Announcing the Composers of the 2024 Latinx Composer Miniature Challenge
The LCMC serves as a beacon of hope and enables me to compose something about my own identity. - Composer Lucas Serna
Composers of the 2024 LCMC from left: Adrienne Inglis, Luciana Perc, Lucas Serna, Leandro A. Martin, and Maria Sappho.
Boston, MA / Los Angeles, CA (May 10, 2024) - Bahué is pleased to announce that the following works have been selected to be performed and published in an anthology of the Latinx Composer Miniature Challenge (LCMC)!
"Jardín zoológico de nubes"
by Adrienne Inglis, text by Alfonsina Storni (1892-1938)
“Aunque la Gealach”
by Maria Sappho, text from ‘Boricua en la luna’ by Juan Antonio Corretjer (1908-1985)
“Baguala Bahué”
by Leandro A. Martin
“Campanas en la noche”
by Lucas Serna, text by Octavio Paz (1914-1998)
“Imitaciones II”
by Luciana Perc, text from Imitaciones by Silvina Ocampo (1903-1993)
Bahué will publish five additional works in the first Latinx Composer Miniature Challenge anthology for a total of ten works by composers of the Latin diaspora by Alex Guerrero, Mari Esabel Valverde, Xaona, Jaime Diaz (LCMC 1.0), and Paolo Griffin (LCMC 1.0).
“Dolor… Alegria… …dolor…”
by Alex Guerrero
“Piel de Pena”
by Xaona
“Quero”
by Mari Esabel Valverde
“me estimo a mi mismo en la tierra”
by Jaime Díaz, text by an anonymous Nahuatl poet, and written for the 2022 LCMC
“I Am I”
by Paolo Griffin, and written for the 2022 LCMC
The duo recorded the submissions in June 2024 with Sleeper Cave Studios and Salt Box Films and will debut them virtually on their social media and YouTube channel on September 15, coinciding with the beginning of National Latinx Heritage Month. During this time, the anthology will be available for free download, offering a wonderful opportunity for vocalists, percussionists, curators, concert producers, and music lovers to explore the musical creativity of 10 Latin composers.
A panel of esteemed artists and culture bearers was convened to select the composers to be showcased including Dr. Matthew Lau, percussionist and arts entrepreneur, Sebastian Zubieta, composer, conductor, and Music Director at The Americas Society, Jimena Maldonado, composer, Jaime Diaz, composer and sound artist, and Isabel Crespo Pardo, composer and vocalist. Their commitment to highlighting diverse voices within the Latinx community has been instrumental in shaping the tapestry of compositions showcased in this challenge.
Bahué's Latinx Composer Miniature Challenge is a significant project for the duo as it amplifies the voices of multiple Latinx composers and connects them to a larger and worldwide network of artists, providing a platform for their artistic expression while fostering diversity and inclusion within the classical music community. Through this effort, the LCMC celebrates and amplifies the rich cultural heritage and artistic contributions of Latinx composers.
The Latinx Composer Miniature Challenge is supported in part by a grant from the Springfield Cultural Council, a local agency that is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency, and from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music
Visit bahueduo.com/lcmc to learn more. Like and subscribe to @bahueduo on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to experience the virtual premieres of these new compositions.
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CONNECT WITH BAHUÉ
Aliana de la Guardia and Ariel Compos of Bahué. Photo by Tyler Hubby, April 2023
Bahué is a vibrant, trailblazing Latin American duo dedicated to the exploration of Latin identity and culture through the transformative power of music. Their mission is to uplift Latinx artistry through music. By delving into the intricate layers of Latin identity, they seek to amplify and celebrate it through both new and established concert music crafted specifically for their unique fusion of voice and percussion.
Established in 2022, and with a presence spanning both coasts, they call Springfield, MA, and Los Angeles, CA, home - two cities boasting vibrant Latin populations. This duo was born from a collaborative experiment, merging live and virtual performances to curate an unparalleled repertoire crafted by composers from the diverse Latin diaspora. Bahué fuses cultural vibrancy and musical innovation, carving a distinctive space in Latin American music. Through their dynamic performances and commitment to collaborative creation, they make an indelible mark on the musical landscape, inviting audiences into an immersive journey through the richness and diversity of Latin heritage.
Bahué is a fiscally sponsored project of Guerilla Opera. Learn more about the project at bahueduo.com.
Ariel Campos, a dynamic percussionist based in Los Angeles, boasts a rich musical journey that spans collaborations with esteemed artists. His repertoire includes performances alongside music icons such as Kelly Clarkson, John Legend, and the renowned Country Pop Duo “Brooks and Dunn.” Campos has graced the stage with Jennifer Lopez, and legendary figures in Latin Jazz such as Louie Cruz-Beltran, Francisco Aguabella, and Poncho Sanchez. Notably, Campos is an original cast member of the Tony and Emmy award-winning musical “Blast!,” which premiered in London. As a solo percussionist, Campos has enthralled audiences through captivating solo concerts and recitals. His rhythmic prowess has resonated with the UCLA Philharmonia, the California State University, Northridge Wind Ensemble, and the Union High School Percussion Ensemble in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Campos’s musical brilliance extends to the cinema, where his talent graces the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack of the acclaimed film “Bella”. His versatile contributions across various musical landscapes have marked him as a standout musician, capturing the hearts of audiences worldwide with his unparalleled artistry.
A Jedi of the arts world, Aliana de la Guardia is an operatic soprano, nonprofit arts leader, and dedicated mentor who champions new music that challenges conventions. Since 2007, she has been integral to Guerilla Opera’s leadership, steering the progressive ensemble to 40 new operas with roles tailor-made for her ferocious theatrical abilities. She also co-directs Bahué with percussionist Ariel Campos, an emerging duo celebrating Latin culture through music. Aliana's artistry has enchanted esteemed stages nationwide with progressive organizations and contributed to many commercial recordings on PARMA Recordings, BMOP Sound, and independent labels. Her versatile artistry goes as far as television, guest-starring on ABC’s crime series “Body of Proof”. This Latina arts leader is a passionate mentor who offers one-on-one mentorship through Guerilla Opera’s summer programs, and has led masterclasses, lectured, and participated in panels at institutions throughout the country. An accomplished voice teacher, she directs the award-winning Dirty Paloma Voice Studio and serves on the voice faculty at the Community Music School of Springfield, MA. Her journey is one of resilience and innovation, with a spiritual dedication to crafting transformative art that enriches lives, transcends boundaries, and resonates deeply within the hearts of audiences worldwide. (alianadelaguardia.com/bio)
ABOUT THE LATINX MINIATURE CHALLENGE COMPOSERS
From Left: Composers Adrienne Inglis, Luciana Perc, Lucas Serna, Leandro A. Martin, and Maria Sappho.
Venezuelan-American composer Adrienne Inglis was born in Berkeley, California. She was raised by a Venezuelan mother in an environment rich with Venezuelan traditions. She has had the pleasure of spending a lot of time in Latin America, learning the customs and rhythms that make the heart of South America beat. She studied flute at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a composer and one of the founders of Inversion Ensemble, the principal flutist of the Central Texas Philharmonic, and a flutist with the duo Chaski. She has composed several choral works in Spanish with Latin rhythms. She is a member of ASCAP. Founder, award-winning composer, and singer with Inversion Ensemble of Austin, Texas, Adrienne Inglis also serves as principal flute with the Central Texas Philharmonic and flutist with flute/harp duo Chaski. She has music degrees from Lewis and Clark College and the University of Texas at Austin. Frequently drawing on her family history and Ojibwe, Venezuelan, and Scottish ethnicities, Inglis composes choral, chamber, and orchestral music. An avid birder and environmentalist, she lives in the rural hill country of Central Texas.
Lucas Serna is an up-and-coming composer from the Los Angeles area, studying at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. A writer and arranger for instrumental and vocal pieces, Serna is overjoyed to work with Bahue on this miniature.
Luciana Perc is a composer, performer, director and researcher. Her compositional work combines vocal and instrumental forces with a creative and critical approach to technologies, exploring the boundaries between art forms, namely new music theatre, theatre music, contemporary opera, live film, and sound art. She is a PhD candidate in Composition at the School of Creative Technologies, University of Portsmouth, where she lectures on Composition. 2024 includes performances of her work by Line Upon Line percussion at the Winter Composer Festival (Austin) and by the ensemble Proxima Centauri at Festival MÀD (Bordeaux). Luciana has been a 2023 laureate resident at Cite des Arts Paris where she exhibited her sound installation Brève Anti-histoire des Sons Trouvés. 2022 highlights include the performance of her multimedia opera Film Performance at Tête-à-tête : The Opera Festival (London), the performance of her work Dessus-dessous by Ensemble 2e2m at Music of the Americas (NY) and the award of an Innovation Grant by OperaHack (San Diego Opera, US).
Maria Sappho is a Newyorican currently working as an artist and researcher in the UK. Maria specializes in multi-species collaborative projects working often with an AI named ‘Chimere’ and with mushrooms. She gained her PhD as part of the European Research Council project Interactive Research in Music as Sound (IRiMaS), and is a current postdoctoral fellow at the University of Huddersfield. She is the founding member of the Noisebringers ensemble (CH/UK) a long time member of the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, and is the 2024 touring keyboardist replacement for the Scottish post-rock band Mogwai. Maria is a winner of the BBC radiophonic Daphne Oram award.
Dr. Leandro A. Martin is a composer, educator, and researcher born in Argentina. He has premiered works and given lectures in countries such as Germany, Argentina, Italy, Cuba, Spain, England, Bulgaria, and others. He is currently a professor at the University of La Laguna.
From Left: Composers Alex Guerrero, Paolo Griffin, Mari Esabel Valverde, Jaime Díaz, and Xaona.
Composer Alex Guerrero’s background as a singer greatly informs his compositions: as an operatic lyric tenor praised by The New York Times for his “solid” performance, and who regularly performs with The Metropolitan Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago Choruses; as a concert soloist; and as a chamber, concert, and liturgical choral artist who’s performed with the Grammy Award-winning True Concord, the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue (the oldest North American Jewish congregation) and the Choir at St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue (both in New York City), and the symphonic choruses alongside the world-renown Philadelphia Orchestra and The New York Philharmonic. His setting of “Tenebrae factae sunt” was a prize winner in The New York Virtuoso Singers’ composition competition.
Award-winning composer Mari Esabel Valverde has been commissioned by the American Choral Directors Association, Boston Choral Ensemble, the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Portland’s Resonance Ensemble, Seattle Men’s and Women’s Choruses, and the Texas Music Educators Association. Following six years as a high school classical voice instructor, she spent two years specializing in transgender voice training. A native of North Texas, she holds degrees from St. Olaf College, the European American Musical Alliance in Paris, France, and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She is a member of ASCAP and the American Choral Directors Association.
Xaona is a multifaceted Dominican artist dedicated to exploring the affect of life through sound and words. The passion imbued in their compositions reflects upon the unbreakable bond between humans and spaces, opening up discourses of experience, identity, and community.
Jaime Díaz is a sound artist and academic who specializes in experimental sounds. They are based in Glasgow, UK, and originally from Colorado, US. Over the past 10 years, Díaz has worked across theatre, dance, film, and the concert stage, and have gained experience in the US, Canada, UK, and Ghana. Some of their recent commissions include Señora de las Sombras, which premiered at sound fest 2022, Pink Cloud Ballade premiered by the Sheffield Clarinet Choir in 2023, and Three distant moods, commissioned and recorded by Devan Jaquez in 2020. At the 2023 PLUG Festival Jaime had two premiers including statues of bone flowers, performed by the GAIA duo, and voiceless and brown performed with Stephanie Lamprea and Calum Huggan. Huw Morgan premiered an eternity in one second as part of his Mainly Slow Organ Music series in February 2024. Díaz continues to have an active academic presence whilst presenting papers at Shared Narratives 2024 and The F-List Research Conference 2024.
Paolo Griffin is a Peruvian-Canadian composer living and working in Toronto. His recent musical preoccupations include notions of focused and unfocussed listening, microtonality, and non-traditional scoring. Griffin’s music has been featured in concerts and on the radio by the Resident Orkest (NL), The New European Ensemble (NL), Avanti! Chamber Music (FI), Duo Holz (CA), Freesound (CA), and more. He is the Artistic Director and conductor of Freesound, an ensemble and concert series in Toronto that consists of a core group of the city’s most adventurous performers and interpreters of contemporary music. Griffin holds degrees from the University of Toronto and the Royal Conservatoire of the Hague where he studied with Peter Adriaansz and Martijn Padding. Other teachers have included Juhani Nuorvala, Chaya Czernowin, Mayke Nas, Matthew Whittall, Jukka Tiensuu, Nobert Palej, Huba de Graaff, Jan van de Putte, Ana Sokolovic, Hans Abrahamsen, Peter Ablinger, Christopher Theofanidis, Dmitri Tomozco, Amy Beth Kirsten, and Chen Yi.
