Argentina Songs
Harmoniously united, music and literature were combined throughout Argentina’s cultural history on numerous occasions. A wide repertoire of vocal compositions was configured in the format of chamber song with piano and, as such, participated in the formation of identities –national, regional, local– strengthening the relationship between culture and society. Whether as single pieces or grouped in the form of real cycles, it is an extensive corpus that still remains almost unexplored, were it not for contributions such as the one present, characterized by an avoidance of the commonplaces of conventional discography. In fact, two composers born in the second half of the 19th century are combined with three others born around 1910 —the year of the 100th anniversary of the May Revolution— whose works came to fruition in the 1940s. Thus, the Santa Fe-born Carlos Guastavino (1912-2000) opens this record; after him, the focus is on the Buenos Aires-born Gilardo Gilardi (1889-1963); this is followed by a sample of the work of composers Lía Cimaglia Espinosa (1906-1998) and Emilio Dublanc (1911-1990), and ends with the Italian immigrant Arturo Luzzatti (1875-1959).
Soledad Cardoso
Born in Santa Fe, Argentina, she began her musical training in her hometown and later moved to Spain, where she was a disciple of Alfredo Kraus and Teresa Berganza at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía. She has performed at venues such as the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and the Cité de la Musique in Paris, Barbican Centre in London, Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Centre Cultural Belém and Gulbenkian in Lisbon, Concertgebouw in Bruges, TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Philia Hall in Tokyo, Teatro Real and Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, Campoamor in Oviedo, Maestranza in Seville, Auditorio Nacional, Auditorium of Galicia, Palau de la Música and Palau de Les Arts in Valencia, L’Auditori in Barcelona, etc. She has sung Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, Così fan tutte, Great Mass in C minor, Coronation Mass and Requiem (Mozart); Messiah, La Resurrezione and Tolomeo (Händel); L’enfant et les sortilèges (Ravel); La Bohème (Puccini); L’elisir d’amore (Donizetti); L’italiana in Algeri (Rossini); Carmen (Bizet); The Little Sweep and Peter Grimes (Britten); El Retablo de Maese Pedro (Falla); La Corte de Faraón (Lleó); Orfeo (Sartorio); La Finta Giardiniera (Anfossi); The Marriage (Mussorgsky); Cendrillon (Viardot); Celos aún del aire matan (Hidalgo); Los Elementos (Literes) and a long etcetera, under the direction of maestros such as E. García Asensio, Alain Lombard, Paul Goodwin, Antoni Ros-Marbà, Josep Pons, Víctor Pablo Pérez, Jesús López Cobos, Alberto Zedda, Eduardo López Banzo, Martin Haselböck, Jos Van Immerseel and Antonino Fogliani among others. Outstanding performer of the 17th and 18th centuries repertoire, she was selected by William Christie to take part of Le Jardin des Voix and to make a European tour with Les Arts Florissants, with whom she has also sung L’incoronazione di Poppea at the Opéra de Lyon. She has collaborated with: La Cappella de’ Turchini, Il Seminario Musicale, El Concierto Español, Orphenica Lyra, Forma Antiqva, Al Ayre Español, Los Músicos de Su Alteza, Música Temprana, La Grande Chapelle, Orquestra Barroca Catalana, Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla, Nederlandse Bachvereniging, Wiener Akademie, etc. Soledad recorded Júpiter y Semele by Antonio Literes (Harmonia Mundi), Amor aumenta el valor (Alpha) and Iphigenia en Tracia (Glossa), both by José de Nebra, Gli amori d’Apollo e di Dafne by Francesco Cavalli (Naxos), Misión: Barroco Amazónico (Columna Musica), La Guerra de los Gigantes by Sebastián Durón (IBS Classical), and La Esfera de Apolo (Cobra) with works by José de Orejón y Aparicio and other composers from 18th Century Lima, Peru.
Quimey Urquiaga
Born in 1989, Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her musical training includes the degrees of Bachelor in Piano (Conservatorio Gilardo Gilardi, 2008), Bachelor in Orchestral Conducting (Facultad de Bellas Artes, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, 2013), Professor of Music (Facultad de Bellas Artes, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, 2019) and Master in Lied (Escuela Superior de Música de Catalunya, 2021), of which she continued being part of in active collaboration as a pianist (2021-22). She studied there with professors Poyato, Surinyac and Mateu, and participated in masterclasses by S. Lepper, M. Martineau, I. Theorin, S. Connolly and F. Lott. She has a wide experience as an accompanist and chamber music pianist. She has given concerts in distinguished halls in Argentina and Spain. She participated as an advanced level pianist in the FEMUSC festival in Santa Catarina, Brazil (2014), and performed with the Compañía Coral de Santa Fe in a tour of Italy (2018). She was also correpetiteur in opera productions of the Buenos Aires Lírica company (2014-15). In 2022 she made her debut at the Life Victoria Festival in Barcelona, also performing as a piano accompanist for Dame Felicity Lott on two occasions.
