Summer 2013 – Bay Area Youth Harp Ensemble alumnus Liza Wallace just returned from Mexico where she has been performing and studying for the last month. She started out the trip in Durango performing in the Festival Latinoamericano de Arpa Durango. This annual festival hosts performers from all over the Americas including Paraguay, Venezuela, Chile, and Colombia. Liza represented the United States with her diverse repertoire of Jazz, Latin Jazz, and Classical music. Her concerts included a performance of El Concierto de Aranguez by Joaquin Rodrigo in a beautiful Mexican Cathedral and her own compositions and arrangements at the Ricardo Castro Theater in downtown Durango.
Liza then traveled to Mexico City to study the traditional Son Jarocho music from Veracruz. She took lessons with Pedro Sosa and Balam Ramos Cruz, two excellent arpistas. The style of harp playing is extremely virtuosic, focusing on intricate fingering patterns in the right hand juxtaposed with a syncopated but continuous bass line. Liza also went to see several concerts of traditional Mexican harp music which of course all included La Bamba!
and joining Liza… another Bay Area Youth Harp Ensemble Alumnus, and former BAYHE assistant Director, Amelia Romano and her group StringQuake returned from a successful two weeks in Mexico. During their stay they recorded 8 tracks for their new album and enjoyed busking daily in Ciudad de Mexico and Durango. They performed in the Festival Latinoamericano del Arpa in Durango for the Gala Inaugural in Theater Ricardo de Castro and were featured as the main act Friday, at theater Victoria, reaching over 1000 people,total. Their music was well received in the parks, plazas and theaters and are excited to release their new album this Fall.