Ensamble Quito 6 brings Ecuadorian music to Blacksburg
The sounds of Ecuador will fill the Squires Recital Salon on Saturday, Feb. 23 as Ensamble Quito 6 performs as part of the 2012-2013 University Chamber Music series.
The musicians are a part of Virginia Tech’s first annual Congress on Latin American Music, titled “Transcending Borders: Latin American Music and its Projection on to a World Stage.” The program will feature traditional, classical, and contemporary Ecuadorian music.
Formed in 2004, the ensemble consists of a talented group of classical instrumentalists, including Alex Alarcon (piano), Luis Arias (string bass), Jamil Erazo (flute), Victoria Robalino (violin), Amelia Rivadeneira (cello), and Benito Tayupanda (clarinet), under the direction of Jorge Oviedo Jaramillo.
The group’s mission is to investigate and disseminate various genres of Ecuadorian music through arrangements and compositions created for them by some of Ecuador’s most noted composers. They keep a busy performance schedule, sharing the music of their native country.
Oviedo is also a composer who has received recognition on the national and international stage. He studied piano, composition, and orchestral direction at the National Conservatory of Ecuador, and served as a composer for the city of Quito’s Department of Musical Development and Dissemination, and worked as the assistant conductor of the Metropolitan Symphonic Band. Aside from his work with the Ensamble Quito 6, he works as the assistant conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ecuador.
The International Latin American Music Conference begins with a keynote lecture by Geoff Baker on Friday, Feb. 22 at 8 p.m. in the Squires Recital Salon addressing advances in ethnomusicology relating to Latin American culture and music. The conference will last two days, during which bilingual scholars will present papers, and performers from the Virginia Tech Department of Music will perform choral and instrumental pieces, culminating in a performance by Ensamble Quito 6.
Watch a performance by Ensemble Quito 6 online.
Tickets are $15 general, $12 senior/faculty/staff, $5 students and are available at the Virginia Tech Student Centers and Activities ticket office in the Squires Student Center. For tickets, call 540-231-5615, order online, or purchase at the ticket office. Tickets will also be sold at the door beginning one hour prior to the performance.
Free parking is available in the Squires Lot, located at the corner of College Avenue and Otey Streets, in the Architecture Annex Lot on Otey Street, and the Perry Street/Prices Fork lots. Find more parking information online or call 540-231-3200. Alternative parking is available in the Kent Square parking garage and the Farmers Market metered parking lot, both located on Draper Road. Additional Downtown Blacksburg parking information can be found here.
Virginia Tech’s School of Performing Arts and Cinema, a unit within the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, is comprised of the Department of Music and the Department of Theatre and Cinema. The school’s mission is to elevate awareness and expand the impact of the shared creative experience through discovery, learning, and engagement. In addition to presenting more than 200 theatre productions, music recitals, and concerts each year, the school produces the annual Summer Arts Festival and maintains the university's artist registry.
