Levine Presents | Brazilian Choro: The Musical World of Pixinguinha

Levine Presents | Brazilian Choro: The Musical World of Pixinguinha

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Explore the imaginative and intriguing melodies of Brazilian choro with an evening celebrating the genre’s most influential composer, Alfredo da Rocha Viana Filho, also known as Pixinguinha. Alongside a remarkable guest ensemble, faculty member Ceylon Mitchell guides us through this Afro-Brazilian genre as we sample some of the most famous choros composed by Pixinguinha and his contemporaries.

Location: Levine Music DC Campus: NW + Online
Free for Levine Students

About Brazilian Choro
Choro emerged as a distinct musical genre around the middle of the 19th Century in Rio de Janeiro as a blend of Afrodiasporic and European musical styles in newly independent Brazil. Syncopated rhythms from Africa and popular dance forms from Europe (the polka, habanera, and more) melded together to create a unique new style, which often gives the lead and highly ornamented melody to the flute, harmonically supported by guitar and cavaquinho. Percussive accompaniment often comes from the pandeiro, a Brazilian frame drum similar to a tambourine. Though choros are frequently instrumental and improvisatory, they do feature lyrics from time to time.

  • Ceylon Mitchell, flute
  • Seth Kibel, sax
  • Pablo Regis de Oliveira, cavaquinho
  • Felipe Garibaldi, guitar
  • Lucas Ashby, percussion
  • André Coelho, percussion
Choro Lecture Series: Pixinguinha and Black Contributions to Choro

Choro Lecture Series: Pixinguinha and Black Contributions to Choro

Many of the early great composers and performers of the choro genre were Afro-Brazilians, like Patapio Silva and Pixinguinha. In this lecture, Ceylon Mitchell talks about Pixinguinha, the father of Brazilian choro. Pixinguinha’s compositions and playing style are by far the most popular and have a heavy influence to this day. Ceylon will demonstrate Pixinguinha’s compositional innovations, such as his use of counterpoint melody.

This is a free, in-person, and socially distanced event that will later be posted to EducArte’s YouTube page.