Paco Peña Flamenco Ensemble Brings Primal Pulse — A Compás! to the Kimmel Center January 27
January 4, 2008
"Mr Peña is a virtuoso, capable of dazzling an audience beyond the frets of mortal man. He combines rapid-fire flourishes with a colourist’s sense of shading; this listener cannot recall hearing any guitarist with a more assured mastery of his instrument."
Lauded for his authentic flamenco guitar playing skills, Paco Peña and his Flamenco Ensemble will perform Primal Pulse — A Compás! in Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center on Sunday, January 27, 2008 at 3pm. Dancers, guitarists, and singers coalesce on stage to present the fast, pulsating sounds of the bulería, gently guiding audience members to "feel" the rhythm, known as the compás, on stage. Voted Best Flamenco Guitarist of the Year for five consecutive years by America’s Guitar magazine, Paco Peña has communicated the depths of visceral emotion from flamenco’s primitive roots to the razor sharp complexity of modern variations on stage. Within three decades, Peña has transformed the landscape of the Spanish art form to include classical, jazz, blues and country influences, as well as other Latin American musical elements.
This concert is the sixteenth concert in the World & Pop Series scheduled for the Kimmel Center Presents 2007/2008 season. The next concert in the series will be Shoghaken on Saturday, February 9, 2008 at 7:30pm in Perelman Theater.
Tickets for Paco Peña Flamenco Ensemble are $34, $43, $49, $55, and $65 and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at www.kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center box office open daily from 10am to 6pm and later on performance evenings. (Additional fees may apply.) For group sales call 215-790-5883.
A limited number of $10 tickets are available for every Kimmel Center Presents performance at the Kimmel Center. Tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office beginning 2.5 hours prior to curtain time and 11:30am for matinees. Limit one ticket per person.
As a guitarist, composer, dramatist, producer, and artistic mentor, Paco Peña embodies both authenticity and innovation in flamenco. A native of the Andalucian city of Córdoba, Peña has received international acclaim, with the longest-ever run flamenco show in London’s West End. In 1997 he was named Oficial de la Cruz de la Orden del Merito Civil, an honor bestowed by King Juan Carlos of Spain. Peña was also named the world’s first Professor of Flamenco Guitar at the Rotterdam Conservatory in the Netherlands in 1985. Although he is now based in London, Peña still spends a significant part of the year in his native Andalucia.
Now considered one of the top exponents of the modern trend in flamenco guitar composition, Paco Arriaga was born in Seville, in the heart of Andalusia. At the age of 17, Arriaga joined the Academy of Matilde Coral, composing various works for her dance shows. His career took off, however, when Cristina Hoyos invited him to create the music for her last four shows as well as a piece for her company for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Arriaga has written music for María Pagés Company and dancer Isabel Bayon as well as for Ballet Nacional de España. He has collaborated with dancer Fernando Romero for many years and together they have created many ground-breaking works for the flamenco repertoire.
Guitarist Rafael Montilla’s love of flamenco music was inspired by his father, the singer El Chaparro. Montilla has performed at renowned festivals and theatres around Spain and Europe, as well as in theatres across major cities of Europe including Estonia, Amsterdam, Zurich, London, Copenhagen, Lisbon, Paris, Rome, Milan and Florence. More recently, Montilla has undertaken the role of musical director and first guitarist in Antonio Márquez Flamenco Company, and composed the music for Márquez’s last production Después de Carmen, which toured in major theatres around the world. He has also directed the Orchestra of Brasilia in the opera Carmen and performed in a U.S. tour with the world renowned folk musician Carlos Núñez.
Born in Córdoba in 1973, Ángel Muñoz began his dance training with maestro Inmaculada Luque for eight years and has since traveled around the world as a dancer. Most recently, Muñoz was invited to dance in Sueños de Ida y Vuelta by Serranito in which his wife Charo Espino also performed. Muñoz founded his own company with dancers Charo Espino, Maribel Espino and Inmaculada Ortega; guitarists Jorge Rodríguez and Manuel Pérez; singers Miguel Ortega and José Ángel Carmona; and percussionist Nacho López. In December 2003 he premiered his show Robándole al Alma in South Africa. Muñoz also works as a flamenco dance instructor.
Principle dancer Charo Espino has been performing professionally since the late 1980s. Her recent accomplishments include appearing in the movie Callas Forever, directed by Franco Zeffirelli. In 2002 she toured with the company Miguel Ángel Ballet Español. The same year, Paco Peña released Voces y Ecos, and the Company toured in premier venues in countries such as Holland and England. At the end of the 2003, Espino took a part as the first dancer in the premiere of Robándole al Alma by the Ángel Muñoz Company. Since 2004, Espino has been the premier dancer in the international tours of Paco Peña and the show Sueños de Ida y Vuelta by Serranito.
Born in Málaga, Ramón Martínez studied at the Conservatorio Superior de Málaga where he graduated with honors. In 2001, he appeared with Cristina Hoyos in her production Al Compas del Tiempo and more recently was invited to perform in the tablao El Flamenco in Tokyo with his own group. He joined Paco Peña Flamenco Dance Company for the production Voces y Ecos.
Singer Miguel Ortega’s artistic career began at the young age of four when he performed in the Peña Flamenca Juan Breva in Málaga. In 1993, Ortega danced in La Caracola Lebrijana and won first prize in the Concurso de Jóvenes Aficcionados al Flamenco in Huelva. Other prizes include first place in the Jóvenes Flamencos contest in Seville (1998), second prize in the Venencia Flamenca de Los Palacios (1998), first prize for Soleá in La Unión in Murcia and finalist in the Bienal de Arte Flamenco in Seville. Ortega has performed in La Tirana alongside dancer María Pagés, and toured with dancer El Mistela to Japan and Europe. He has collaborated with renowned artists Javier Latorre, Javier Barón, Fernando Romero and Isabel Bayón.
Percussionist Nacho López has collaborated with such greats as Ginesa Ortega and Jeronimo Maya, as well as Galician pianist Sergio Monroy. In 2001 López spent eight months in Venezuela performing in the Tablao L’Albufera. The following year he returned to Spain and joined the Compania Flamenca de Maria Serrano, which toured around Europe. That same year he collaborated with Isabel Bayón and Fernando Romero in the world-renowned Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla. In 2003, he went on to join Miguel Poveda on a tour through Spain, Mexico and Germany, and later collaborated with him on recording projects with Enric Palomar.
Kimmel Center Presents 2007/2008 season is sponsored by Citi. Support for the Mellon Jazz Series comes from The Bank of New York Mellon. The Great Orchestra Series is supported by ARC Wheeler. Additional support is provided by the University of Pennsylvania Health System and American Express. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Kimmel Center Presents. Toyota is the Official Vehicle of Kimmel Center Presents Mellon Jazz, Mellon Jazz Up Close and World & Pop.
The Kimmel Center also receives support from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The William Penn Foundation, The Wachovia Foundation, Verizon Foundation, PNC Foundation, The Philadelphia Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, and the Philadelphia Music Project and Dance Advance, Initiatives of The Pew Charitable Trust administered by The University of the Arts. In-kind support is generously provided by Deloitte. NBC-10 is a Media Partner for Kimmel Center Presents, and additional media sponsors include WDAS, WRTI, WJJZ, Afro-Pop, WXPN and WXPN's Kids Corner 20th Anniversary.
Free in the Plaza programming and subsidized tickets offered to the community and social service groups for $10 are made possible through the Wachovia Gateway to the Arts Community Access Program, supported by a generous grant from Wachovia Foundation.
KIMMEL CENTER PRESENTS SPONSORED BY CITI
Sunday, January 27, 2008 | 3pm
Verizon Hall
World & Pop Series
Paco Peña Flamenco Ensemble
Primal Pulse- A Compás!
Paco Peña, guitar
Paco Arriaga, guitar
Rafael Montilla, guitar
Ángel Muñoz, dancer
Charo Espino, dancer
Ramón Martínez, dancer
Miguel Ortega, singer
Simón Román, singer
Nacho López, percussion
FREE AT THE KIMMEL:
Sunday, January 27, 2008 | 1:30pm & 5:30pm
Commonwealth Plaza Stage
David Cohen
David Cohen performs classical and flamenco guitar along the East Coast and is the founder of the Web site www.PhiladelphiaClassicalMusic.com. His performances include music on the Pipa of which he is a select few to play the ancient instrument in the Philadelphia area.
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