MELODIA! SOUTH AMERICAN MUSIC FESTIVAL
Music and Outreach in Brazil and Argentina
Melodia! offers a unique and fabulous music festival experience set in the beautiful environments of Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. Outstanding artistic experiences are combined with once-in-a-lifetime cultural and outreach opportunities.
Upcoming Melodia! Festivals:
Melodia! 2008
Dr. Doreen Rao, Guest Conductor
July 2-14, 2008
Melodia! 2009
Maria Guinand, Guest Conductor
July 22-August 3, 2009
Accepting applications from youth and children's choirs (treble and mixed voices), as well as youth orchestras.
Apply NOW!
Contact Alessandra D'Ovidio at .
Melodia! activities include:
Joint rehearsals and performances under the direction of distinguished conductor Doreen Rao at major concert halls in Argentina.
Individual ensemble concerts in venues such as Candelaria Cathedral in Rio and the Winter Music Festival in the royal city of Petropolis.
South American music workshop with composer, conductor and clinician Oscar Escalada.
A day of cultural outreach and exchange spent singing, dancing and drumming with Brazilian samba school students and members of the Cidade de Deus Children's Choir from the infamous shantytown "City of God."
Sightseeing at Sugar Loaf and Corcovado with free time at Copacabana Beach in Brazil; in Argentina, excursions to the colorful neighborhoods of La Boca and San Telmo, a tango evening at the Viejo Almacén, as well as to a working estancia (Argentinean ranch).
Act now to participate in Melodia! 2009! Contact Alessandra D'Ovidio at
for more information.
Melodia! History Highlights
In 2006, outstanding children's choirs from North America participated in the inaugural year of Classical Movements' South American Music festival. The Children's Chorus of Washington, Miami Children's Chorus, Minnetonka Chamber Choir, and Winnipeg Mennonite Children's Choir, traveled and performed in against the fabulous backdrop of Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. The choirs rehearsed and performed under the direction of the distinguished choral conductor Doreen Rao, joined by the Niños Cantores de Córdoba, a well-known South American children's chorus celebrating their 50th season.
In Argentina, the choirs joined forces with the Orquesta Académica del Teatro Argentino at the Teatro Argentino in La Plata and at the world-famous Teatro Colón Opera House in Buenos Aires. Under the direction of Doreen Rao, the combined choirs with orchestra performed works by Mozart, Copland, and the world premiere of "Eulogy to Childhood" by Oscar Escalada, a new children's cantata commissioned especially for Melodia! by Classical Movements. As an added bonus, Dr. Escalada himself led a workshop on South American music for the choirs.
In 2007, one of the high points of the festival was the day of cultural outreach and exchange in which the Groton School Choir and the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra joined Brazilian students from Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel Samba School, as well as the Cidade de Deus Children's Choir from the infamous shantytown "City of God". Through singing, dancing, and drumming, young people from both continents communicated using the universal language of music. In Buenos Aires, the choir together with the Argentinean Coro Vocal del Sur had one more cultural exchange day and workshop guided by composer and conductor Oscar Escalada and a joined concert at the grandiose Amijai Synagogue.
In Brazil, the individual choir performed with their own music director at the beautiful Candelaria Cathedral in Rio, the Nuestra Senhora de Guadalupe Church in Ipanema, and at the Winter Music Festival in the royal city of Petropolis. In addition to these concerts, the choir had a unique concert opportunity at the Basilica del Santísimo Sacramento in Buenos Aires, in which Choir Director Michael Smith accompanied his choir by playing in one of the most remarkable pipe organ in the country.
Itinerary subject to change
Venues are tentative and may be replaced with similar alternatives
