Stir Magazine
The sounds of mariachi, tango, Cuban folk song, and more will heat up the Orpheum Theatre
BY GAIL JOHNSON
Sal Ferreras.
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra presents Latin Nights October 29 and 30 at 8 pm at the Orpheum Theatre; the October 30 performance is also available via livestream.
SAL FERRERAS WILL bring some sunshine to local music lovers when the esteemed percussionist and his Latin Jazz sextet team up with Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
Ferreras is a local legend, have performed around the globe in a range of styles including classical music, world music, jazz, new music, improvisation, folk, Indigenous, and children’s music. Once principal percussionist of the CBC Vancouver Orchestra under maestro Mario Bernardi, the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame member has toured with the VSO, the Victoria Symphony Orchestra, Viveza, and the World Drums percussion orchestra. During the 2010 Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Games he was the artistic director of the Four Host First Nations Aboriginal Pavilion.
“It was Puerto Rican sociologist Angel Quintero Rivera who said that Latin America’s greatest contribution to the world was joy,” Ferreras says in a release. “It seems he was referring to the joy that we experience through the many musical styles, traditions and dances found across Central and South America and the Caribbean.”
Joining Ferreras on-stage are flutist and saxophonist Tom Keenlyside, another B.C. Hall of Famer who has performed with the likes of Natalie Cole, Dizzy Gillespie, and Mel Tormé; bassist Jodi Proznick, who has appeared with some of Canada’s top jazz artists, such as Michael Bublé and David “Fathead” Newman. Miguelito Valdés, one of Cuba’s most highly regarded trumpet players of his generation, spent years touring with Omara Portuondo (Diva singer of Buena Vista Social Club); Israel “Toto” Berriel is a traditional Afro-Cuban percussionist and singer from Matanzas who performs regularly with Vancouver groups Tanga, Candela, and Kokoma; and Miles Black is an arranger, producer, composer, and musical theatre director who co-leads modern jazz quartet Altered Laws.
With assistant conductor Andrew Crust at the helm of the VSO, the show launches the London Drugs VSO Pops series.
For more information, see the VSO.
