Music of the Americas: Puppet Opera and Solos

Tuesday, October 25

In July, Americas Society presented the U.S. premiere of the puppet opera Manita en el suelo, composed by Alejandro García Caturla in 1934 with libretto by Alejo Carpentier. This “mitología bufa afro-cubana” (as the authors called it) in one act and five scenes features narrator, marionettes, chorus, and orchestra is a playful parody for puppets and one living character, the legendary Papá Montero, who narrates the action while the puppets reenact it. This production was the piece's U.S. premiere as well as its world premiere with puppets, as the authors intended.

Americas Quarterly's Rich Brown wrote a review of the performance, and the video is now available. 

Wednesday, October 26, 10 am

Chilean composer and singer Valentina Marinkovic studied voice, piano, and composition at the Conservatorio de Música de la Universidad Mayor and Escuela Moderna de Música in Santiago. She has sung in Chile and South America with the band Valvai, which she founded, and with Francisca Valenzuela. She has been on Chilean TV programs including Factor X Chile in 2012. 

From Santiago, she sent us two songs. Today we share "Trip."

Thursday, October 27, 10 am

It's been over a decade since Grammy-nominated Brazilian cellist Antonio Meneses was on our stage, and we are delighted to welcome him back next week for a beautiful concert with guitarist Paul Galbraith. In anticipation, we share the third movement from Bach's Cello Suite No. 6 in D Major, recorded during his first concert in our series, in 2006.

Friday, October 28, 10 am

Today we share the second of Marinkovic's songs, "A los árboles."

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

The Fall 2022 Music program is also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and by the Howard Gilman Foundation. 

Additional support comes from the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, The Amphion Foundation, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, New Music USA’s Organizational Development Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Association of Performing Arts Professionals’ ArtsForward program, made possible through support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and The Augustine Foundation.