently at various cultural sites in cities in and around the Middle East. He studied at the Edward Said Conservatory in Ramallah, and has toured widely with Maqamat, the conservatory's performing ensemble, and Yalalan, an independent, privately formed music ensemble.
Ali has performed with Maqamat in Sweden, Norway, Dubai, Germany, Holland, and the United States. In 2006, he completed a three-month tour of the United States with ensembles from his school, performing at the United Nations in New York, at San Antonio's Alamodome, and in 13 other states. In 2007, he performed for the President of the Palestinian Authority, and the Princess of Jordan. Ali is a Professional Music major at Berklee, studying on a scholarship he won in audition in Tel Aviv.
* Flutist Enrique "Kalani" Trinidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Flutist Enrique "Kalani" Trinidad was born in Dallas, Texas in 1987 and moved to Puerto Rico at the age of four. He began on his musical path by listening to his father, pianist Richard Trinidad, to the recordings of Chick Corea, and through studies of the compositions of Antonio Carlos Jobim.
Kalani has won the Yamaha Young Performing Artist Award, the National Flute Association Jazz Master Class Award, and special artistic recognition from the government of Puerto Rico. He has had the good fortune to work with jazz musicians like Mario Rivera, Justo Almario, John Benitez, Nestor Torres, Dave Valentin, Humberto Ramirez, Cachao, Paquito D'Rivera, Alex Acuna, Eddie Palmieri and Julito Alvarado, among others. In 2007, after an audition at Berklee's annual program in San Juan, Kalani was awarded the all expenses paid, Presidential Scholarship to Berklee, where he is a dual major in Music Business/ Management and Professional Music.
* Double and electric bassist Tamir Shmerling, Tel Aviv, Israel
Tamir Shmerling is a double and electric bass player from Israel. He served as the bassist in the Israeli Defense Forces Orchestra from 2005-2008. After his service, he performed with the Tel Aviv and Holon Big Bands, directed by Amikam Kimelman and Guri Agmon, respectively. Studies followed, on scholarship, at the Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, a Berklee International Network partner school, with Guri Agmon, Ilan Mochiach, Mamelo Gaitanopoulos, Yoray Oron, Yuval Cohen, Rami Levin, Avi Lebovich and Daniel Zamir. He also studied privately with Eli Magen during this period.
After a 2008 audition with faculty on their annual visit to Israel, Tamir was awarded a scholarship to attend Berklee. He has studied there with Terri Lyne Carrington, Greg Osby, Jamey Haddad, Alain Mallet, John Lockwood, Oscar Stagnaro, Whit Browne, Dave Samuels, Ed Tomassi, Dave Santoro, Dennis Montgomery III, and many other great teachers. During his time at the college, Tamir has also had the honor to perform with artists such as Kevin Eubanks and Ignacio Berroa
* Percussionist Sergio Martinez, Madrid, Spain
Percussionist Sergio Martinez was born in Madrid in 1977. He began his Afro-Latin percussion studies at age 15 with Mestre Rubem Dantas of the Paco de Lucia Sextet, Luis Dulzaides, and Rogerio Da Souza. Soon he added courses in Hindu percussion with Ramesh Shotham, and embraced Latin jazz, playing in the Taller de Musicos Big Band in Madrid. He later developed an interest in flamenco, and began to accompany top flamenco and jazz artists, in such venues as Teatro Real de Madrid, the Liceo in Barcelona, the Sydney Opera House, and the Paris Opera, to name a few.
In a diverse career, Sergio has worked with artists and ensembles as varied as: in classical music, the National Orchestra of Spain; in jazz, Jeff Ballard, Dave Liebman, and Antonio Sanchez; and in flamenco, Enrique Morente, Diego el Cigala, and Jorge Pardo, to name a very few. Sergio decided to audition for, and won a scholarship at Berklee's annual visit to the Panama Jazz Festival. In January 2011, he began studies in the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, the college's international jazz academy, whose artistic director is the celebrated Panamanian jazz pianist and composer Danilo Perez.
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