Cuba Day
For our tribute to the Cuban heritage, we invited two world-class Cuban guitarists: Rene Izquierdo and Joaquin Clerch.
Rene was a wonderful person, extremely warm and personable. He was a great to hang with at the bar every evening as well. Rene was also an incredible teacher; I don’t have any way of describing how complete and effective, not to mention appealing, his teaching was. As a performer he was just as impressive; his playing was full of beautiful and thoughtful phrasing and musicality. He closed his program with his wonderful wife Elena, who whom he performed Brouwer’s beautiful Micro Piezas.
Joaquin was also equally admirable, as he walked around with a smile all the time. His teaching style was quite different from that of Rene’s, but it was every bit as engaging and detailed, and every bit as enjoyable. His program in the evening concert revealed many unknown Cuban works, including some by Brouwer, which he played with fire and intensity.
The “folk” side of Cuba day was led by Arturo Stable, Cuban percussionist, and his Latin Jazz Quartet. Arturo first led us through a very informative workshop about the very interesting history of Cuban music. The afternoon concert featured his original compositions, all of which drew upon the vast and varied idioms of the Cuban musical language. Arturo was formidable behind the congas and whipped up quite the frenzy.
