23festivalinternacionaldr.alfonsoortiztirado2007 / Boletín No. 320 / Enero 11, 2007
Nancy Davis and Brad Richter
Nancy Davis and Brad Richter will offer a concert of voice and guitar within the 23rd International Festival Dr. Alfonso Ortiz Tirado 2007 gala nights, on Saturday 20th at 19:00 hours in San Carlos Plaza in San Carlos and on Wednesday 24th at 20:00 hours in the Local Auditorium Theater in Nogales, and on Monday 22nd at 18:00 hours in the Forum of the Plaza in Alamos.
Program
“Chanson de la marieé”, “Chanson des cueilleuses de lentisque” and Ravel’s “Quel gallant m’est comparable”, de Cinq Melodies Populaires Grecques (arrangnmentsBrad Richter); “Stopping by Woods on a Snow Evening”, “Fire and Ice” and “Bond and Free”, from Brad Richter’s Frost Songs; “Nana” and “Canción”, from Falla’s “Popular Spanish songs” y Villa-Lobos’s “Bachianas Brasilieras, No. 5”; American Songs (I’ll Fly Away, Hard Time Come Again No More, Simple Gifts, You Are My Sunshine, The Water Is Wide, Flee As A Bird, Prelude #2 and Love is Here To Stay), performed by Nancy Davis and Brad Richter. “Prelude” and “Allegro Solemn” from A. Barrios’s“The Cathedral; Leyenda (Asturias) from I. Albéniz; “Leaving Marble Canyon”, “Lava Flow Rapids”, “Dance of the Harvest Fires”, “How Death Came” and “Elation”, composed and performed for Brad Richter.
Brad Richter and Nancy Davis connect to create an unforgettable musical evening. Their backgrounds are classics, jazz, Broadway and popular music, create new interpretations from the classic and contemporary literature. The art of the songs is reveled and uncovered, since the unforgettable and rhythmical lyrics of Villa-Lobos to the American nostalgic of Gershwin.
Nancy Davis, soprano
She is one of the contemporary singers more versatile in stage. With “sound in beautiful forms, magnificent high notes and the ability to sing like if she was chatting with the audience”, her passionate dedication and power of interpretation never disappoints when she connects with an electrifying public. Her vivacity and sense of humor makes her the favorite one for audiences, conductors and critics from every where. Her career includes concerts, oratorio, opera, musical plays and cabaret. She has performed with symphony orchestras from, St. Louis, Detroit, Louisville, Nashville, Tucson, Chattannoga, Colorado, Illinois, San Antonio and the philharmonic from Rochester and Las Vegas, and in the Festival from Oregon Brito. “Nancy and her Vienna nights” with the Symphony Orchestra of Detroit, was broadcast in National Public Radio with Dick Cavett as a host.
She was the featured guest at the 4th of July Anniversary Celebration Tribute to President Ford at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, and has sung at the White House, Arlington Cemetery, the Annapolis Chapel and with such notables as Mark Russell, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Ann Hampton Callaway. In addition to her active performance career, Nancy is professor of voice and director of the Lyric Theater Program from the University of Butler in Indianapolis; she graduated from Bachelor of Music for Voice with Mastery in Fine Arts in Theater and a Master of Science in Child Development. She is a dedicated advocate for children and families in the prevention of child abuse and neglect.
Brad Richter, guitarist
Known as one of the guitarists and composers more popular of the 21st Century, he has reactivated the guitar repertoire transcending the preconceived genres. He learned to play the guitar by himself and since age 12 he began to compose. Without any formal musical training, at age 18 he was awarded with the Presidential Scholarship for the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, where he began his presentations and compositions.
After concluding his studies in interpretation and composition, he accepted a scholarship for the Royal College of Music in London where he studied with guitarist Carlos Bonell. Brad Richter was the first guitarist ever in the history of the college, in winning the desired award Thomas Morherr, and the guitar contest in the Royal College of Music before he concluded his mastery and came back to United States to continue with his soloist career.
He has performed as a soloist in North America countries and Europe with ensembles of renews chamber and duets with artists like, David Finckel from Emerson String Quartet, Grammy winner cellist. His presentations and compositions are frequently listening in NPR and PBS stations from United States; he also writes and performed the score for “The Desert Speaks”, PBS Emmy winner television series.
Brad Richter has performed in the Guitar Festival in England, International Guitar Festival in London (with Carlos Bonell, Alirio Diaz and John Williams), Music Festival of Aspen and Walnut Valley Festival, where he won the National Contest “Finger-picking”, a competition that reunites the best world-wide guitarists of all genres. He also won the first place in the International Competition of Composers from the profession 2004.
He lives in Tucson, Arizona and teaches music in the University of Arizona. The rough beauty of the American south-west still is a source of inspiration for most of his creations.
