Music of the Americas: Duos

Wednesday, December 10, 10 am

Ricardo Vignini, a guitarist born in São Paulo, Brazil, will celebrate 34 years of his career in 2025. He has released 26 albums, including solo projects, collaborations with the band Matuto Moderno, the duo Moda de Rock, and other partnerships, while running the label Folguedo. He performs throughout Brazil, as well as internationally, and has collaborated with Lenine, Zeca Baleiro, Guarabyra, Katya Teixeira, Emmanuele Baldini, Andreas Kisser (Sepultura), Pepeu Gomes, and many others. 

From São Paulo, with percussionist André Rass, he sent us this version of his piece "Amálgama."

Thursday, December 11, 10 am

Camila Menezes is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, conductor, and music producer from Belo Horizonte, the capital of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Her compositions have won awards at festivals throughout Brazil. In 2021, she began her solo career with the viola caipira (a Brazilian folk guitar), with which she has released two albums of original songs and reinterpretations recorded in her home studio and toured internationally. The third album in the trilogy will explore pregnancy and parenthood. 

She sent us two videos recorded in Belo Horizonte with percussionist Gal Duvalle. "Um Pacto" is a song written at midnight, during the pandemic, stemming from a heart-to-heart with a friend about the anxieties of the moment and from a strong desire to compose and produce music based on the spirit of the Brazilian countryside. The result is a mix of reggae and the Brazilian rhythm xote, typical of the Northeast of the country. 

Friday, December 12, 10 am

Singer-songwriter Federico Vázquez and percussionist Gabriel Morán were born in Buenos Aires, where they met and worked together for eight years in the Andean music group Mitimaes. They currently live in the province of San Luis, where they formed this duo, performing mostly songs composed by Vázquez. 

They sent us this video of "Por qué canto," a song whose title is both a question and an answer. It challenges us to consider our reasons for expressing ourselves and what is at stake when we do. At the same time, it tells us that we do it because we can speak and feel. 

The MetLife Foundation Music of the Americas concert series is made possible by the generous support of Presenting Sponsor MetLife Foundation.

The 2025–2026 series is also supported, in part, by the Howard Gilman Foundation, Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University.