I want to ask the readers of this forum if the Grant Park Music Festival's presentation of Ariel Ramirez's Misa Criolla will be the first live performance of this work in Chicago. The Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus are scheduled to perform this wonderful choral work on August 9 and 12 in Pritzker Pavilion. Has it ever been performed live before in Chicago? This is the first performance I have ever heard of.
I have known and loved this piece ever since I heard it played on WFMT in the wonderful recording by Jose Carreras which features the composer on the piano. This Phillips recording was made in 1987. I have searched the Internet over the years and have found evidence of live performances in San Francisco and Phoenix. Both of those performances resulted in subsequent excellent recordings. I also traveled to Washington, D.C. to hear the Master Chorale of Washington perform Misa Criolla in the National Presbyterian Church.
Has Misa Criolla ever been performed before in Chicago?
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Steve Marcus | Fri, 08/04/2006 - 10:37pm
I don't know if Misa Criolla has ever been performed in Chicago. I'd be surprised if it hasn't been done by some ensemble--community, school, etc.
When I was in high school in the Philadelphia area in 1972-1974, we performed Misa Criolla in a choral festival conducted by Gail Poch of Temple University. The Jose Carreras recording was way in the future. There was a Phillips LP of the piece recorded around 1965 with the composer at the harpsichord. There were two tenors (from Mexico?) as soloists, mostly singing in thirds.
Steve Marcus
http://www.geocities.com/semarcus1/Steve_Marcus.html
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»Jim Palermo | Wed, 08/09/2006 - 2:05pm
I am not sure if this will be the first performance of the Misa Criolla, but I think you will enjoy yourself if you go. The ensemble we have accompanying the Chorus and tenor soloist is fantastic, made up almost entirely of folkloric musicians from Latin America, including a guy who plays the Paraguan harp (which replaces the harpsichord in these performances.)
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