L’Arpeggiata releases new album, heads to Carnegie Hall in March
Lutenist Christina Pluhar and her ensemble L’Arpeggiata will release Los Pájaros Perdidos (“The lost birds”), the group’s fourth album for Virgin Classics, on March 13. After delving into Monteverdi (Teatro d’Amore in 2009 and the award-winning Vespro della beata vergine in 2011) and Baroque religious works (Via Crucis, 2010), Pluhar and L’Arpeggiata train their attention on music from South America. On the album, the ensemble brings its vibrant, genre-bending sound – which prompted the Guardian to exclaim that they “transformed Andrea Falconieri’s La Suave Melodia into blues” – to music tracing the Latin American tradition from its roots in pre-Columbian and African rhythms, through Spain to Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Venezuela. From the title track, by “King of Tango” Ástor Piazzolla, to works made famous by the Buena Vista Social Club (“Pájarillo Verde”) and Cesaria Evora (“Besame Mucho”), Pluhar and L’Arpeggiata continue to broaden their musical horizons on this exuberant, joyful disc. Joining the ensemble are French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky and Italian folksinger Lucilla Galeazzi, as well as Chilean-Swedish mezzo Luciana Mancini and Neapolitan-trained ballet dancer-turned-singer Vincenzo Capezzuto.
Immediately following the U.S. release of Los Pájaros Perdidos, L’Arpeggiata travels to New York City in March to become the first early-music group to participate in Carnegie Hall’s “Perspectives” series. Over a four-concert residency, L’Arpeggiata presents material from each of its albums, with the lead-off concert on March 14 featuring selections from Los Pájaros Perdidos and a previous release. L’Arpeggiata will also perform selections from its album La Tarantella (available on Alpha) at the Library of Congress on March 19.
The review website ClassicsToday.com gave L’Arpeggiata’s Via Crucis its top rating, 10/10 for Artistic/Sound Quality, noting: “L’Arpeggiata’s calling card is to combine Historically Informed Performances with jazz — and in this case, folk-based music — and it is amazing how staggeringly well it works. Utter purists in any faction may whine, but listen to the music: it’s moving, fascinating, and invariably beautiful.”
Click here to watch Luciana Mancini and L’Arpeggiata perform “Montilla” from Los Pájaros Perdidos.
Click here to see Philippe Jaroussky perform the title track of Los Pájaros Perdidos.
North American 2012 tour dates
March 14, 2012
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall
Perspectives: Los Pájaros Perdidos and All’Improvviso
March 15, 2012
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall
Perspectives: Via Crucis
March 16, 2012
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall
Perspectives: La Tarantella
March 17, 2012
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall
Perspectives: Los Impossibles
March 19, 2012
Washington, DC
Library of Congress
La Tarantella
For further information:
Visit EMI & Virgin Classics’ YouTube channel for video previews of many of its new and recent releases: www.youtube.com/user/emiclassics.
Contacts:
Glenn Petry, 21C Media Group: (212) 625-2038, [email protected]
Andrew Ousley, EMI Classics: (212) 786-8607, [email protected]
www.arpeggiata.com