North/South Consonance, Inc celebrates the Cinco de Mayo holiday on Sunday afternoon May 5 presenting a special event featuring vocal music from the Baroque and Contemporary eras by composers from México, Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Guatemala, Peru and Puerto Rico.
The widely celebrated Mexican holiday commemorates the May 5, 1862 victory of the Mexican army over the invading French forces of Napoleon III in a battle that took place in the outskirts of the city of Puebla. The Mexican soldiers were under the command of Benito Juarez, Mexico's first indigenous president.
Vocalists
Teresa Castillo, Celia Castro, Mary Thorne and Chris Mateo will join forces with pianist
Max Lifchitz in performances of art songs by contemporary Mexican composers Carlos Chavez and Manuel Enríquez; Argentinean Carlos Guastavino; Chilean Karina Glasinovic; Cuban Odaline de la Martinez; and Puerto Rican William Ortiz.
Also featured will be 18th century arias by Baroque composers Rafael Antonio Castellanos and Manuel Jose de Quiroz (from Guatemala); and Jose de Orejon y Aparicio (from Peru). Rosa Divina, a song cycle by
Max Lifchitz inspired by poetry of the 17th century writer Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz -- México's so-called Tenth Muse -- will round-off the program.
The event will take place at the intimate but acoustically superior auditorium of Christ & St Stephen's Church (120 West 69th Street) on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The free-admission event will start at 3 PM and end at approximately 9:30 PM. The auditorium is ADA accessible. No tickets or reservations needed.
Hailed by the San Francisco Gate for her vocal "power and florid elegance", soprano
Teresa Castillo made her
Carnegie Hall debut last season appearing as soloist with the New England Symphonic Ensemble. She earned first prize in the Lois Alba Aria Competition, and the Anita Cerquetti International Opera Competition and received career grant from Career Bridges New York and the
Anna Sosenko Trust.
Celia Castro, soprano, won the NYSTA Young Artists Competition as well as the Clarisse Kampel Foundation Prize, and has appeared in copious opera and zarzuela productions throughout New York City, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. She has also participated in concerts sponsored by the Caramoor Festival
Bel Canto Program and the Association of Dominican Classical Singers.
Soprano Mary Thorne has been praised by the press as an "engaging soloist, bright and agile" and for her "knowing sexiness, effortless coloratura runs and solid acting skills." She has appeared with the Amore and Amato Opera companies, Hubbard Hall Opera Theater, the Bronx Opera, Opera Company of Brooklyn, and New York Metro Vocal Arts Ensemble.
Chris Mateo, countertenor, has appeared as soloist with the Heavenly Vision Christian Center Choir, the Bar City Chorus and the Symphony Chorus of New York. A native of the Dominican Republic where he started his career, Mateo graduated with top honors from CUNY's City College. Also active as a fashion designer, Mr. Mateo is an alum of the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Active as composer, pianist and conductor,
Max Lifchitz was awarded first prize in the 1976 International Gaudeamus Competition for Performers of Twentieth Century Music held in Holland. The San Francisco Chronicle described him as "a stunning, ultra-sensitive pianist" while The New York Times praised Mr. Lifchitz for his "clean, measured and sensitive performances." The American Record Guide referred to him as "...one of America's finest exponents of contemporary piano music."
