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Tierra Flamenca: Guitar, Dance, and Classical Roots
Tierra Flamenca: Guitar, Dance, and Classical Roots
Chris Burton Jácome and Lena Jácome return to the AZ Phil concert stage in Prescott with flamenco guitar and dance in a program that keeps trading places. Lena dances to Johann Sebastian Bach’s unaccompanied Prelude from the Cello Suite No. 1. Chris’s guitar and the ensemble’s improvisation reshape Johann Pachelbel’s Canon in D, while his guitar reinterprets the piano part in Frédéric Chopin’s Nocturne in E-flat and the accompaniment in Jules Massenet’s Méditation from Thaïs.
The oldest music is by Diego Ortiz, a Spaniard who spent his working life in Naples and Rome. His Trattado de glosas of 1553 is a manual for improvising over a written bass, and the Recercadas sobre tenores italianos heard here come from it, aligning with Chris’s flamenco improvisation nearly five centuries on.
Classical instruments take up flamenco as well, with Chris’s own pieces opening out for flute and strings: guajira, malagueña, sevillanas, verdiales, tonás, tarantas, alegrías, and The Kiss. These forms carry the geography and history of flamenco with them, from Cuba, Cádiz, Málaga, and Seville to the mining country of southeastern Spain.
Admission
- Tier 1: $69.00
- Tier 2: $54.00
- Tier 3: $28.00
- 21 and under: $10.00
- K–12 teacher with ID: $15.00
Thursday October 29, free: Chris and Lena Jácome break flamenco into its forms, where a twelve-beat cycle carries accents you learn to clap, and show how the dancer cues a change that the guitarist follows on the spot. Watch for it on Sunday.
Works on the program:
- Chris Burton Jácome: Guajira · Malagueña · The Kiss · Sevillanas · Verdiales · Tonás · Tarantas · Alegrías
- Johann Sebastian Bach: Prelude from Cello Suite No. 1
- Frédéric Chopin: Nocturne in E-flat, Op. 9 No. 2
- Jules Massenet: Méditation from Thaïs
- Diego Ortiz: Recercadas sobre tenores italianos, from Trattado de glosas (1553)
- Johann Pachelbel: Canon in D, arr. Jácome
Chris B. Jácome is the artistic director and creator, Jácome Flamenco, Chris writes the music and lyrics for all of the touring company’s productions and has toured extensively throughout the US and beyond.
In November of 2015, Chris’ first feature film score “Just The Vampire Hunter” was released and is receiving RAVE REVIEWS! Chris’ compositions can be heard scoring the Emmy Award Winning PBS television special: “Flamenco” (broadcast in Arizona by KAET-TV Channel 8: Mike Sauceda, producer) and on popular TV shows such as “Touch”, “Kyle xy” and “Greek”. Two of Chris’ original songs appeared in the film “Amreeka” which was a jury selection for the Sundance Film Festival and won the Fipresci Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009. Chris’ flamenco version of the Christmas Classic, “Joy to the World”, was included in Coldwater Creek Catalogue’s 2004 Christmas CD. Additionally, Chris can be heard as the featured soloist in the movie soundtrack of the feature film, “9/tenths”.
Chris’ music has received critical acclaim from the beginning of his career. From Chris’ debut CD, Motivación, the title track “Motivación” finished in the Top 10 in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest World Music Category. Since his first CD’s debut Chris has written and recorded three other original flamenco albums: Pa’lante, Flamenco and LEVANTO. LEVANTO features the music, lyrics and even the footwork from the flamenco spectacular by flamenco dance company, CALO FLAMENCO. TWO of Chris’ original songs from LEVANTO, “Ritmo-Canix” and “Sin Ti” won the Grand Prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest!
Lena Jácome is an internationally touring flamenco dancer, choreographer and instructor with Jácome Flamenco. She performed as, and choreographed for the role of ‘Flamenco Dancer’, in Teatro Bravo!’s presentation of ‘Lorca in a Green Dress’. She was an invited guest artist to perform for the Ibero-American Association in Jakarta, Indonesia and she was an invited guest performer & instructor for the Dance Network of South Dakota. Some performance highlights include Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York City Center and she guest performed in the World Premiere of the Pangean Orchestra at Symphony Hall. She performed and choreographed for the first symphonic work to include flamenco dance entitled, ‘Impulso’, composed by Chris Jácome and Henry Flurry. This work was premiered in St. Louis, Missouri with The University City Symphony Orchestra.
She has assisted in the creation of an extended long term multi-residency dance curriculum for the Baton Rouge, Louisiana dance community and she has set work on various groups ranging in age and in various facets of programming; from University settings to private dance studios and everything else in between.
Lena attained her B.F.A. Degree in Dance Performance at New World School of the Arts in Miami, FL and earned her M.F.A. Degree in Choreography and Performance at Arizona State University. She is currently a Roster Artist through Surprise Arts and has been awarded professional study grants through the National Endowment for the Arts to study in Spain. She has studied from such artists as Juana Amaya, Concha Vargas, La Faraona and Saray Montoya. She toured with Calo Flamenco under the direction of Martín Gaxiola and worked with Noche Flamenca & with guest choreographers such as Isabel Bayón and Juan Ogalla during their extended summer residency program at Scottsdale Center for the Arts.
Lena returns frequently to Spain to teach, perform, study and provide immersion programs for dancers & musicians. She published, ‘Flamenco!’ a flamenco photography book showcasing Sergio Photography’s images, based on Jácome Flamenco.
Photo of Jácome Flamenco courtesy of Sylvia Hardt.
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