The San Francisco Camerata Americana

building bridges through music

In the past two centuries, the USA has had an outsize influence on the cultures of the world, and in particular on the countries of Central and South America.  Some Latin American countries have modeled their constitutions, institutions and economic systems on the US, and even those countries that have chosen very different political paths from the US have often done it explicitly as a reaction to the influence of the US.  While what happens in the US, from economic trends to social and technological changes, matters very much to Latin American societies, the opposite does not seem generally true.

After centuries of cultural and economic acquaintance, from Speedy Gonzalez to Evita, mainstream America's image of its neighbors to the south still comes up a caricature.  From the Italianate culture of Argentina, to the Guaraní traditions of Paraguay, to the Mayan civilization of Mexico, to the African heritage of Cuba, Latin America is a veritable world unto itself, where vastly diverse peoples share a common language, the legacy of over three centuries of Spanish colonization. When it comes to understanding this world, no broad-brush attempt will do.

Why should we care? Because understanding Latin America is not just about improving international relations and commerce, it is also essential to understanding one of the largest minorities in this country. Music can provide a window into this complex cultural phenomenon. At once abstract and viscerally compelling, music can cut through language and social barriers and capture the essence of a people. Music can bridge the Americas. Hence the Camerata's emphasis on programming only Latin American repertoire. Founded in 1997, the San Francisco Camerata Americana (SFCA) is the only nonprofit organization in the U.S devoted exclusively to showcasing the music of Latin American composers.

Since its founding, the SFCA has sponsored the performance of works by composers from Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, Cuba and Uruguay. In most cases, the works presented by the Camerata had never been performed in the US before.  In a number of cases, the orchestra parts used were handwritten manuscripts.  The need to have access to engraved orchestra parts was the the origin of the Latin American Repertoire Discovery Program, which has supported the engraving of music manuscripts so they can be made available to ensembles interested in performing this repertoire.

In addition, the SFCA has commissioned new works, sponsored the premieres of new works, and also supported the second performances of new works. This includes among others the new opera Corpus Evita, by New York-based Argentine composer Carlos Franzetti, which was initially premiered by the SFCA at the Yerba Buena Center Theater in San Francisco; recorded at Skywalker Studios for a CD release with Amapola Records, and later sponsored for a full staging at West Bay Opera during it's 68th Season. The piece garnered a GRAMMY nomination.