A lecture on women composers of Mexico and a performance of their works, “Muchas Voces/Many Voices” was the product of a one-week group residency in the nation’s capital, and one in a long list of achievements by an artist described by the Newark Star-Ledgar as a “physical, emotional pianist.with extraordinary touch.”
Born of a Mexican father and a Nebraskan mother, Ana Cervantes was the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship in 1999, which enabled her to delve further into her roots by journeying to Mexico to study the music of the country in its cultural context.
As an artist, Cervantes has appeared in concert halls across the country as well as in Mexico and Cuba. She has also served as a musical messenger of sorts, introducing her audiences in the U.S. to music with decidedly Latin rhythms, while carrying across the seas the music of contemporary American composers such as Laurence Altman, Olga Gorelli and Brad Garton.
Recently, Cervantes has been in collaboration with soprano Patrice Micheals of the Lawrence Conservatory on a performance entitled “Fuego en la Sangre/Fire in the Blood: Contemporary Song from Europe and the Americas”, which debuts on Sunday at 3:00 p.m., in Harper Hall.
Comments Micheals: “Ana is articulate and passionate, and her concert and lecture will be dynamic. They represent a range of compositional styles and harmonic language that are similarly and identifiably Hispanic. A shared love of lyricism-a quality not always present in compositions of the United States and Europe-is a quality inherent in Hispanic composition because most music is experienced on an emotional and intellectual level.
Gender studies, piano performance cross paths with “Muchas Voces/Many Voices
