The Latin American Music Center (LAMC) of the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music, Drama, and Art will sponsor the Sonus International Music Festival, an online festival featuring acclaimed international musicians in a seven-concert series commemorating the life of renowned Argentine composer Carlos Guastavino. Guastavino is one of the most prominent Argentine composers of the 20th century, known by many as the “Schubert of the Pampas” for his simple melodic pieces, amounting to more than 500 works.
The Sonus International Music Festival offers “a wonderful opportunity to approach the discovery and understanding of music not only from Latin America but from all over the world,” said Gustavo Ahualli, director of the center. “This sponsorship is the beginning of a partnership between Sonus International Music Festival and the LAMC. We envision to keep bringing wonderful music and artists to our community and abroad to continue honoring our educational mission.”
The Sonus International Music Festival is part of a collective effort by international artists dedicated to the diffusion of Guastaivo’s music, created by artists Nancy Roldán and José Cueto, and serves as an endorsement of other creative endeavors rooted in the universal spirit of folk traditions.
The finale of the festival will be hosted through the YouTube channel of the Rome School and will feature a conversation hosted by Ahualli with Roldán and Cueto, as well as performances of Guastavino’s first virtuosic piano piece and his final pieces for solo piano: Tierra Linda and Cantos Populares, performed by Nancy Roldán; and the composer’s two original works for violin and piano, Presencia No. 7 - Rosita Iglesias, and Llanura, featuring violinist José Miguel Cueto, in commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of his death.
The Latin American Music Center for Graduate Studies in Music was founded in 1984 in cooperation with the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Music Council to promote the study, research, and performance of Ibero-American music, including the compilation of a complete and specialized library of scores, books, and recordings of Ibero-American music. The center is the only institution in the Americas to offer a minor in Latin American music on the master’s and doctoral levels.
The festival will be aired through pre-recorded performances on YouTube Premiere and Facebook Live Oct. 22 to Oct. 28, 2020, at 8 p.m. EST, featuring a live panel discussion on Oct. 24, 2020.