Black and Brown Composers in Baroque Latin America: An Introduction to the Repertoire

Presenter: Henry Lebedinsky
Hosted by Maria Romero


An introduction to and survey of repertoire by composers of color and native-born South American composers from Brazil, Peru, Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, and Bolivia from 1600 to 1800, with an emphasis on villancicos, cantatas, and other works for voices and chamber ensemble. Discussion topics include African and native influences, programming ideas, and sourcing of scores and performance materials.


List of composers and bibliography: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11XaN...


Early Music America's Resources of Diversity in Early Music Repertoire: https://www.earlymusicamerica.org/res...


Early Music America's IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access) Taskforce:


Henry Lebedinsky has performed on historical keyboards with Seattle Opera, the Seattle Symphony, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony, Seraphic Fire, and the Cantata Collective, among others. With Stephen Stubbs, he is the co-Artistic Director of Seattle's Pacific MusicWorks, and the founder and director of PMW's Underground concert series, dedicated to educating and entertaining new audiences about the world of Baroque and Classical music in unconventional, fun, and boozy venues. Mr. Lebedinsky is also the co-director of the San Francisco Bay Area-based Agave Baroque, with which he has recently released two albums with countertenor Reginald L. Mobley on the VGo Recordings label. He and Mr. Mobley have spent the past decade introducing listeners near and far to music by Black composers from the past 250 years, including recent appearances at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and Festival Printemps Musical des Alizés in Morocco.


Maria Romero Ramos is a versatile modern and historical violinist specializing in the performance practices from the Baroque and Classical periods. She switches comfortably between different styles of bows and performs on both gut and modern strings. Romero is a candidate for the Doctor of Music degree in violin in the studio of Kevork Mardirossian at Indiana University, where she also obtained a M.M. degree. While at Indiana, she studied baroque violin with Stanley Ritchie and violin pedagogy with Mimi Zweig. Romero holds a Graduate Artist Certificate and B.M. degree from the University of North Texas under the of Julia Bushkova on the modern violín and Cynthia Roberts on the baroque violin, and the mentorship of lutenist Lyle Nordstrom. She also holds an Executive Graduate Certificate in Social Enterprise, Cultural Agency, Teaching Artistry, and Civic Leadership from the Global Leaders Program.