Pan American Cultural Exchange
is proud to present our program
“Cultures in Convergence”
with the participation of the Argentine Duo
Ingrid Chalar with guitar and Marcelo Álvarez with flute
Houston, Texas
November 5 to 13, 2017

Marcelo Álvarez and Ingrid Chalar, Patagonia, Argentina, 2017

Pan American Cultural Exchange

“Cultures in Convergence”

Concert program

• Aparcero…………………………………………………………..  Cacho Tirao
• Egloga – Burotinata…………………………………………….Ferenc Farkas
• Siciliana………………………………………………………….    Castelnuovo Tedesco
• El pequeño vals………………………………………………….. Jaime Romero
• Pedacito de cielo……………………………………………….. Anibal Troilo
• La pobrecita……………………………………………………..  Atahualpa Yupanqui
• Estudio Latino N2……………………………………………    Marcelo Álvarez
• Bordel, Café 1930 y Night Club……………………………  Astor Piazzolla

Pan American Cultural Exchange is pleased to present flutist Marcelo Álvarez and guitarist Ingrid Chalar in their first Houston visit as a duo from November 5 to 13, 2017.

This guitar and flute duo started in 2003 in Patagonia, Argentina. Their aim is to popularize Chamber Music, working with a wide and universal repertoire to also include Argentine and Latin American music. They intersperse teaching at Trelew Artistic Education Institute with performances at numerous concert halls in cities throughout Patagonia.

As educators they will offer master classes at Amigos por Vida–Friends for Life Public Charter School, Bellaire High School and Shepherd School of Music in addition to four concerts in diverse and exquisite locations in Houston, all free to the public.

• November 8, 8 pm, The Edythe Bates Old Organ Recital Hall at Shepherd School of Music, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, TX
• November 9, 12 noon, Margret Alkek Williams Crain Garden, Methodist Hospital, 6565 Fannin Street, Houston, TX
• November 10, 7 pm, Amigos por Vida – Friends for Life Public Charter School, Bellaire High School, 5503 El Camino del Rey, Houston, TX
• November 11, 7 pm, Centro Cultural Colombiano, 4314 Lasker Brook Ct., Katy, TX

This project is supported in part by Amigos por Vida–Friends for Life Charter School; Performing Arts Medicine at Methodist Hospital; The Kung Family Woodwind Guest Artist Fund through Shepherd School of Music at Rice University; the Centro Cultural Colombiano and Casa Argentina de Houston.

A little bit of history

This collage is a “gift for the eyes and the heart” to the director of this organization!! A contribution to our website of what was the very first experience of a “Cultures in Convergence” project dating back to 1998, when at the time Jefferson Todd Frazier was Director of American Festival for the Arts – AFA — and Pan American Cultural Exchange had the privilege to organize a cultural exchange program between that AFA and Fundación Antorchas in Argentina.

We were 22 participants in all between AFA and Fundación Antorchas musicians from various points in Argentina. We started in Buenos Aires and that is when I first saw the magic of this wonderful project….the language of music, not Spanish not English, but music!!

La Plata …..

We rehearsed and then travelled entourage to Patagonia for a week, where we were housed by the Fundación Patagonia, to teach and rehearse for a concert in General Roca, Neuquén (hometown to Marcelo Alvarez), then all the way North to the province of Corrientes, where we were hosted to teach and continue rehearsing for another concert at the beautiful turn of the century opera house (with a removable roof!!!).

We continued rehearsing and finally came the day to perform at the Salón Dorado of Teatro Colón to a full house on a Sunday afternoon. The magic continued and the performance was impressive to the audience and to the musicians who had worked so diligently together for the past 2 weeks. An important footnote, it was the first performance at the Colón for all the musicians in the group, including the Argentines, a moment to remember forever!!