Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with three nights of contemporary Latin American works on the forefront of modern classical music at the SLAM Festival Oct. 8-10, 2008

The Seattle Latin American Music festival will present solo, chamber, and electro-acoustic works by composers hailing from Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rico, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela. Visiting and local artists will perform several US. premieres in three nights of concerts, Oct. 8-10, 2008. More information is available at www.slamfestival.org. After a rousing debut, the SLAM festival returns for a second year with a focus on classical music by living Latin American composers. This year’s composer-in-residence is Jorge Villavicencio Grossmann. Hailing from Sao Paulo, Brazil, Grossman’s music has been performed throughout the United States, Latin America and Europe. He has won awards such as the 2007 Aaron Copland Award, a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a fellowship from Vitae, Associação de Apoio à Cultura, one of the most prestigious awards for artists in Brazil.

October 8th will feature the Seattle Chamber Players and friends performing works by Jorge Campos, Tania Leon, Jose Luis Hurtado, Jorge Grossmann, Ignacio Baca-Lobera, German Caceres, and Jovino Santos Neto.

October 9th will feature Michael Nicolella performing a retrospective of Leo Brouwer works for solo guitar, and the Icicle Creek Trio performing works by Ivan Ferrer Orozco and Astor Piazolla.  Works by Adina Izarra, Pablo Santiago Chin, and Jorge Grossman will also be performed.

October 10th will feature electro-acoustic works by Marisol Jimenez and Jorge Grossman, in addition to cyber-flutist extraordinaire Margaret Lancaster performing works by Rodrigo Sigal, Ricardo del Farra, and Mario Lavista.The concerts will feature artists including the Icicle Creek Piano Trio, Michael Nicolella (guitar), Margaret Lancaster (flute), and the Seattle Chamber Players (chamber ensemble).

Concerts are held at the Chapel Performance Space at the Good Shepherd Center.Founded by Cristina Valdés, the SLAM Festival aims to capture the vitality and variety of contemporary Latin American music. Support for the SLAM Festival is provided by 4Culture, Nonsequitur, and the Viva la Musica Club. To interview the artists, please contact Cristina Valdés at (206) 760-1201 or cristinavaldes@earthlink.net.

The Chapel at the Good Shepherd Center
4649 Sunnyside Avenue North (in Wallingford), Seattle