Marsalis Brasilianos in Lisbon

Branford Marsalis (who's in Alberta this weekend - in Calgary tomorrow and Edmonton on Sunday - my birthday, hint, hint) is reprising his very successful 2008 Marsalis Brasilianos tour in Europe. He's in Lisbon on July 16th, performing with the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa. I'm assuming the program will include the Fantasia for Saxophone and Orchestra, which Marsalis has pretty much made his own after 27 performances during his US tour.

Marsalis Brasilianos Tour Begins

The first concert of the Marsalis Brasilianos tour was last night in Eugene OR. Here's a review from the Mainly Music Meanderings blog. It's interesting that Marsalis and the Brazilians (the Philarmonia Brasileira and their conductor Gil Jardim) didn't connect until the day of the concert. Looks like that only enhanced the music. Villa-Lobos's music comes from the informal, improvisational world of the choroes, and that seems to be the style aimed for in this concert tour. Thanks to Dan for this up-to-date information - great blog, by the way.

He points out that the published programme was changed - rather than the Suite for Strings (a very early work, from 1912), they've chosen one of Villa's great works: Bachianas Brasileiras #9. That will provide some gravitas for the second half of the show.

Marsalis Brasilianos Update

The Marsalis Brasilianos tour information is now up on Branford Marsalis's website. There are many more concerts in the series than I had come across, one-by-one on the web. These are hard-working musicians!

The tour begins on October 2nd, 2008, in Eugene OR, at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts, and winds up November 9th, 2008, at the Stephens Center for the Performing Arts in Birmingham AL. In between there are another 25 concerts, from one end of the country to the other.

Read more about the series at my original Marsalis Brasilianos post.

Marsalis Brasilianos

I'm going to re-post this, since there have been a couple of concerts added to the list. Thanks for the input, all - please feel free to comment on any of these posts! [In the past few days I've added the UConn and Newport News concerts. Talk about a punishing schedule!]

There's an exciting series of Villa-Lobos concerts coming in the fall of 2008 to concert halls across the U.S. According to the tour publicity,

Marsalis Brasilianos is a celebration of the music of Heitor Villa-Lobos, featuring Branford Marsalis and members of the Philarmonia Brasilera (Gil Jardim, Conductor). This fascinating new project commemorates the 50th Anniversary of the revered Brazilian composers death.

Bringing together Grammy Award-winning saxophonist Branford Marsalis with a Brazilian orchestra known for it's remarkable work with Villa-Lobos' music, the program is uniquely suited to Marsalis' mastery of both jazz and classical music, allowing the language of Villa-Lovos' compositions to truly shine.

Featured in the tour are three Villa-Lobos works: the Fantasia for Solo Saxophone, the (2nd) Suite for Strings, and Bachianas Brasileiras #5 (which I assume will feature Marsalis on soprano saxophone as the soloist). The project also includes two works by Darius Mihaud: La Creation du Monde, and Scaramouche.

Marsalis's official website doesn't feature this project yet, but I've been coming across information about individual concerts on the web. UPDATE: go here for the latest info on the tour.

Here's what I've found so far: an updated list:

October 2 - Eugene OR
October 3 - Seattle WA
October 5 - Stanford CA
October 6 - Modesto CA
October 8 - San Bernardino CA
October 9 - San Luis Obispo CA
October 10 - Los Angeles CA
October 11 - Orange County CA
October 13 - Santa Fe NM
October 14 - Albuquerque NM
October 16 - Lufkin TX
October 18 - Fayetteville AR
October 19 - Overland Park KS
October 20 - Conway AR
October 22 - Milwaukee WI
October 23 - Detroit MI
October 24 - Wheaton IL
October 25 - Minneapolis MN
October 26 - Winona MN
October 28 - Storrs CT
October 30 - Ithaca NY
November 1 - Bronx NY
November 2 - Stony Brook NY
November 5 - Newport News VA
November 6 - Durham NC
November 7 - Rockville MD
November 9 - Birmingham AL

By the way, the actual 50th anniversary of the death of Villa-Lobos is November 17, 2009.

Marsalis's arrangement of BB#5 for soprano saxophone is now a classic. One of the most successful of many, many similar projects, it's included in his album Romances for Saxophone. You can buy the CD:

Wines from Brazil

I've been putting together information on the Marsalis Brasilianos project. I'll be posting about this exciting project soon.

In the meantime, I came across this note about the concert in Birmingham AL:

Free Prelude Musical Discussion @ 6 p.m. Enjoy a tasting of Brazilian wines prior to the show.

A very long time ago, before my life as a librarian, I used to work in the wine business. Since then, I've lost touch a bit with the new world of wines from the Southern Hemisphere. I love New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, Hunter Valley Semillon, Argentina Cabernet Sauvignon, but I've never tasted wine from Brazil.

So I immediately spent some time at the excellent website Wines from Brazil. I'm learning about where they make wine in Brazil, who makes it, and where in the world it's exported to. Now I'm off to find out where in Alberta I can buy some bottles.



Here's a picture of a vineyard from the Serra Gaucha in Rio Grande do Sul in Southern Brazil, where 90% of Brazilian wine is made. The most important wine district is called “Vale dos Vinhedos”.