Music in Cuenca

House music concert in Cuenca, Ecuador

There is an amazing variety of music talent in Cuenca, most of which you can listen to free.  It is often hard to choose between competing performances, and there are more performances than we can realistically attend each week.  It has been awhile since I have mentioned that fact in this blog, so I thought it was time to remind readers of the variety available.  This week, there was another free symphony, which we missed.  There were also several musicians playing rock, jazz, or pop, or oldies in several restaurants around town — all either free, or with cover fees of $5 or less, many which are listed on Itur’s website, Cuyker.com.

The first free concert we did attend this week was with Karen Kennedy who performed at Teatro La Casa de la Cultura, shown above.  Karen was a professional opera singer, performing around the world, including New York city, before settling with her family in Cuenca.  We have heard her perform several times over the past years, and usually try to attend when we hear of her being scheduled.  We understand that she has scheduled performances in Germany and Holland next month. She was joined on stage by Cosié Aquirre Saula on piano, and Santiago Zumbana on violin.

As always, the performance was magnificent.  Unusually though, we were the only gringos in the audience.  The large theater hall was about 70% full, and everyone appeared to be Ecuadorian.  This performance was not advertised in the English speaking forums, so probably most of them were not aware of her performance.

Karen Kennedy in music concert in Cuenca, Ecuador

Colibri Conciertos has been putting on “house concerts” for the past 10 months.  These are usually held in private homes somewhere in Cuenca.  Tonight there was such a free concert (however donations are requested to support the musicians) at Mansión Alcázar, a first class hotel here in Cuenca.  As usual, this concert was sold-out (you do need to sign-up quickly due to limited seating) within the first 3 hours after it was announced.

There were four musicians performing tonight.  Daniel Brito Acosta played the piano, Carlos Andrade the violin, and Eddie Jumbo the cello, and Sandra Echeverri was the soprano vocalist.  All the musicians were beyond superb.  The string work by Carlos and Eddie were amazing to watch, as well as listen to. Sandra’s voice is pure and sweet, and is some of the best classical singing I have heard.  Always the expert, piano music of Daniel tied the rest together.

At the end, there was a raucous and lengthy standing ovation from everyone in the audience.  Very well deserved.  Next time you hear of a “house concert” in town, jump in and sign up instantly.  If you wait to have your coffee, you will be too late and will find yourself on the waiting list…

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