bio
short bio
Spanish.bio
repertoire
discography
residencies
interview
Tucson review
press release 20th anniversary
season
El Universal
XXanniversario
high-res.photo
Kennedy Center review
New Music Concerts review
11.01.04
Cincinnati review
15.02.04
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" The Cuarteto Latinoamericano is among
the very best of like ensembles. Their recordings and performances
are a testimonial to their contributions to musical life. They are
highly effective as teachers, and possess attractive, dedicated
personalities. They carry my strongest support."
- Dr. Janos Starker
"...We here are very thankful to the Cuarteto
Latinoamericano for very good and successful concerts in Estonia...I
listened to Cuarteto's concert in Tallinn. It was an intense and
inspired performance of fresh repertoire. So I enjoyed it very much
and apparently so did the audience. It's also nice that the Cuarteto
collected quite good audiences in three cities. Thus we can consider
this project a nice success".
-Madis Kolk, Producer
Eesti Kontsert
"The impeccable playing of the Cuarteto
Latinoamericano makes a strong argument for the validity of 20th
Century Latin American chamber music in our concert repertoire and
demonstrates that music requires mental effort on the listeners'
part can also be highly enjoyable when played by such capable musicians."
-John K. Toedtman
The Enquirer (Cincinnati)
"Exemplary in both programming and performance"
--Pittsburgh Post Gazette
"An exceptional group because of their clean
playing, energy, and freshness."
--Le Monde de La Musique
"Cuarteto Latinoamericano gives a spirited,
crisply clean, and sympathetic performance well worth seeking out."
--The American Record Guide
"MEXICAN QUARTET IS A GREAT START TO FESTIVAL...a
superb representative of Mexican musical art - the Cuarteto Latinoamericano
- playing works of composers from Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.
What a wise choice of the symphony: to let Latin Americans speak
for their own music. The group will join the orchestra, along with
soprano Heidi Grant Murphy tonight...
The quartet's sense of ensemble was extraordinary
considering the precision and balance among the four. Regardless
of speed or dynamic level or complexity of the music, they played
as one. The fast movements were as compelling as the slow ones,
especially when Bitran, with his immaculate musicality and handsome
focused tone, was given a spotlight.
-Seattle Post Intelligencer
"The Cuarteto Latinoamericano's
emphasis on music by composers from Central and South America has
rarely sounded more powerful than it did during Sunday afternoon's
scintillating recital in Berkeley's Hertz Hall...the ensemble concentrated
almost exclusively on recent music by Latino composers who live
in the United States, and the results were invigorating...and the
quartet played them superbly.
-San Francisco Chronicle
"The Cuarteto Latinoamericano is increasingly
making a name for itself in international music circles...The ensemble
plays with a lean, sinewy brilliance and edgy virtuosity that suit
their preference for contemporary music. Those qualities were heard
to excellent effect Friday night at Florida International University's
New Music Miami ISCM Festival at the Wolfsonian Museum. If the styles
of composers represented were hightly divergent, the shared Latin
influence was palpable in their strong rhythmic energy...Saturday
afternoon's program presented a wide array of music for strings
and tape, with some works combining both elements".
- Miami Sun Sentinel
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CUARTETO LATINOAMERICANO
Classical Latin Rhythms
Saul Bitran, violin
Javier Montiel, viola
Aron Bitran, violin
Alvaro Bitran, cello
Cuarteto Latinoamericano, nominated for two Grammys, is an authoritative
voice in Latin American classical music. The three Bitran brothers, Saul
and Aron, violinists and Alvaro cellist, together with Javier Montiel,
violist, have become international ambassadors of their repertoire, touring
extensively in Europe, North, Central and South America, as well as New
Zealand and Israel.
Cuarteto Latinoamericano performs the classical and contemporary repertoire
specializing in performing the works of composers from the Americas. They
have received three CMA/ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming.
Now celebrating their 24th season, this award -winning string quartet
from Mexico has been in residence at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh
since 1987 presenting an annual series of four concerts.
They are credited in Mexico with the emergence of a new generation of
string players , and as a recognition for its distinguished career it
has just been awarded a major grant from Mexico's National Culture Fund
for extensive residencies throughout Mexico, Chile and Argentina.
Cuarteto Latinoamericano also maintains their commitment to the Belles
Artes in Mexico City in their annual series of twelve concerts there.
Recent residencies have included some of the world's most important festivals,
universities and music centers such as Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival,
Kennedy Center in Washington, Ravinia Festival, Mainly Mozart in San Diego,
Dartington Summer School in England, Dartmouth College, Ojai Festival
in California, San Miguel de Allende, Cornell University, Tel Aviv University,
New Zealand Festival 2002, La Jolla Music Society and Russian River among
others.
To celebrate the 20th season the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes of
Mexico commissioned four new works to be created for the Cuarteto. Over
their 20 seasons more than 50 works have been written for them and they
have given over 100 world premiers .
Guest artists who have appeared with the Cuarteto include cellists Janos
Starker and Yehuda Hanani, guitarists Narciso Yepes and Sharon Isbin,
flutist Julius Baker, clarinetist Joaquin Valdepeñas, pianists
Santiago Rodriguez, Cyprien Katsaris and Rudolph Buchbinder, tenor Ramon
Vargas, violinist Andres Cardenes, bandoneonist Cesar Olguín among
others.
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Performances of the Concerto Grosso for Quartet and Orchestra by Julian
Orbon have taken place with the Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad
de México, Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM, the National
Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, orchestras in Uruguay, El Salvador, Argentina
and with the Dallas Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic,
conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, and with the Seattle Symphony, conducted
by Gerard Schwarz. This work was recorded by Cuarteto and conductor Eduardo
Mata with the Simón Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuela, for Dorian
Recordings.
Cuarteto records for Elan, New Albion, Urtext and Dorian Recordings among
others. The Villa Lobos anthology of 17 string quartets is recorded on
6 volumes for Dorian Recordings and has recently been re-released as a
box set by Brilliant Classics. Volume 6 was nominated for a Grammy award
in 2002 in the field of Best Chamber Music Recording, as well as for a
Latin Grammy. The anthology has been performed in a cycle of 5 concerts
in Mexico City and at the Festival Cervantino in Guanajuato.
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