Modern and Contemporary Brazil

Choro is a style or genre of music that originated in Brazil at the end of the 1800s, characterized by rhythmic vibrancy and the virtuosic improvisations of its participants.  It was also a style that highly influenced the composers of 20th-Century Brazil, like Jacob do Bandolim, who composed a piece for two guitars titled Noites Cariocas that draws on Choro: it’s a perfect example of the style’s virtuosity, harmonic sophistication, and rhythmic propulsion.

On this week’s Arizona Encore, we will hear this piece, plus a number of works by perhaps the most well-known Brazilian composer, Heitor Villa-Lobos, and others – as we hear performances from the Grand Canyon Music Festival, ASU School of Music, and the vocal group True Concord.