By Chesney Hearst, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The seventh edition of the Festival Nacional de Choro (National Choro Festival) began on April 18th and will continue at the Casa do Choro (House of Choro) with free programming including workshops, lectures, classes, and performances through April 23rd. The festival will culminate with a day of live shows at Praça Tiradentes on April 23rd, the Dia Nacional de Choro (National Day of Choro).
The holiday was established in 2000 in honor of the composer Alfredo da Rocha Vianna, better known as Pixinguinha, who was born on April 23rd in 1897. Pixinguinha is considered on of the greats of choro, an instrumental music genre which originated in Rio de Janeiro during the late 1800s.
This year’s edition of the National Choro Festival will feature over sixty lecturers and performers and honor the composer, pianist, and arranger Cristóvão Bastos.
Conducted by the Instituto Casa do Choro (House Institue of Choro) and sponsored by the Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social/BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development), the festival began on April 18th with an opening concert and continued on April 19th with workshops and lectures held at the Casa do Choro.
Located on Rua da Carioca in Centro, Casa do Choro is celebrating its first anniversary this year. The venue is situated in a restored townhouse, originally built in 1902 and inspired by Moorish architecture.
The space now houses classrooms, a studio, and an auditorium for concerts and lectures. During the festival, the Casa do Choro inaugurated an new space, “”Espaço Dino, Meira e Canhoto” (Dino, Meira and Canhoto Space), and announced an official schedule of shows for 2016 including over two hundred confirmed presentations.
The festival’s lectures and workshops will continue at Casa do Choro on Wednesday, April 20th; Thursday, April 21st; and Friday, April 22nd. On Saturday, April 23rd, the venue will host a day of programming for children ages 6-12. Meanwhile, at Praça Tiradentes in Centro on Saturday, April 23rd, over a dozen musicians will perform the best of choro live. Jorge Cardoso will start the day with his performance beginning at 12PM.
Fernando César and Regional will follow at 1:30 PM and Só Alegria will play at 3PM. Then Mauro Senise and Gilson Peranzzetta will perform at 7PM and Adelson Viana and Kiko Horta will pay tribute to Dominguinhos at 6PM. Then at 7:30 PM Cristovão Bastos will by joined by Luciana Rabello and Mauricio Carrilho for a live performance and Furiosa Portátil will perform at 9PM to close out the night.
For more information about the festival, see the Casa do Choro website.