Cristina Pato Quartet brings the sounds of Galicia to Vancouver

by The Georgia Straight Staff on March 26th, 2019 at 12:00 AM

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(Community announcement by the Chan Centre)

The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts presents Cristina Pato - a musical force, skillfully playing at the edges of jazz, classical, Latin, and world music with a tightly knit, synergistic band featuring Julien Labro on accordion, Edward Perez on double bass, and Mauricio Zottarelli on percussion. The multi-talented Pato can be heard in collaboration with musicians from around the world, including Yo-Yo Ma and the supergroup Silkroad Ensemble.

Born in Ourense, Galicia, in northwestern Spain, the prodigious musician has been an active recording artist and performer since the age of 12. Pato came of age during a period when gaita (Galician bagpipes) was experiencing a renaissance in the 1990s, and was the first female gaita player to release a solo album in 1999 with Tolemia. Her sound remains strikingly fresh, and has been called “wild, feral, yet virtuosic and breathtakingly fast” (New York Music Daily).

The piper’s repertoire crosses genres and disciplines. Pato holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Collaborative Piano from Rutgers University — as well as multiple advanced degrees in piano performance and digital arts from her native Spain — and lends her versatile academic and artistic pursuits to educational aims. In addition to performing with the Silkroad Ensemble, she also serves as learning advisor to forge partnerships with Harvard University and other opportunities for artists.

Her 2015 album Latina is an exploration of her roots in Latin music, following various 6/8 rhythms that have migrated throughout the world.

Pato’s captivating group will span the rhythms and sounds of two continents in this concert, from the Sicilian tarantella with roots in Italy and the Galician muiñeira from Spain, to the Latin America rhythms of the Venezuelan joropo and the Peruvian landó.