Brazil’s Quinta Essentia Recorder Quartet will make their Chicago debut on May 20 as part of Northeastern Illinois University’s Jewel Box Series. The performance will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Recital Hall on the Main Campus, 3701 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.
Quinta Essentia is one of the leading chamber music ensembles in Brazil and one of the few groups highlighting the recorder in different musical realms. The quartet has been considered the main representative of Brazilian recorder practice since its founding in 2006, with performances in Italy, Germany, China and Namibia. Their most recent tours included performances at the 10th International Festival of Renaissance and American Baroque Music in Bolivia and in France at the Les Festes Baroques en Terre des Graves et du Sauternais. Quinta Essentia continually takes the recorder to new venues throughout their home country of Brazil.
Winner of numerous awards, Quinta Essentia is building an important discography for recorder. Their CD “La Marca” (2008) was the result of a 2007 Stimulus Award from the Secretary of Culture of São Paulo. Their second album, “Falando Brasileiro” (2013), established the group’s presence on the national chamber music scene in Brazil.
Members of Quinta Essentia are educators as well as performers. Educational activities led by the quartet help build new audiences for chamber music and promote the recorder as a viable concert instrument. To increase awareness of the recorder on the national level, Quinta Essentia created ENFLAMA–National Recorder Meeting in 2007, organizing three of the seven annual conferences that brought together recorder players from several Brazilian states and from many other Latin American countries as well.
This performance is a part of the Jewel Box Series, an eight-concert professional performing arts series presented by Northeastern’s Office of Cultural Events.
Tickets are $25, $17.50 and $5 and can be purchased at neiu.edu/tickets or by calling (773) 442-4636. Complimentary parking will be available in Lot F and on levels 4 and 5 of the Parking Facility.
