19-20 Season: Cristina Pato Quartet Program

presents

CRISTINA PATO QUARTET SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2020 | 7:30 P.M. University Auditorium

OPUS 3 ARTISTS presents

Cristina Pato QUARTET Cristina Pato, gaita, piano, and vocals Julien Labro, accordion Edward Perez, bass Mauricio Zottarelli, drums

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Works will be announced from the stage.

Performance length is 90 minutes.

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Exclusive Management: Opus 3 Artists 470 Park Avenue South, Ninth Floor North New York, NY 10016 www.opus3artists.com

Cristina Pato QUARTET Cristina Pato Gaita (Galician bagpipe) Internationally acclaimed Galician bagpiper master, classical pianist, and passionate educator, Cristina Pato enjoys an active professional career devoted to cultural exchange and creating new paths for her unique instrument. Her dual careers have led to performances on major stages throughout the world, including regular tours in the U.S. and Europe, and sporadic tours in India, Jerusalem, Angola, China, Korea, Mexico, Turkey, and her native Spain. Ms. Pato serves as Learning Advisor for Silkroad (founded by Yo-Yo Ma) and is an active touring artist and composer.

In 1999, Cristina Pato became the first female gaita player to release a solo album, and since then she has collaborated with world music, jazz, classical, and experimental artists (including Chicago Symphony, Yo-Yo Ma, Arturo O’Farrill, New York Philharmonic, Paquito D’Rivera, and dancers Damian Woetzel and Lil’ Buck). Ms. Pato’s unique and powerful style, full of passion and energy, has been acclaimed by The New York Times as “a virtuosic burst of energy.” The Wall Street Journal has called her “one of the living masters of the gaita.” Ms. Pato fuses the influences of Latin music, jazz, pop, and contemporary music, and uses her artistry and unprecedented virtuosic skill to bring her musical vision to life.

An active recording artist and performer since age 12, Ms. Pato has released and produced six solo gaita recordings and two as a pianist. She has also collaborated on more than 40 recordings as a guest artist, including the Grammy Award winner Yo-Yo Ma and Friends: Songs of Joy and Peace (SONY BMG, 2008) and the jazz album Miles Español: New Sketches of Spain (Entertainment One Music, 2011).

She is also featured in the documentary, The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and The Silk Road Ensemble, directed by Academy Award winning director Morgan Neville. Cristina is the leader of the Cristina Pato QUARTET (U.S.), the Cristina Pato GALICIAN TRIO (Europe) and an active producer and artistic director of multidisciplinary events (including her own festival, Galician Connection).

Ms. Pato has given more than 600 concerts with her own band, many of them recorded and broadcast by television stations such as RAI, BBC, TVG, CNN, and RTVE; her work has been praised by newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, El Pais, Downbeat Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal.

Such an active touring and recording career has not thwarted her scholarship.

Ms. Pato holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in collaborative piano from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University (N.J.), where she was awarded the Edna Mason Scholarship and the Irene Alm Memorial Prize for excellence in scholarly research and performance. Ms. Pato holds degrees in piano performance, music theory, and chamber music from the Conservatorio de Musica del Liceu (Barcelona). She also holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in digital arts (computer music) from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona).

These academic and artistic pursuits have contributed to her educational endeavors. Ms. Pato serves as learning advisor for Silkroad, collaborating closely in planning residencies and learning activities, including a multi-year partnership with Harvard University. She has served as a panelist, mentor, and faculty member in various projects Silkroad is developing with the Harvard Business School and

Photo © Xan Padron

the Harvard Graduate School of Education, including The Arts and Passion-Driven Learning summer institute for artists and educators. Her belief that the power of the arts in education benefits the ecosystem of society has led her to create her own multidisciplinary festival: Galician Connection.

In 2012, Cristina wrote My Lethe Story: The River of Forgetfulness, a storytellingchamber music piece commissioned by Silkroad and premiered at Harvard University. The piece combines Cristina’s passion for neuroscience and the personal story of her mother’s memory loss. With that piece she has developed a new path towards understanding the power of combining arts and sciences in academic institutions. In 2014, she was named Mellon Visiting Artist in Residence for the 2014-2015 season at the College of Holy Cross. In 2016, she began an ongoing collaboration with University of California, Santa Barbara, with her pilot class, Memory: An Interdisciplinary Exploration, co-created and co-taught by Cristina Pato, Prof. Ken Kosik (Neuroscience), Prof. Kim Yasuda (Spatial Art), and Prof. Mary Hancock (Anthropology). In 2017, she served as the Blodgett Distinguished Artist in Residence at Harvard University (Department of Music). In 2019, Cristina was appointed the King Juan Carlos I of Spain Chair in Spanish Culture and Civilization for the 2019-2020 academic year at New York University.

Cristina Pato also designs short-term residencies and lectures connected to the topics explored in her performing career. Cristina’s lecture, Transcending Disciplines: The Sustainable Artist of the 21st Century, has been presented fully or in sections at institutions like John Hopkins University, University of Santiago de Compostela, Pratt Institute in Manhattan, University of California, Santa Barbara, and Harvard University.

Her records, LATINA (Sunnyside Records, 2015) and MIGRATIONS (Sunnyside Records, 2013), have been the basis of her explorations of cultural identity through the arts in U.S. academic settings. As an independent artist, she has been hired to lecture, teach, and perform by Princeton University, UCSB, UC Davis, University of Wisconsin, UNC Chapel Hill, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Texas, to name a few.

In 2014, Cristina’s groundbreaking Gaita and Orchestra Commissioning Project was awarded a grant from New Music USA to build a repertoire for gaita and symphony orchestra. Galician bagpipe concertos commissioned by Pato have been premiered with Sphinx Orchestra in Detroit, Chicago Sinfonietta in Chicago, Real Filharmonía de Galicia, Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès in Barcelona, and Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra.

Cristina Pato is a member of the Artist Committee of the arts advocacy organization, Americans for the Arts. An active lecturer, writer, panelist, and public speaker, Cristina writes a popular weekly column for Spanish newspaper La Voz de Galicia titled The Art of Restlessness.

Ms. Pato is a resident of New York City and is married to photographer Xan Padrón.

Julien Labro Accordion Heralded as “the next accordion star” by Howard Reich of the Chicago Tribune, French-born Julien Labro has established himself as one of the foremost accordion and bandoneón players in the classical and jazz genres. Deemed “a triple threat: brilliant technician, poetic melodist, and cunning arranger,” his artistry, virtuosity, and creativity as a musician, composer, and arranger have earned him international acclaim and continue to astonish audiences worldwide.

His latest recordings, From this Point Forward (2014), Infusion (2016), and Rise and Grind (2017), all feature original compositions and arrangements by Labro, and have been lauded by critics as innovative and genre-bending. Labro has released more than ten albums under projects that he has led, and he has guested on recordings for artists such as Cassandra Wilson, Frank Vignola, and more.

Labro’s musical journey has taken him across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. His long list of classical collaborations include Jason Vieaux, A Far Cry, Spektral Quartet, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St Luke’s, the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, Pulitzer Prize winning composer Du Yun, and many more. Labro’s jazz projects include the Julien Labro Quartet, Hot Club of Detroit, and collaborations with Grammy Award winning composer Maria Schneider, Brazilian pianist João Donato, Argentinian Grammy Award winning composer and pianist Fernando Otero, clarinetist Anat Cohen, Lebanese oud master Marcel Khalife, saxophonists Paquito D’Rivera, Miguel Zenón, James Carter, and Jon Irabagon, and guitarists Larry Coryell, Tommy Emmanuel, and John and Bucky Pizzarelli.

Edward Perez Double bass Equally at home in jazz, Latin-jazz, and South American music, bassist Edward Perez has delighted audiences at the Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, The Blue Note, and a host of theaters throughout the world alongside such greats as Lee Konitz, Paquito D’Rivera, Kenny Werner, and Ignacio Berroa. He has recorded with jazz luminaries Seamus Blake, Mark Turner, and Lionel Loueke, and he appears on Hector Martignon’s Grammy-nominated Second Chance. He has enjoyed stints with celebrated singers Eva Ayllón (Peru) and Lucia Pulido (Colombia), and recent projects include arranging and directing the album Afrodélico, by Latin Grammy nominee, Jorge Pardo.

Mauricio Zottarelli Drums The Brazilian-born and New York City–based drummer and composer Mauricio Zottarelli has been on the forefront of the Jazz, Latin, and Brazilian music circles for many years. Called a “superb drummer” by JazzTimes Magazine, Zottarelli has become one of the most sought-after drummers on the scene since his move to NYC in 2006. A Berklee College of Music graduate, Mauricio is a critically acclaimed and award-winning artist. He has worked with many important and notable artists of today, crossing over many musical styles: Hiromi, Eliane Elias, Prasanna, Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin, Esperanza Spalding, Keiko Matsui, Richard Bona, Paquito D’Rivera, Claudio Roditi, Joe Locke, Geoffrey Keezer, Mike Pope, Eldar, Ivan Lins, Carmen Souza, Rosa Passos, Dom Salvador, Jovino Santos Neto, Oriente Lopez, Gustavo Assis Brasil, Hendrik Meurkens, and many others.

In 2012, he won the most important music award in Brazil, the Brazilian Music Awards, with legendary pianist Dom Salvador. Mauricio has four albums out as a leader/co-leader: Dig Trio (2003); 7 Lives (2009); MOZIK (2011); Glasses, No Glasses (2014); all highly praised by critics and fans worldwide.

Mauricio is equally active as a teacher and educator, and he has performed clinics and workshops in Brazil, the U.S., and Europe. He is also a columnist for Modern Drummer Magazine in Brazil.