Kaufman Center Press Releases
Merkin Concert Hall presents Tuesday Matinees: Alturas Duo (Dec. 16, 2008)
"...marvelous virtuosity..."
–The Washington Post
Kaufman Center’s longest-running series, Tuesday Matinees, continues with the Alturas Duo. The only group of its kind, the Alturas Duo plays South American and classical music by bringing together the unusual combination of the viola, charango and guitar, creating fiery programs that move easily between Johann Sebastian Bach, South American folk rhythms and new music written for them. Having performed with an impressive variety of artists and composers across the United States, Canada, Chile and Bolivia, the Alturas Duo—Carlos Boltes on charango, mandolin and viola and Scott Hill on guitar—won First Prize at the 2006 New England International Chamber Music Competition and was recently honored with the “Hispanic Excellence in Music” award.
Their program will include the traditional Andean tune La rosa y el volcán; Ernesto Cavour’s Kurukuta and Campanitas / Mis llamitas; Georg Philipp Telemann’s Concerto for Viola & Orchestra; Suite Atacama by Chilean composers Horacio Salinas, Rosita de Pica, Hector Soto, Alberto Cumplido and Cesar Palacios; Javier Farias’ El vuelo de tu alma for charango and guitar, based on themes from the music of Victor Jara ("Caminando, caminando," "Quién mató a Carmencita," "La partida"; solo baritone charango: “Tempo de tonada”; solo guitar: “Plegaria para un labrador"); Sergio Sauvalle’s Pasaloma de Calen / Seguidilla y Andante religioso; and Johann Sebastian Bach’s Two Minuets from the Partita No.1 for Harpsichord.
Carlos Boltes, born to Catalan immigrants in Santiago, Chile, began his first studies in music at an early age by learning the charango with his brother Giovanni Vacani. As a member of the Chilean group Barrocco Andino, he mastered the charango and the mandolin while touring extensively throughout South America. He has held the position of principal violist with the Orquesta de Cámara del Teatro Municipal de Santiago and the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra. He has recorded for MODE, Brioso and CBS Records. He holds a bachelor's degree in viola performance from the Pontificia Universidad de Chile and a master's degree in performance from Carnegie Mellon University. His main teachers have been Enrique López, Atar Arad, Larry Dutton (Emerson String Quartet) and Steve Larson (Adaskin String Trio). Mr. Boltes has been a recipient of the Boston Fund Individual Artist Fellowship and an Andes Foundation Performance Grant. Currently, he is on the faculty at the Hartt School Community Division of the University of Hartford in West Hartford, Connecticut.
Scott Hill, a native of Thunder Bay, Ontario, has performed and lectured throughout Canada, the United States and South America as both a soloist and chamber musician and has collaborated with many diverse instrumentalists, including flutist Myrtle Thomas and the Adaskin String Trio, and has recently premiered Thomas Schuttenhelm's Balada for soprano and guitar. Mr. Hill is a Canada Council for the Arts grant recipient and has performed in master classes for some of today's finest musicians, including Oscar Ghiglia, John Williams and the Miami String Quartet. Currently, Mr. Hill is on the faculty at the Hartt School Community Division of the University of Hartford, West Hartford, Connecticut. Mr. Hill earned a bachelor’s degree in music from Lakehead University with Sean Mundy and a master’s degree in guitar performance and a Graduate Professional Diploma in chamber performance from the Hartt School of Music, where he studied with Richard Provost. Tuesday Matinees, Kaufman Center’s longest-running series, showcases tomorrow’s stars today, presenting young classical artists in the early stages of what are sure to be long and successful careers. With pianists, violinists, string quartets, cellists and everyone in between, these afternoon concerts highlight the best new talents throughout the classical music world. The 2008-09 season continues with iO Quartet on February 10th, 2009; Amstel Quartet on March 24th, 2009 and Sasha Cooke on May 12th, 2009.
Listings Information:
Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center presents
Tuesday Matinees
Alturas Duo
Tuesday, December 16, 2008 at 2:00pm
129 West 67th Street (between Broadway and Amsterdam)
Tickets at 212 501 3330 or http://www.kaufman-center.org
Single tickets: $15
Students: half-price
EDITORS: Please refer to the series by its name, Tuesday Matinees,
and its location, Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center
Press Only: Hi-res photos for download at http://kaufman-center.org/press/image-library
About Merkin Concert Hall
Renowned for its acoustics, accessibility and innovative programming, Merkin Concert Hall is the recipient of multiple awards for adventurous programming, most recently from ASCAP/Chamber Music America in 2002– 03. The hall is a division of Kaufman Center, which also includes Lucy Moses School (a community arts school) and Special Music School (a New York City public school for musically gifted children). A not-for-profit organization founded in 1952, Kaufman Center occupies its own facility, the award-winning Goodman House, located in Manhattan’s Lincoln Square arts district. Kaufman Center is an unsurpassed cultural resource where people of all ages can experience the joy of artistic creation, expression and appreciation.
The Kaufman Center’s Tuesday Matinees presentations are made possible in part with support from The Starr Foundation, with additional support from the Edward T. Cone Foundation, Barbara Bell Cumming Foundation, Ann & Gordon Getty Foundation, Herman Goldman Foundation, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation and with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State agency. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.