Many thanks to:
4 Culture Brazil Arts & Education
Tides Foundation Bellevue Arts Council
Maple Valley Creative Arts Council Crossroads Community Center
… and to all of those who supported this work
Show Brazil Productions:
Eduardo Mendonça – Director Ana Paula Mendonça – Manager Diana Bohn – Assistant Manager
Beth Gott – Booking Agent Assistant Patricia Fox – Development Specialist
CHIQUINHA GONZAGA: A (Brazil ian) Birthday Celebration. Show Brazil! Productions is proud to announce this musical
birthday tribute to the remarkable Brazilian composer, pianist, and conductor Chiquinha Gonzaga (Francisca Edwiges Neves Gonzaga1847-‐1935), a social and political activist who was the first to breach many walls in a male-‐dominated 19th century musical world. Born into an aristocratic mixed race family in Rio de Janeiro, Chiquinha Gonzaga benefited from an education befitting a proper young lady: reading, writing, and piano. Propriety took a turn after her later divorce from a demanding husband and disinheritance from her family. Gonzaga entered the bohemian musical world and supported herself performing popular music for high society and composing scores for carnival and burlesque musical theatre.
PERFORMERS
Sada James Doup (Violin) Sada set out on her musical journey with violin in hand at age 9 in Spokane. In 2003, Sada opened 8th Note Music Studios (Marysville), a much needed space for community music teachers. Through the incorporation of classical, fiddle, jazz and improvisation, Sada and her students explore the many melodies, harmonies and rhythms that always seem to find their way into our lives.
Paula Libes (violin) Originally from New York, Paula has called Seattle her true home for more than twenty years. Paula has played violin since childhood and has participated in community orchestras for over 30 years. Currently she plays with the Sammamish Symphony and Microsoft She joined Cordas because she was inspired by the wonderfully talented and incredibly brave Chiquinha Gonzaga who paved the way for women composers, conductors, and performers.
Rachael Beaver (cello) A native of Texas, Rachael has performed as a vocalist since the age of four and began playing cello at nine. She studied at Cornish College of the Arts. She has written, recorded, and performed with orchestras, ensembles, and bands throughout the Pacific Northwest
and, for theatrical productions at STAGEright and Tacoma Musical Playhouse. Rachael met Eduardo in 2009 when both worked on Musician Corps’ Why Music, produced by Arts Corps and under Mendonça artistic direction. Later discussions of the project with Eduardo presented a promising opportunity to further explore a unique component of Brazilian musical culture.
Teah Akrish (viola) Teah began her journey with the viola in the Kent School District. Fascinated with that instrument, orchestras, and composers, Teah particularly enjoyed learning about female composers and their struggles to compose music and bring it to the public. Her participation in the Chiquinha Gonzaga project which links personal and national histories through popular music brings that early fascination full circle. Teah has studied with Nathan Harrison who was, at the time, principal cellist for the Tacoma Symphony, and then with Sally Maddocks and Scott Ligocki. Teah reclaimed her musical vocation and has since trained with Joyce Ramee and, at present, with Wesley Dyring. Currently, Teah performs with the Thalia Symphony and the jazz/pop band Portrait.
DIRECTOR: Eduardo Mendonça, a Brazilian-‐American recording artist, producer, vocalist, composer, and musical arranger, was born in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
PROGRAM:
1-‐ O Abre Alas (Francisca Gonzaga) 2-‐ Gaucho (Francisca Gonzaga) 3-‐ Atraente (Francisca Gonzaga) 4-‐ Lua Branca (Francisca Gonzaga) 5-‐ Não Insistas, Rapariga (Francisca Gonzaga) 6-‐ Dejanira (Francisca Gonzaga) 7-‐ Valsa do Outono (Eduardo Mendonça) 8-‐ Sedutor (Francisca Gonzaga) 9-‐ O Abre Alas (Francisca Gonzaga)