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Soledad Berrios |
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Although she feels quite at home in Germany, her roots are undeniably in South America. Soledad Berrios was born in Temuco, Chile. After receiving her teaching degree from the Catholic University in Valparaiso she began studying voice with Clara Oyuela at the University of Chile in Santiago. She completed her vocal studies in the School of Drama and Music in Berlin, Germany as the recipient of a DAAD scholarship.
In spite of many successful engagements with opera companies in Europe and the United States, Soledad Berrios never lost touch with the music of Latin- America. In her vast repertoire she demonstrates a rich musical spectrum with original and beautifully arranged themes of traditional Latin American Folklore, sensual Boleros and dramatic Tangos. In all she sings there is always a haunting and melancholy timbre which goes deep into the heart of the listener.
The multinational musicians chosen by Soledad Berrios are of high professional quality. They skilfully combine an exciting mix of European and Latin American instruments, accompanying her in tailor-made arrangements of strong intensity and deep sensuality. Soledad Berrios demonstrates a rare dramatic power of expression and vocal command in her dark, velvety voice and draws from a myriad of colors free from clichés and false pathos.
Soledad Berrios chose 18 songs for Luz de Luna. She
sings about her country. About a country not only limited to her birthplace
Chile, but the whole of Latin-America. And so we find Songs from Brazil and
Mexico as well as Argentinean Tangos and Peruvian waltzes. She herself talks
about her musical feelings in the following way:
"We, the Latin Americans all have something in
common: It is the depth of our feelings and the form in which we express them.
We all love our homeland, the richness and abundance of our nature, the towns
we come from and the loved ones who accompany us in our lives.
We love and live intensely. Happiness and pain with all its contradictions
finds expression in our music. Often a lively, joyful rhythm carries the message
of desperation, pains and sad goodbyes. Of sorrows, loneliness, homesickness
and social injustice. Of past times and better days which never return. But
when we dance to this music the sadness and gray thoughts fly away. Love is
an elixir and tears can cause pleasure. We sing and we dance creating a spiritual
contact, a symbiosis of emotions with the soul."
Luz de Luna resulted from these thoughts. A captivating collection of Latin-American Songs full of poetic beauty telling us about nature, men and women and of the melancholy, cheerfulness and yearning found in the Latin soul.
The Musicians:
Alfons Bock played accordion as a child and went on
to study Bandoneon with Klaus Gutjahr in Berlin. He lived for a number of
years in Argentina where he studied Argentinean music with Daniel Binelli
in Buenos Aires.
The star Saxophone and Flute player, Fiete Felsch, is
co-founder of the "Bundesjugendjazzorchester" and studied jazz in
the United States. He is presently a member of the NDR-Bigband and has a professorship
teaching Sax at the College of Music in Hamburg.
The Spanish guitarist Angel Garcá Arnés
studied piano and classical guitar in Spain and in Germany. Very early on
he discovered a deep love for the music of Latin-America. He works internationally
as a soloist and composer for a number of groups and ensembles.
Double Bass player and composer Guido Jäger lives
near Hamburg, Germany and tours internationally with a number of ensembles
including Tom Waits, and the Philharmonie der Nationen.
The Peruvian musician Juan Iriarte Lecaros studied percussion
and voice in Hamburg. He has particularly made a name in the Afro Peruvian
scene.
The Chilean Hugo Leyton is an internationally known
virtuoso on the South American Charango as well as other Andean instruments.
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