Composer Alberto Ginastera honored in special carnival concert Tuesday
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An Argentine Carnival Gala
This coming Tuesday marks one of the world’s most popular annual celebrations, the big party that precedes forty days of Lent in the Roman Catholic tradition. While Brazil’s colorful mega-party in the streets of Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans’ Mardi Gras may be the most famous, similar carnival celebrations take place in more than 40 countries each year—including here in Washington, D.C., where the Washington Chorus will mark the occasion with a special gala performance at the Organization of American States’ headquarters.
Carnival in San Telmo, Buenos Aires, by Ole Gunnar Onsøien, Creative Commons License
The Bacchanalian festivities historically served as a day of freedom before the austerity of lent, a time for all to eat plentifully and make reserves before embarking on 40 days of abstinence. Today the Carnival doesn’t hold as much religious meaning as it used to; it’s now often seen an opportunity to explore the different ways cultures celebrate life (as well as help boost nation’s economies through tourism). In Venice, for instance, masquerades attract people from around the world while the brass bands in New Orleans keep the city swinging well into Ash Wednesday. The Goa Carnival in India, meanwhile, is one of the celebrations with the biggest variety of religions and customs thanks to its mix of Hindu and Catholic religions in this sub-continent that was once under Portuguese rule. Besides New Orleans, revelers in France, Senegal and Belgium observe “Fat Tuesday”, otherwise known as “Mardi Gras.” In 2003, the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) declared Colombia’s Baranquilla’s carnival one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Elsewhere in Latin America and Spain, nearly every town celebrates Carnival with family or neighborhood gatherings. Competitions for Queen of the Festival are as traditional as the music, which can range from Cumbia to Samba to Flamenco or Jazz.
Although Washington isn’t even on the map of these pre-Lenten celebrations, events each year highlight the cross-cultural values of our nation’s capital. This year, in honor of Carnival and Mardi Gras, as well as one of Argentina’s most renowned composers Alberto Ginastera, the Grammy award winning Washington Chorus holds its annual gala on Carnival day. The Chorus has teamed with the Argentine embassy at the Organization of American States for a special gala performance Tuesday night. It’s part of a week of commemoration and celebration of Ginastera, the late Argentine classical music composer, whose compositions helped put Latin American classical music on the map thanks to its touch of modernity and colorful Argentine rhythms. After performing at the OAS Tuesday, the Chorus will travel to New York City to perform one of his very rare (and unrecorded) masterpieces at Carnegie Hall Feb. 21, according to Dianne Peterson, Executive Director of the Washington Chorus.
If you don’t have plans for Carnival, want to learn more about one of Argentina’s most esteemed composers, or have always wanted to party at the OAS, now’s your chance. The funds raised at the Gala will help support the Washington Chorus’s education and community programs.
An Argentine Carnival Gala
Tues., Feb. 17, 6:30 p.m.
Organization of American States
200 17th Street NW
Tickets start at $275 each
INVITATION
Lucia Jimenez
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