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Sol y Canto® (sun and song) is their three-time Boston Music Award winning Latin roots ensemble and the culmination of their musical vision. Featuring Rosi's crystalline voice and Brian's lush Spanish guitar, they have established a reputation for quirky, original compositions addressing life, love and social justice. Since 1994, Sol y Canto has brought audiences to their feet from the Kennedy Center, the White House, and Boston's Symphony Hall, the California World Music Festival and Puerto Rico's Museo de Arte to the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia.  Puerto Rican/Argentine singer and bongo player Rosi Amador and New Mexican (Placitas) guitarist and composer Brian Amador have been lucky enough to spend more than two decades composing, arranging and performing music that moves people inside and out; songs that combine poetic lyrics, commitment to social change, and sabor, the "tastiness" of music that draws you into its story or makes you want to get up and dance. Singing of a longing for peace or of taking care of our planet, telling the story of a solitary kiss or the sadness of losing a loved one, celebrating the Mexican "Day of the Dead" - has put them in touch with people who share their concerns and joy in celebrating Latin culture and what they offer: a personal, idiosyncratic language of music and lyrics revealing a common, human language.
Sol y Canto is known for making their music accessible to Spanish and non-Spanish speaking audiences of all ages. Brian Amador was the first Latino ever to be commissioned by Boston's preeminent Celebrity Series to compose a Latin orchestral suite, Prisma de amores. It tours nationwide with symphony orchestras to string quartets. People en Español Magazine selected Rosi and Brian for its 2007 “Stars of the Year” issue, highlighting four inspiring Hispanics who have used their passion, conviction, creativity and self discovery to achieve success. Their latest CD, Cada Día un Regalo (Each Day a Gift) combines original compositions with several hand-selected classics from Chile, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Cuba. Released by MusicAmador Productions, it represents a musical breakthrough for the ensemble, featuring eight original compositions by Brian Amador, and the tightest ensemble they have ever put together. |
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Brian Amador: Musical director, composer, arranger, acoustic guitar, voice A Chicano/Gringo mongrel from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Brian was one of the founding members of Flor de Caña, arranging much of the band's material and co-producing two recordings. He studied classical guitar, composition, and improvisation at New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, and flamenco guitar in Albuquerque and Madrid. For five years he was principal guitarist of the Ramón de los Reyes Spanish Dance Theatre. He was awarded an "outstanding artist" grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts, and was commissioned by the Celebrity Series to compose the orchestral suite Prisma de Amores, which Sol y Canto debuted with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project in 2001. Brian's guitar style is as mixed as his heritage, combining flamenco, classical, Cuban son, Latin American styles, and jazz. (Photo by Phillip Caruso)
Rosi Amador: Lead vocals, bongó, percussion, company director Of Argentine and Puerto Rican heritage, Rosi was raised by performer parents, who passed on to her their love of Latin American rhythms and musical styles. Her mother was a dancer, a singer and an actress. She appeared in the U.S. on Broadway, in Europe with Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin among others, and in Mexico with comic actor "Cantinflas" (Mario Moreno). Her father began in radio in Buenos Aires and later became an actor, touring all over Latin America. With ten years of training as a classical singer, Rosi was one of award-winning Flor de Caña's founding members and manager for ten years. She has been deeply influenced by popular Latin music, jazz, North American folk, blues and contemporary African vocal styles. With her husband she joyfully parents identical twin daughters Sonia and Alisa, born in April 1996. |
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"Sublime ambassadors of pan-Latin tradition. . .Sol y Canto is … destined for international renown … Rosi has a voice like clean spring water: it's smooth, it's clear and, somehow, you come to believe that it's necessary for life." - The Boston Globe "With simplicity, tenderness and extraordinary professionalism, Sol y Canto renders a beautiful homage to Latin American music." - People en Español "This music is so full of high spirits and energy that at times the players sound ready to leave the ground. . . . makes romantic and very danceable music drawn from several Latin American traditions: Cuban son, Peruvian lando, and Puerto Rican bomba, to name a few. Brian Amador is a superb guitarist with a crystalline tone whose playing and compositions reflect his deep knowledge of traditional styles as well as a more contemporary harmonic vocabulary." - Acoustic Guitar "The group's leaders, the husband-and-wife team of Brian and Rosi Amador, create a musical marriage made in heaven. Brian is an inventive nylon-string guitarist, vocalist and composer; Rosi is a highly instinctive mezzo-soprano." - The Boston Phoenix "...they preserve much of the instrumentation and sassiness of the music of Cuba, the Caribbean, Brazil and Argentina, but they also breathe new life into the music with exciting arrangements, standout vocals and top-notch playing. Sol y Canto's music is so lively and infectious..." - World Roots |
When Rosi and Brian Amador met and fell in love in 1984, they didn’t know their relationship would blossom into the musical project of their dreams…
For this concert Rosi and Brian Amador will be joined by their twin daughters, Sonia and Alisa pictured to the right.
Individual Bios: