DUENDE FLAMENCO FUSION

Photo by Franco Prezio

September 10 - 15, 2010

Philadelphia 2010 Live Art & Fringe Festival
Twelve Gates Gallery
Philadelphia, PA 
Tickets - $16 Students/Seniors - $11

 Rosa de la Alhambra reveals the Arabic, Sephardic, Christian and gypsy roots of Spanish music, including one of its most iconic forms, flamenco.  This 80 minute piece is an irresistible combination of romance, history, passion, and drama – featuring carefully selected songs that range from centuries-old sublime melodies to the dynamic songs and dances characteristic of southern Spain. 

Press Release

                                        For more information, contact Raquel Diaz-Lansac                                            

    Duende Flamenco Fusión is a multidisciplinary ensemble based in Philadelphia that takes Spanish folk music to new musical places by adding jazz, tango and gypsy influences. They revive the iconic form of flamenco with fresh arrangements while reviving the spirit or “duende” and bringing new life into the music.   The ensemble's members include,

     Raquel Diaz Lansac, a classically trained violinist from Spain who, after performing with the Bilbao Orchestra, came to the U.S. to complete graduate work in performance and music therapy. She is the founder of Duende Flamenco Fusion and an expert on her native country’s music. With this piece, she shares the dynamic and rich history of the music of Southern Spain while reinventing it for new audiences. Ms. Diaz-Lansac performs regularly and in 2009 she and fellow musicians were selected to performed at the Hispanic Choice Award at the Kimmel
Center.  Joining her are three Philadelphia-based musicians: 

    Ross Mann is an award-winning guitarist, teacher and arranger, whose repertoire includes a wide range of  Baroque, Spanish, and Romantic compositions along with a range of international genres.   Along with performing throughout the region,  Ross is also on the faculty of several schools in the region including Settlement Music School,  Bucks County Community College and Temple University's Music Preparatory.

    Kameron Markworth,  a versatile bassist who recently earned his Masters in Jazz Studies from Indiana     University, where he was the winner of the Dean’s Scholarship.

   Montreal native Gabriel Globus-Hoenich is one of Philadelphia's most promising young percussionists. He currently plays azz/world/pop drums in the Philadelphia-New York area where he has performed with Orrin Evans, Sid Simmons, Tia Fuller, Larry McKenna, Tony Miceli, Mike Boone, Tim Berne, Ralph Alessi, Mark Helias, Marc Ducret, Andy Milne, and Drew Gress. Gabe is also an avid performer of contemporary classical music and performs with the Philadelphia based Chamber Music Now! Ensemble and the experimental group  Ensemble No-Amnesia. He has also performed with members of  the Grammy-winning ensemble eighth blackbird. A 2008 graduate of the Curtis  Institute of Music, Gabe has studied with some of the premier percussionists in the world, focusing on contemporary percussion, world percussion, and jazz drumming. As an educator, Gabe teaches privately, as well as with The Philadelphia Orchestra Teaching Artist program, and coaches percussion at Haverford College.

   Liliana Ruiz, was born in Mexico city. She started her study of Classical Spanish and Flamenco dance inspired by her family's deep-rooted passion for the arts. Liliana has study dance in Mexico, USA and in Spain with masters such as the Amaya family, Isabel Bayon, Mario Maya, Cristobal Reyes, La China, and many others.  Liliana has performed with well known artists such as Placido Domingo and Julio Iglesias. Liliana was the Director of the “Folkloric Group of the Centro Asturiano de Mexico” for ten years. Her group had performed for the King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sophia of Spain, and  Felipe, Prince of Asturias. Liliana has danced and choreographed several plays, including Cyrano de Bergerac and Don Juan Tenorio.
   Liliana moved to the United States and became a member of different dance groups. She has performed in shows in Broadway NYC, at the Fringe Festival in Philadelphia, with two-time, Grammy Award-winning pianist, Peter Nero, and The Philly POP’s at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. Currently, Liliana lives in the Philadelphia area, and dances with different companies and orchestras, She teaches Spanish and is a dance team coach.

     Inés Arribas is a professor of Spanish language and literature at Bryn Mawr College. She holds a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Author of La literatura de humor en la España democrática, she focuses her present research on cultural representations of Spanish gypsies in Spanish literature, film, and the Internet. She is also a passionate of flamenco dance, and has studied with Soledad Barrio, Manuel Liñán, and Alicia Márquez. In Philadelphia, she studies with Elba Hevia y Vaca, director of Pasión y Arte Flamenco Co, for whom she has contributed by composing poetic texts and performing them in “Geografía íntima” (2008).